[Mariner]

“sigint and satellite intel”

That’s how you find Nuke delivery systems.

Believe as you wish.

[Zhang Fei]

[That’s how you find Nuke delivery systems.

Believe as you wish.]

---

And underground tunnels are how you avoid detection. Forget underground tunnels. Notice how we had to send Special Forces soldiers into the Iraqi desert to find their Scuds during Desert Storm. And our guys in Saudi Arabia still got hit, to say nothing of the dozens of Scuds that landed in Israel. Where was that sigint and satellite surveillance? And Saddam’s regime was a ramshackle affair that couldn’t keep the country’s economy afloat despite massive oil wealth. Whereas China has sent men into space.

You can believe what you want. But I simply cannot believe that $200b of Chinese defense expenditures buys less than our $700b number (which includes ~$50b for combat operations in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan), given the 8 to 1 salary disparity. That money has to go somewhere. And I’m betting that somewhere is nukes, in addition to the new tank, helicopter, ship and aircraft types the Chinese seem to be coming out with every two or three years.