via Los Angeles Times...
Wow. With those few words it seems that US defense strategy is about to change. Dirt wars are out...big dawg enemies are back in.Reporting from a U.S. military aircraft —Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned Saturday that China's development of advanced missiles and a new stealth fighter could endanger U.S. naval and air forces, and he said the Pentagon would "respond appropriately." They clearly have the potential to put some of our capabilities at risk, and we have to pay attention to them. We have to respond appropriately with our own programs," Gates told reporters as he traveled to Beijing for three days of talks with senior Chinese leaders.
A more realistic possibility is that the US will be forced to prepare for more than two vastly different kinds of war; our fiscal, human and material resources will be diverted and diluted over multiple demands, whereas any other rising powers just need to focus on beating us in one kind of war. See this as adding ANOTHER opponent to the boxing ring.
ReplyDeletei adamantly disagree.
ReplyDeleteSpecial Operations Command should have been fully vested with the conduct of the war in Afghanistan. Conventional forces should have stood down years ago.
As a matter of fact, SPECOPS should justify its existence by being the only forces deployed in the hunt for terrorist.
our biggest problem in Afghanistan is that we've gone from war fighting to nation building. it was a huge mistake and we're still paying for it today.
notice we haven't made the same mistake in Africa...
i am of the opinion we should only have a few small bases in afghanistan, one to allow special forces to operate, another to let the drones operate to let the CIA hit targets in afghanistan and pakistan, otherwise bring the legions home, have skeleton bases around the globe with forward positioned equipment and we can get the men we need wherever we need to real quick.
ReplyDeleteChinese relies on hardwork whereas a good majority of Americans rely on wishful thinking when it comes to coping with and preparing for the uncertain future. The die is cast.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chinasmack.com/2011/stories/henan-family-endures-living-in-junked-minibus-to-save-money.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/opinion/09kristof.html?ref=china
i read the articles that you sent and the one from the New York Times was a joke. BFD (big fucking deal)...another guy who's predicting the rise of China.
ReplyDeletewhat few realize is that the rest of the world is subsidizing China's rise and once the US and Europe say enough is enough that rise is over.
one other thing that bothers me about this whole China worship is that even supporters like Feng over at Information Dissemination fail to mention that China is a communist country. all this tech transfer and business dealings would have been called treason even 30 years ago.
lastly the article from China Smack wasn't interesting...many US families are going through the same hardships...what was interesting were the comments! the words used to describe that family was --- remarkable. such support for the one child rule --- such adherence to Communist ideals! it was amazing.
i'm not saying that China isn't ascendant but i am saying that they have problems of their own...i personally can't wait to watch them go through the growing pains of a modern society.
i completely agree Solomon, china is having ALOT of problems internally and has alot of economic problems, with alot of inequality, social unrest, demand for more pay, evaluation of its currency, its still a developing nation. While we should hope their ascendancy is peaceful they will have alot of growing pains.
ReplyDeleteand if you want to see how america is capable of coping look at our history, many times the world has counted us out, and each time we have come back stronger than ever. The foundation of this nation is our resilience, dont underestimate this nations desire to survive, and thrive!
ReplyDeletewhat i do wonder about is the price that we're going to pay because a great depression was stopped (or rather appears to have been stopped)...
ReplyDeletecan you actually do that?
or is it simply going to unwind, yet in a semi-orderly way? i'm in the orderly unwinding camp. it appears that the systemic problems are continuing and we are suffering the effects from it.
Europe is already in the hurtlocker...so is the US...i just wonder how long the BRIC countries can stay afloat before they face the same pressures as the developed world.
Solomon,
ReplyDeleteHaven't your heard that the cold war is over,you sound paranoid over the fact that another country is going to challenge the USA as a world power.
Whether China is a communist country or not their population has experienced an unprecedented rise in their quality of life in the last 25yrs.
Try taking a look at the pains your country is still experiencing even after approx 270yrs as a democracy.
From the way you write it appears that 'Joe McCarthy' is still alive and kicking in the good ole US of A.
Try dragging yourself out of the stone age and face facts if that is possible for you.
Going to war with your banker is futile. We can spend all this money on deterence for China, but if the economic reality is that we have become even more economically reliant on them in the future, we would likely be less willing to do what we had to if the time came.
ReplyDeleteAusterity measures across the board, developing new trade partners, and rebuilding our industrial base will allow us to respond ina meaningful way to future Chinese agression.
Drake1,
ReplyDeleteYou are already doing what you suggest,for the past few years the US has been courting India as a trade partner and a market for its arms.
The Indian economy is powering ahead and is pouring billions of dollars into acquiring weapons which in he past have mainly been from Russia,the US has not only seen a very lucrative market but also as no love is lost between China and India the Indian subcontinent would make a nice buffer zone in any future conflict.
Australia is another example of the change in policy of the US,in the last few years we a seen growing cooperation between the US and Australia as the Pacific area becomes more critical to US interests.
Now we are even hearing talk of the US putting out feelers to Vietnam and I would not be surprised to see some sort of US presence in that country in the future,that is if it is not there already..
So if you look at it from a Chinese point of view it would seem that the US is rightly or wrongly surrounding China with potential enemies.
Perhaps they are preparing to respond to any US agression,which is just as plausible as your train of thought.
"i adamantly disagree.
ReplyDeleteSpecial Operations Command should have been fully vested with the conduct of the war in Afghanistan. Conventional forces should have stood down years ago.
As a matter of fact, SPECOPS should justify its existence by being the only forces deployed in the hunt for terrorist.
our biggest problem in Afghanistan is that we've gone from war fighting to nation building. it was a huge mistake and we're still paying for it today.
notice we haven't made the same mistake in Africa... "
I agree with this statement more than any other you have made Sol. The decision on Afghanistan in 2006 was a huge mistake. Until then the special forces were doing exactly what was needed, keeping the Taliban at bay and stopping Al-Qaeda from operating. Now we're trying to drag the most backward and troubled country in the world out of the mud, why?
But I'd point out that on occasion Africa might make a good case for sending small forces in (especially SOF). The UK did it in Sierra Leone back in 2000 and turned around a 20 year civil war in about a month with 800 troops. Was a major boost for Blair and the UK's standing.
Somalia could definitely do with a few commando raids to remove the pirate safe havens. So could Guinea (narco-state) and possibly Ivory Coast right now (but I think West Africa will deal with that on their own).
Yes, we are already doing many of the things I mentioned. The major issue we face when dealing with China is our debt. Going lean now while they are still growing is preferrable to being forced to go lean later.
ReplyDeleteAfghanistan looks like a losing battle. The President who supposedly didn't believe in nation building screwed us good. The question is how much face can we save when we eventually pull out.
Drake, what you think is that china holds all the cards here, them owning on our debt is a two way street. if they stop buying our debt, our economy goes down the tubes because our people wont buy things anymore. The problem the Chinese have is its economy is based on its exports! if they stop buying our debt they dont have anyone to buy their goods and their economy goes south real fast! they dont own us, its scary that we do have to rely on other nations buying our debt but its dangerous for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThey are currently diversifying their export partners to limit blowback. People need to remember these guys think long term term - not short like us.
ReplyDeleteYet, the same guy who is now concerned about China's alleged rising military capabilities, is the same guy who helped cancel the F-22 program, saying that it was technology that was needed for The Cold War that no longer exists. Great forwarded thinking by gates, Obama et al. They have essentially made the F-22 a modern day Me 262; a great plane, but too few to be effectively used.
ReplyDeleteF-22???another APA fanboy????
ReplyDeletedrake, what export partners can prop up their economy? europe is still reeling from the economic disruptions, asia doesnt have the economic power that USA does, neither does south america. China losing our business would collapse their government. they have openly said anything less than 7% GDP growth will mean too much instability while we survived a recession.
ReplyDeleteelgatoso,
ReplyDeleteThe F-35 appears to be a great plane for what it is and we need it in our inventory. But the F-22 is in a class by itself and nothing else in the world can match it yet. And we need more of them to face present and future threats. Thank God they destroy the tooling so that are more insightful leader in the hopefully near future can restart the program.
And, supposedly, under close examination, the new J-20's edges and seams aren't conducive to being very stealthy. Maybe just another sub-par Chinese knock off?