Posted on 04/17/2002 8:46:42 AM PDT by codebreaker
GeoStrategy Direct Intelligence Briefing Headline Index April 23, 2002 (Some text subscriber only)
FOCUS ON IRAN:U.S. Sees Iran Behind Anti-American violence in Bahrain
BACKGROUNDER COLUMN:Russia Modernizing It's ABM System, Al Qaeda in Canada..., and in Singapore.., Russian Intellligence Says Chechen Commander Dead
DOSSIER: Marwan Barghouti-Documents Captured by Israel Detail Chaotic Regieme of Yasser Arafat and his Key Terrorist
FOCUS ON CHINA:Chinese Leaders Quietly Touring Arab Region
NORTHEAST ASIA REPORT:Japan's Nuclear Talk Rattles China, Taiwan Develops New Air Defense System, PLA Bans Cell Phones and Pagers, North Korea Helped Cuba in 1962
MIDDLE EAST REPORT:Deep divisions within Bush White House on Mideast Policy, Israel's Military Performs Poorly in Jenin, Big Break in Greece Probe of Terror Group
LATIN AMERICAN REPORT:Venezuela-Colombia Tensions Mounting Over Charges That Chavez Regieme Aiding FARC Guerillas, U.S. Sucess of Winning Mild Rebuke from Latin Neighbors Infuriates Cuba
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY: U.S. To Sell Jordan Early Warning Radar That Could Detect Iraqi Missile Launch, Syria Wants to Spend Its New Oil Money on Russian Tanks, Israeli Firm to Offer Upgrades of Russian Made Helicopter Fleets
Jiang Zemin happens to be in Tunisia, where the big synagogue attack took place.
Zhu Rongji in Turkey.
Book one of the series has been out there selling for almost six months. Book two is going to be released in late May, early June.
There is no doubt in my mind, with their cultural approach to conflict, and their continuing ideology, that the Chinese are up to their eyeballs in all of this ... and it is leading somewhere. This series tries to give one scenarion of where that could be.
In the interest of sensitivity, don't you really mean a 'special needs' hamster?
You never make any real sense.
His post lists several explicit and excellent reasons why an invasion is unlikely or even impossible... then you post a fantasy about a missile attack and blockade that would anger the world, rush the U.S. to their aid, and would gain no headway onto the island... all risk for no gain... and you say HE makes no sense? ROFL.
That's a good idea.
Have you seen the recent assessment of the US military from the National Review? Here's an excerpt and the thread link [my bold]:
"Deterred from close-quarter battle in Kosovo by a lesser air defense than what now protects Saudi Arabia, the United States flew 37,000 sorties over 78 days to destroy 13 tanks, which made up less than 2 percent of Serbia's inventory. To accomplish this, the Air Force endured what its chief of staff called a strain heavier than either that of the Gulf War or that of Vietnam. And for nearly four months during this period, and beyond, while naval engagements between the Koreas resulted in the sinking of a North Korean gunboat, the United States had not a single carrier in the entire Western Pacific.
After September 11, combat air patrols over just a few American cities — requiring approximately 100 sorties per day from home bases, with neither aircraft nor bases under attack — were said by American officials, as paraphrased by the Washington Post, to "stretch the limits of the Air Force" and "severely tax military resources." What of the 1,800 fighters and bombers the RAF had to face on a single day in August 1940? Why is it that the American armed forces, with 6,000 strike aircraft, are strained by 100 sorties per day, when on the 4th of June, 1967, Israel's 290-plane air force flew more than 1,000 sorties?
[Phony War, National Review | 4/15/02 | Mark Helprin]
Possibly China is not Lou Ferrigno. But then, the US appears to be falling short of being Arnold Schwarzenegger...
Mark W.
His comments are obvious.
The reasoning is the exact opposite of what you say. The missile attack would be swift and immediate.
It would plan for capitulation prior to any international response being possible.
John H K has a history, so my comment does not come from left field. To discuss and dismiss any threat to Taiwan by simply talking about the difficulty of a Normandy style invasion (in long and unnecessary pseudo-detail as he did as well) while ignroing the actual major issues of missiles and submarine blockade is to make no real sense.
It is in fact a way to obfuscate the issue rather than shed light on it.
And, PS, I seem to remember you as well. So your silly posts is not surprising.
This of course should be no sense. He being John H K.
If it is news to you that a Normandy style invasion is unlikely then it'd be best for you to catch up a bit.
The US is the world's only economic superpower, and no country even comes close. Microsoft's GDP would rank higher than the country of Spain. The only way to increase the manufacaturing base in the US is to bust unions, and restore wages/benefits to market-based levels instead of union pay scales.
I reported on it last month, here Chinese Leader Jiang Zemin State Visit to Iran Next Month - Heads Political and Economic Delegation.
Good point. The US is the largest trader in the world. In many ways it's the US's trading system. We control it, it's ours, why should we abandon it? I think we should fight for it instead. It's an american interest. Any nation which threatens world trade should have to face american military power.
And you call me silly?
Each idealogy or communist government has tried to expand its influence by funding small groups of dissents, and/or "freedom fighters" (love that term freedom fighter which usually denotes "communist" or warlord, read Single Man leadership in the name of the oppressed peoples).
Yes, China is our enemy. But we kept them economically engaged in order to assert enough influence to keep them from stepping too far out of line; for, it is the greed of the generals in China (and those who profit within every society) that cut the deals that make World Relations remain peaceful inspite of the Political Orientation or Cold-War ongoing between their Nation and it's enemies.
As usual, tallhappy, you are right. The ChiComs are not planning a "Normandy-style invasion." Hence all discussion of same is irrelevant, moot, besides the point.
China is not interested in fighting the conventional war that a bunch of white boys fought in WW II but in a multi-faceted "asymmetric" warfare that combines threats of blockade, economic pressure through Taiwanese investments in China, cyber-attacks, and missile attacks to gain its objective vis-a-vis Taiwan. At present, China is moving ever more intermediate range missile batteries into Fukien Province, opposite Taiwan. Taiwan is and should be concerned about this threat, as should we.
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