[BartSimpson]

saturn_656 saturn_656:

Not yet anyway.

And there's the rub.

[BartSimpson]

bootlegga bootlegga:

National self-interest and benevolence are not the same thing.

True. Our self-interests are found in our alliances in the Middle East, but our benevolences are found with our friends.

The USA found that out on 9/11 when Canada opened its collective doors and homes to thousands upon thousands of stranded Americans.

Some of us down here will *never* forget that.

[Thanos]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Thanos Thanos:

There'll still be those overly-influential voices though that regard the Chinese acquiring anything more powerful than a slingshot as a virtual act of war.

The Chinese are not going to use their carrier force for altruistic reasons. It's easy for you to sit back in Canada protected by several trillion dollars worth of American weaponry and dismiss China as a threat.

It's not quite so easy a thing to do for people in Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikstan, Azerbaijan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Japan, South Korea, The Phillipines, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Kiribati, or any other nation that has been actively attacked or openly threatened by an increasingly aggressive China in the past decade. A China that has repeatedly stated their intent to create their version of a 'Greater East Asia CoProsperity Sphere'.

If the Chinese are stupid enough to let themselves get consumed by an unsustainable land empire in Asia then let them go ahead and try. They'll end up failing as badly as anyone else who ever tried the same idea did.

They aren't supermen and they're not impregnible, anymore than any of the other would be world conquerors turned out to be. And Stalin's philosophy of "quantity has a quality of it's own" that would favour Chinese mass-infantry attacks essentially died at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And at no conceivable moment in either the near or far future do I see the Chinese being reckless enough to push the brinksmanship to that extent. They've made themselves rich off of a stable detente that encouraged peaceful trade. That they'd arbitrarily abandon this success for dubious benefits of a regional blitzkrieg is really not an arguable point at this time.

[BartSimpson]

The Chinese, for all their blather about being so magically wise, display an unlimited potential for self delusion and self destruction.

Look at what happened when Japan invaded China. The idiots in China were so busy fighting each other over nonsense that the Japanese were able to defeat them piecemeal.

Now that China is arising as a superpower I expect them to pursue a war they believe they can win because no one in their own military will have the balls to tell their superiors the idea is stupid.

[DanSC]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

The Chinese, for all their blather about being so magically wise, display an unlimited potential for self delusion and self destruction.

Look at what happened when Japan invaded China. The idiots in China were so busy fighting each other over nonsense that the Japanese were able to defeat them piecemeal.

Now that China is arising as a superpower I expect them to pursue a war they believe they can win because no one in their own military will have the balls to tell their superiors the idea is stupid.

Just like the Soviets in Afghanistan.

[ShepherdsDog]

There'll only be a war if the economy goes tits up, so they can distract the populace. A war with the west is suicidal, as it's western consumers who give them their magical golden eggs.....however, that being said they will continue to stretch their regional influence and test the reslove of the West by bullying and bluffing, which is an age old Chinese tactic.

[BartSimpson]

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

There'll only be a war if the economy goes tits up, so they can distract the populace. A war with the west is suicidal, as it's western consumers who give them their magical golden eggs.....however, that being said they will continue to stretch their regional influence and test the reslove of the West by bullying and bluffing, which is an age old Chinese tactic.

There's a growing body of evidence (stuff I can't link to, sorry) that China is also contemplating a deliberately wasting land war with someone (India and Russia are at the top of the list) to deal with their unnatural ratio of men to women.

In the past few years as bride-abduction and polygyny increased due to the fallout of the one-child policy analytical minds at the University of National Defense (their Sandhurst) have contemplated a wasting war as a politically and socially acceptable means of disposing of tens of millions of single, unmarried men. Too many unmarried men in a country can cause some serious problems and the Chinese are aware of that.

This aspect raises the spectre of a war but, oddly, it may be a war the Chinese enter with the intent of losing in a very big way.

It would not be out of character for the Politburo to make such a cold and pragmatic decision if it ensures their power and national stability.

[Gunnair]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

There'll only be a war if the economy goes tits up, so they can distract the populace. A war with the west is suicidal, as it's western consumers who give them their magical golden eggs.....however, that being said they will continue to stretch their regional influence and test the reslove of the West by bullying and bluffing, which is an age old Chinese tactic.

There's a growing body of evidence (stuff I can't link to, sorry) that China is also contemplating a deliberately wasting land war with someone (India and Russia are at the top of the list) to deal with their unnatural ratio of men to women.

In the past few years as bride-abduction and polygyny increased due to the fallout of the one-child policy analytical minds at the University of National Defense (their Sandhurst) have contemplated a wasting war as a politically and socially acceptable means of disposing of tens of millions of single, unmarried men. Too many unmarried men in a country can cause some serious problems and the Chinese are aware of that.

This aspect raises the spectre of a war but, oddly, it may be a war the Chinese enter with the intent of losing in a very big way.

It would not be out of character for the Politburo to make such a cold and pragmatic decision if it ensures their power and national stability.

Damn it, that was a plot to a sci-fi short story I wrote! I'd better publish it soon!

[BartSimpson]

Gunnair Gunnair:

Damn it, that was a plot to a sci-fi short story I wrote! I'd better publish it soon!

Reality is far, far worse than fiction.

[ShepherdsDog]

Really....You read any of Zip's stuff? j/k....before you go into full peacock mode.

[BartSimpson]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/world ... etnam.html

Just to underline what I said about China not being passive with their neighbors.

[bootlegga]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

bootlegga bootlegga:

National self-interest and benevolence are not the same thing.

True. Our self-interests are found in our alliances in the Middle East, but our benevolences are found with our friends.

The USA found that out on 9/11 when Canada opened its collective doors and homes to thousands upon thousands of stranded Americans.

Some of us down here will *never* forget that.

Unfortunately, there are many more who will never 'forget' that the 9/11 terrorists came through Canada (even though it's patently false).

[BartSimpson]

bootlegga bootlegga:

Unfortunately, there are many more who will never 'forget' that the 9/11 terrorists came through Canada (even though it's patently false).

I know. Just the same as there's 'Truthers' who insist 9/11 was a Jewish plot.

Unfortunately, what fuels the fire of the people who say the 9/11 camel humpers came in from Canada is that we have had actual terrorists come in from Canada before.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_mille ... tack_plots

See the LAX bomber. That's the one that got the tweakers rolling on Canada.

[DerbyX]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

There'll only be a war if the economy goes tits up, so they can distract the populace. A war with the west is suicidal, as it's western consumers who give them their magical golden eggs.....however, that being said they will continue to stretch their regional influence and test the reslove of the West by bullying and bluffing, which is an age old Chinese tactic.

There's a growing body of evidence (stuff I can't link to, sorry) that China is also contemplating a deliberately wasting land war with someone (India and Russia are at the top of the list) to deal with their unnatural ratio of men to women.

In the past few years as bride-abduction and polygyny increased due to the fallout of the one-child policy analytical minds at the University of National Defense (their Sandhurst) have contemplated a wasting war as a politically and socially acceptable means of disposing of tens of millions of single, unmarried men. Too many unmarried men in a country can cause some serious problems and the Chinese are aware of that.

This aspect raises the spectre of a war but, oddly, it may be a war the Chinese enter with the intent of losing in a very big way.

It would not be out of character for the Politburo to make such a cold and pragmatic decision if it ensures their power and national stability.

Makes it easier to dehumanize them doesn't it? Good thing they didn't start a war in Vietnam to thin out the restive black population eh.

[PublicAnimalNo9]

DerbyX DerbyX:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

ShepherdsDog ShepherdsDog:

There'll only be a war if the economy goes tits up, so they can distract the populace. A war with the west is suicidal, as it's western consumers who give them their magical golden eggs.....however, that being said they will continue to stretch their regional influence and test the reslove of the West by bullying and bluffing, which is an age old Chinese tactic.

There's a growing body of evidence (stuff I can't link to, sorry) that China is also contemplating a deliberately wasting land war with someone (India and Russia are at the top of the list) to deal with their unnatural ratio of men to women.

In the past few years as bride-abduction and polygyny increased due to the fallout of the one-child policy analytical minds at the University of National Defense (their Sandhurst) have contemplated a wasting war as a politically and socially acceptable means of disposing of tens of millions of single, unmarried men. Too many unmarried men in a country can cause some serious problems and the Chinese are aware of that.

This aspect raises the spectre of a war but, oddly, it may be a war the Chinese enter with the intent of losing in a very big way.

It would not be out of character for the Politburo to make such a cold and pragmatic decision if it ensures their power and national stability.

Makes it easier to dehumanize them doesn't it? Good thing they didn't start a war in Vietnam to thin out the restive black population eh.

Riiight. You are aware that in fact, the vast majority of US soldiers killed in Vietnam were white 86.3% to be exact.
Nice attempt at trolling though