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Ominous: RAND Memory Holes A China Report
TL;DR Don't go to war with China because you won't win
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RAND Corporation, often described as the think tank for the Pentagon, is where those with eyes to see can find outlines of plans to weaken Russia via proxy war with Ukraine (“Overextending and Unbalancing Russia,” 2019), or plans to invade Iraq and take control of their oil (“Iraqi Oil and the Global Economy,” January 2003).
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What you won’t find on RAND’s website: their 2025 report “Stabilizing the U.S.-China Rivalry.” Because shortly after a lot of sabre rattling toward China from the newly minted U.S. Department of War the report vanished. Explanation: “This report has been withdrawn for further review.”
The report, while attributing the usual belligerence and intransigence to China, nevertheless argued persuasively that diplomacy should triumph over brute force intimidation. It did so while identifying three key areas where negotiation and accommodation should be attempted: Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the field of science/technology.
I was able to read the report as it had been saved from the memory hole by colleagues at the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. You can read it here uploaded to my Proton drive for educational purposes.
First I was struck that two of the focus areas are actual geographical locations literally a few miles from China’s border and tens of thousands of miles from the U.S.
Since China is one the rise as a global economic and military power, and the U.S. is on the decline, a reorientation toward diplomacy and away from military action would make sense. Unfortunately, making sense is not a feature of failing empires. Instead they tend to long to return to formerly glorious times (aka MAGA) and to be blind to realpolitik.
The removal of this report at this time suggests that someone in 47’s regime send word down the pipeline that their mind is made up to pursue hot war with China, and they do not wish to be deterred by facts.
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