Posted on 03/12/2011 10:02:57 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
But Russian “help” and technology is better than nothing, and Barack O’Soviet sure as hell is not going be an ally against Red China's coming invasion.
Kilo boats are pretty good, not as bad as most Russian designs. Be best if Taiwan would just buy 30 or 40 of those critters right from the Russian docks. That way, Russia can't use them against us.
Put a Stirling engine in it, and you got one heck of a boat...
Hussein, the Dems, American TV, American unions are far more evil than Putin or Russia. Ditto idiots who watch TV and enable/empower hussein with their drooling viewership.
Taiwan has a right to defend itself.
If you were a US Ally, would you really want to bet your survival that a bankrupt USA, in hock to the Chinese, with Obama as President, would come to your aid?
Russia may not be totally daft after all.
Anything that signals it may be aware of the Chinese threat on it’s border, would be of some note.
Russia has been very foolish to trust the Chinese leadership. It should be cultivating closer cooperation with the West.
Of course today, who would be stupid enough to try to cooperate with a nation that is committing suicide?
They only run around $400 million apiece, vs. $2-billion each for a nuclear sub. If we start producing these, it's likely that the Liberals in Congress will start demanding that our NAVY also switch to the cheaper diesel units and stop buying nuclear subs as a way to save money.
The suggestion that Taiwan is now looking towards Russia as a means to speed up a US sale approval is also moot. Taiwan has so much political upheaval that it's no wonder that it's taking them so long to make any decision.
As for the issue about the barbies or the maintenance, that's also just a smoke screen. They could just pay the US to build the barbies or do the maintenance on the subs.
As it stands, Germany already has a commercial line that produces diesel subs.
The Italians have developed a fuel-cell AIP system for a derivative of the Russian Amur class sub which they are jointly marketing. It’s smaller and far more advanced than the aging Kilo and would be better suited for Taiwan.
Typo:
Barbies = harbors
(I missed it on the auto spell check)
Russia did try, even back in the Soviet days. They did all the preps for an all out attack on China and asked the US to join in. The US backed off, warned China and told the Russian it would ally with China.
It is in one of Nixon's books.
They don’t mention the price...
It’s still more of a paper product!!
I don’t doubt that may have taken place. Accepting that it did for conversations sake, it seems to me that would have been a considerable miscalculation on Moscow’s part.
Nixon played the China card in no small measure to counter the Russian machine at it’s pinnacle. How could Moscow then assume that the U. S. would help it destroy our proverbial ‘ace in the hole’?
Further, if you think about it, there’s another down side to even breaching the subject.
Nixon looking for a way to offset Russian military intentions, gets it confirmed from the Russian leadership itself, that his ploy has worked.
Not brilliant on behalf of the U.S.S.R. IMO.
And Germany, and also France and Sweden, btw, which can make them far cheaper than we, albeit their pay is higher, will not sell any to Taiwan, not wanting to stand up to and confront Chi-Com intimidations...
An interesting article for this subject and the real threat poised from 2006 is here.
Not brilliant, but at that point the Soviets were in a panic about China. Nixon relates that the Russians had even lined up tactical nuclear forces near the China border to use in the attack.
Wow, they were ready to go.
I have always thought that Russia was misplaying it’s cards.
Look at China today, and reflect back on the Cold War years, and how Russia could have played it’s hand differently. Russia, if it had pulled it’s collective head out, could have been China (economically).
Today Russia could cozy up with the West. It could do much more than it does to make it clear it wants to be a good solid global player. But instead, it sends signals that it is in bed with China.
And what is that going to accomplish, when China is a bigger threat to it, than it is to the U. S.?
If China were to destroy the U. S., it would be about ten minutes before China focused on Russia, to devour it. And yet, Russia plays along like the Gomer Pyle of global dynamics.
If Russia were to cozy up to the West, it could easily signal to China that it’s planned treachery wasn’t worth it. It could become a more reasoned global player.
So Russia not only screws itself, it’s helping to make the world more unstable. It does the same thing with regard to the Middle-Eastern Islamic states. Iran, Syria, Russia is juggling hand grenades with the pins pulled.
Maybe so, but diesel subs are really only useful for short-range, limited duration applications — like defeating a blockade fleet in your home waters. Think of them as a mobile minefield.
Like sailing from Germany to the US east coast and gulf coast and sinking lots of tankers and merchants off of Florida? That kind of short range blockade of your home waters? 8<)
Or sailing from Australia to Japan and sinking their merchants in their home waters?
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