POINTLESS BORDER DISPUTES. Defense News is reporting that India has begun substantial infrastructure improvements along the disputed area of its border with China. These include roads and airbases large enough to accommodate the C-130s that the Indians are buying from the U.S. The Indians say this is in response to similar moves on the Chinese side, which may well be true. If there's one area of the world where we don't need any tension, it's along the Indo-Chinese border. The territory is nearly worthless in and of itself, and there seems little to be gained by re-opening a conflict that happened 45 years ago. Since no one lives in the disputed area, there isn't even a constituency of disaffected refugees to keep the conflict alive. I do have to wonder whether India's moves are at least partially in response to the belief that it will receive increased backing from the U.S. if it antagonizes China... --Robert Farley
