[I am still undecided on their ability to turn a weapon platform of any kind into an effective war machine by marrying it with training, tactics, and command and control.]
For some perspective, think about how long the German military stood up against the Western Allies. And the answer is - not all that long. They capitulated a year after the Normandy landings. Yes, the Germans were outnumbered. And yes, the Western Allies had air supremacy. But the Germans had local air superiority, on occasion, and did strafe and bomb columns on the Western Front. And the Germans had superior tanks, anti-tank guns, light arms and better-trained personnel. And yet, a year after the Normandy landings, the Western Allies had outrun the Yalta territorial commitments, such that they twiddled their thumbs while the Soviets caught up on the Eastern Front. And yet was the experienced American commanders from Normandy on who failed to make headway against the leaders of the PLA in Korea.
Yes, the PLA did give the US Forces a bloody nose in Korea. But that was a militia force operating close by their own border with supply lines that weren’t attacked beyond the Yalu. China is looking to move into the Big Leagues. That means logistics are required for projecting force at great distances. Not saying they can’t do it. They have the manufacturing & technical base. I’ll get nervous when I see the air & sealift capability provide the ‘bones’ for all that muscle.
True. It never ought to have been an even contest in Korea. The Red Chinese fought us to a standstill with a 10-1 advantage in manpower in some places, and overall, perhaps a 2-1 advantage because we were fighting a political war.
It is not the ability of the Red Chinese to make war that I am undecided on. It is their ability to be a tyrannical state and make war, and win it.
I don’t underestimate Red China. I simply believe that just as making steel with fundamentally flawed ingredients makes poor steel, making a military with fundamentally flawed premise (citizens who are slaves) produces a weaker military. A rattlesnake that is a slave is still extremely dangerous and formidable.
It is a fundamental difference in viewpoint. And no matter how one slices it, as the end of the day, in Red China, you have no rights the state does not grant you.
Our strength is that our rights are not granted by the State. They are given to us by our creator. I believe that counts for something. Our weakness today is that too many Americans forget that rights are not granted by the State.