Lies and the select use of statistics, an expert case

Comments on Ian Castle’s “Measuring China’s size and power”, 10/05/2009, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/05/10/measuring-chinas-size-and-power-correctly/comment-page-1/#comment-26844

Thanks Ian, for reminding people some basic statistics regarding international comparisons.

Figures and numbers can be very misleading when misapplied or interpreted, irrespective what intentions their users might have. Now we have one of the most highly regarded authority figures in statistics shows us how easily that can happen.

Greg Sheridan should be one of the leading commentators on defence and security issues in Australia, probably well regarded and respected among certain circles. It is fascinating that he could be so wrong in using and interpreting statistics, especially in his area of expertise, military power and security.

I have no expertise at all in the areas of security, defence and war, and have not followed very closely. However, I do have an impression sometime when I happened to read his articles. They generally left me with an impression that he tended to be very much biased in his views, at least not objective enough on those issues to give people informed understanding.

One would wonder how some experts can show such shallow depth of understanding in their own areas of expertise. The precursor leading to the Iraq war and the pre-empty invasion by the coalitions of willing will always serve as a stark reminder on what costs could be if the so called experts in defence and security got their understanding of the very facts terribly wrong.