Posted on 05/10/2005 6:11:01 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
The Middle East is just a blip. The American military contest with China in the Pacific will define the twenty-first century. And China will be a more formidable adversary than Russia ever was
For some time now no navy or air force has posed a threat to the United States. Our only competition has been armies, whether conventional forces or guerrilla insurgencies. This will soon change. The Chinese navy is poised to push out into the Pacific—and when it does, it will very quickly encounter a U.S. Navy and Air Force unwilling to budge from the coastal shelf of the Asian mainland. It's not hard to imagine the result: a replay of the decades-long Cold War, with a center of gravity not in the heart of Europe but, rather, among Pacific atolls that were last in the news when the Marines stormed them in World War II. In the coming decades China will play an asymmetric back-and-forth game with us in the Pacific, taking advantage not only of its vast coastline but also of its rear base—stretching far back into Central Asia—from which it may eventually be able to lob missiles accurately at moving ships in the Pacific. In any naval encounter China will have distinct advantages over the United States, even if it lags in technological military prowess. It has the benefit, for one thing, of sheer proximity. Its military is an avid student of the competition, and a fast learner. It has growing increments of "soft" power that demonstrate a particular gift for adaptation. While stateless terrorists fill security vacuums, the Chinese fill economic ones. All over the globe, in such disparate places as the troubled Pacific Island states of Oceania, the Panama Canal zone, and out-of-the-way African nations, the Chinese are becoming masters of indirect influence—by establishing business communities and diplomatic outposts, by negotiating construction and trade agreements. Pulsing with consumer and martial energy, and boasting a peasantry that, unlike others in history, is overwhelmingly literate, China constitutes the principal conventional threat to America's liberal imperium.
How should the United States prepare to respond to challenges in the Pacific? To understand the dynamics of this second Cold War—which will link China and the United States in a future that may stretch over several generations—it is essential to understand certain things about the first Cold War, and about the current predicament of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the institution set up to fight that conflict. This is a story about military strategy and tactics, with some counterintuitive twists and turns.
And with similar payback for the offending party I would suggest. Why would anyone even imagine that we would not annihilate an enemy who did this? We could live with China as an enemy, a ton more easily than they could live with us as an enemy.
In WW2 we won over Japan due to the overwheming threat of the atomic bomb ( thank God it saved untold numbers of American military lives)---we also had a far better chance to develop a larger economy due to the population size difference (by far on our side)---last, but by no means least, our nation stood together (since we were attacked)and the caliber of those of us who had just come thru a 'depression'---I have many doubts that our soft, decadent society of today would ever stand together as America of the '40's---that doas not even take into account the leftist media, international corporations, and untold numbers of infiltrators we have allowed into our Country---hope I am wrong, time will tell-
COMMUNIST CHINESE CROWD TURNS ON YAO, STARTS ROOTING FOR BRAD MILLER
After watching Sacramento Kings’ center Brad Miller outplay the highly favored Houston Rockets’ center Yao Ming by shooting 7-12 from the field and 5-6 from the line Thursday morning, the Communist crowd at Shanghai’s city gymnasium turned its back on Ming and began rooting for the American. Miller, who repeatedly bloodied the face of the tall intimidating Chinaman with a series of elbows in the third quarter, brought the capacity crowd to its feet and had the Communist chanting “Mil-ler, Mil-ler” as time ran down in the fourth quarter. Vice President Zeng Qinghong and Premier WEN Jiabao even convinced a reluctant Chief of State President Hu Jintao to stand and applaud by standing and clapping themselves.
A sweaty and bruised Miller, draped in an American flag, addressed the crowd as his wife ran onto the basketball court, saying, “If I can change, and you can change, everyone can change!” in reference to the lack of Chinese players in the NBA. As Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” blasted throughout the gym, Miller and Yao, once bitter rivals, fell into each other’s arms in exhaustion and hugged. "Coming over here, we had two objectives," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. "One was to convince the Chinese that we'd like to see more of them in the NBA. And two, we wanted to sell our Levis for $250 on the street. I think we succeeded."
Swiss,
No need to wait....Show them (The world) that the US will NOT wait to be attacked... Get rid of Iran and N.K.
Once this is done, you arm Japan with nukes and Taiwan...
China's cards will be?
You can't afford 100 x 911.
Thanks for the ping bud.
Check out Patrick Robinson's book, Nimitz Class. It's thankfully fiction. Let's keep it that way.
Ping me on any ChiCom .mil developments and any weapons upgrades/developments you come across.
On an unrelated item, if you see any articles about Russian military activity in the Pankisi Gorge (Georgia) in the coming days, weeks, or months, pls ping w/that info., articles, news, etc.
True, and they know that.
Nice plus for freerepublic on your web site. You may wish to mention that to the anti-Jeff Head guys.
"With special thanks to many members of the FreeRepublic Web Site and Forum"
BTW, trusting your all healed up, a-OK. Take care man, God Bless
Yes. The Shimonoseki Treaty was the peace treaty for the First Sino-Japanese War in which Japan had soundly defeated China. It also granted Japan Port Arthur, but then the Triple Intervention of France, Russia, and Germany caused Japan to give Port Arthur over to the Russians, and that was a significant initial step leading to the Russo-Japanese War.
I agree. I always get a chuckle reading these We-Are-Doomed or We-Must-Go-MAD posts. Who in their right mind would want a war between China and US. Maybe the enemies of US and China?
Let see, the Chinese want to destroy their number one buyer of their stuff and destroy their economy. The Americans want to destroy all their investments in China, thus sending inflation through the roof and destroying the economy.
Oh yes, I do enjoy the entertainment.
How quickly people forget that a scant fifty years ago they were eating grass and afterbirths in the midst of the worst famine in their history, after totally aborting their entire agricultural sector.
China is a mile wide and an inch deep. The trouble in the past was that would be conquerors had a half-mile worth of fuel.
We have no such useless ambitions as to occupy China, and so will not make the mistakes of imperialists in history. China's nascent infrastructure is fragile and marginal, and could basically be crippled by judicious use of irregular forces and airpower. No highways, no gas to the coast. No Three Gorges Dam,. no electricity. No power and no gas to the coast, Chinese boats and airplanes all sitting ducks, full of soon to be dead troops.
Here is how it goes.
They get as many into this nation as they can get to raise hell from within. How many did it take to do that on 911? Then they get as many into Panama as they can. How many are there right now? Who controls the ends of the canal? Then they install a port on one or both ends of the canal as well as in the Caribean and Cuba. They slip in as much military hardware as they can into these ports...small arms, shoulder fired missiles etc. They then install as many advisors into eastern Africa as they can...how many are there now?
They let N Korea start it out by attacking S Korea. While we react to that, they stir things up real well in the Mid east with the help of their advisors from the African nations. While we react to that also, they take a swipe at someone in their own nieghborhood. While we react to that, they start it out in this country up from Panama through Mexico. Keep an eye on the South American countries..lots of Oil comes here from that area and lots of problems down that way and one could bet that most of it is backed by the Chicoms.
How many would it take in the Americas to upset this nation while we react to the problems over seas? I would not be shocked if they have in excess of 500 thousand to 1 million undercover people salted away throughout our region-South America, Central America, The USA, Canada. Keep in mind that these all do not have to be Chinese, the Islamic nut cases would gladly join in the fray. How many commies within our own boarder would join in? How many Europeans would jump in if given the chance and see that the battle was not going good for us? One million people is a heck of a bunch. A small handfull did a huge amount of damage on 911 and we have our backs kind of turned away from the Chicoms at this time and our attention is mostly centered on the Mid East. Lets say that just before they send off, they get 2 million or so into Cuba, Panama, South America, Canada and a few into Mexico. Count every country and divide the total into 2 million. Ten countries would make it just 200 thousand into each country. 20=100 grand. Would you notice one hundred thousand scatered across this country over one year? Heck we cant even stop the Mexicans from jumping the border. I bet we'd even welcome them with open arms if they came as tourists.
George Washingtons Vision? Maybe it isnt so far fetched as some think.
I agree. Poliferation works both ways. China and Russia gives nukes to islamic states, it is only a matter of time before Japan and Taiwan get nukes (both could have nukes literally overnight. Japan uses plutonium reactors and Taiwan buys those plutonium reactors from Japan).
Maybe they would want it ALL?
Let see, the Chinese want to destroy their number one buyer of their stuff and destroy their economy. The Americans want to destroy all their investments in China, thus sending inflation through the roof and destroying the economy.
Your cool grasp of reality throws cold water on the wild eyed among us. Have you heard one too many fish stories?
WOW! Quite an imagination you have there...must be that good fresh air in the UP... :-)
Yup..and they didnt think Hitler would do what he did either.
I always say, the worst enemy is within us, I.E. those who would say it will never happen.
What the hell, you could just do as Ol Nevil Chamberlin did and wave a paper and say "Peace in our time".
Maybe you should try reading some of the information that is public knowledge on the matter? Lots of factual stuff on the net, and yes some really wacked out crap. But it is factual that Whampoa owns BOTH ends of the Panama canal. It is factual that they have a very large port in the Carribean. It is a fact that there are in excess of thousands in East Africa-some estimates have it at least 350+ thousand.
Not much imagination in that now is there?
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