Science and Society

We gave them enough time to build their millitary while we place all our resources in Iraq. Which millitary uses their forces like we do?

bah, nuking them back to the stone age? That's sooo mid 90's. If we were to do something so stupid, we would lose pretty much every single ally we currently have. Given the global situation at present, that would be an unimaginably stupid thing to do. Not to mention China isn't stupid enough to launch nukes at the US.

Another concomitant of the stupidity of the Iraq invasion is now becoming painfully apparent. Our forces are over-strained, over-used, and over there. It will take some time for our Military establishment to recover from a disastrous drain on resources, manpower and funds. With a bad recession facing us, we'll be hard pressed to catch up to where we were. I don't think the American public or the economy can stand the strain. We will become a planetary doormat. I certainly hope the incoming president has the wit to see this.

Are they just figuring this out? I read an article this morning that they are considering the elimination of the One-Child policy. The world will be looking at 2 billion hungry, thirsty, angry Chinese in about 30 years.

Our problems aren't solely from the Chinese, we also have a strengthening Russia to keep an eye on, too. Oil revenues (always that black stuff!) are giving them the wherewithal to challenge us politically and militarily, too. Sure, they're not there yet, but we'd better keep a weather eye on our six. Things have a way of creeping up.

Amen to Andy's comment.
Russia no longer has buffer states to use against the West as was the case in the old Soviet Union. China has limited resources and Russia probably feels a threat from the far east. Easiest place for China to go would be into Russia.
The problem for Russia becomes; "Can they fight a Ground War on two widely separated fronts?" It seems as though Russia may be holding back slightly on arms sales to China, perhaps for this reason.
The thing that will save the West is that although both Russia and China have some very able people they are both limited in terms of the manufacturing technologies and capabilities available to them in their own countries. How long this will remain to be true is anybodys guess.
NOW is the time to be re-arming and re-equipping our own forces, expanding them and learning from the lessons of both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Andy,
I don't think the invasion of Iraq was stupid. It was a great military feat and shows the world that we are no paper tiger. Unfortunately, the press and the left have attacked the war so much that they are determined to bring defeat where we have victory. It is one of the reasons why we have not had a major attack on our soil. The terrorists have gone to Iraq to fight against us because they fear a democratic country in the middle east. Yes, we will have to stay in Iraq for a while until the new government is able to control the country. But if we are persistant, the victory in Iraq will be worth it.

China has been very hostile to the US. Their whole foreign policy has been to undermine the US. For example, they have invested heavily in Iran when we have tried to apply sanctions against Iran. They have sent arms to both Afghanistan and Iraq to kill our troops. A Chinese general has threatened to nuke our country. They have denied port to our ships that were in distress from a storm. They have used their submarines to stalk our ships. They have setup mock battles to simulate an attack on Taiwan (Russia has participated). They have shot at a satellite sending thousands of pieces all around in different orbits, thus threatening our satellites. They have setup thousands of companies to gain advanced technologies. They have setup a vast program used to attack our computer systems through hacking. Recently, a number of different Chinese spies were caught which suggests a very large operation against the US. China is a threat that we ignore at our own peril!

"China has limited resources"

Are you kidding? China has a 270 billion trade surplus with the US, not to mention the many other nations. They are using this money to prop up dictators and bullies of the world. They are using the money also to minipulate the politics within many nations including the US. For example, it is questionable that Bill Clinton would have been president if Chinese money had not been given to their campaign at key moments during the election. A couple times their campaign was out of cash but thankfully the Chinese donated money to help them. Clinton appointed a number of Chinese spies to key posts to pay back the Chinese!

Eric, read what I said, not what you think I said. China has problems with high tech manufacturing. They do NOT have the manufacturing resources that we do....YET. The same is true of Russia but both countries are catching up.

Certainly both countries are spying on us and on all western nations. They represent a very real and potent threat that we cannot ignore.

Andy and Eric, do you think the slight difference in high-tech manufacturing capabilities between the US and China should make you as an american feel so secure? Lookit, I might not be well informed as to what the slight technological advantage might translate to in the battlefield, but fact is china has technology that can access and harm US citizens in their masses. Their stealth technology is wonderous, They can access and destroy cities in the US. I believe what keeps Americans peeing in their pants is what our enemies can do to us. Not what we can do to them. China remains a threat that will always keep U.S. defence personnel working overtime.

Forest,

I truly believe that China is a real and potent threat. Having said that I don't believe that they have the manufacturing wherewithal to fight a sustained war using technology. That means that their first shot will be their best and must be overwhelming in order to win. We just have to make sure that their losses are larger than ours - much larger if we can do it.

I also believe that their stealth technology is not all it's cracked up to be.

Chinese boots on the ground would be a very different matter. They have a large and well trained (?) army, but no way to transport it to the US in any kind of secrecy.

As far as accessing US cities is concerned, Al Quaeda showed that it was not very difficult - I certainly expect the Chinese to be able to do at least as well. In fact, with all the spying, intelligence gathering and information gathering going on that is sponsored or run by the Chinese I think that I expect the opening shot in a US/Sino war to be the crippling of our national utility systems by cyber-attack - possibly from inside this country.

I also believe that infiltration of the governmental process has begun. I have nothing but a hunch to tie that statement to and I am not a conspiracy theorist. I'm just a rational thinker who has considered what vulnerabilities might be exploited in the event of some form of attack on this country.

Maybe we should all wake up and smell the coffee - the next war involving this country may have the front line IN this country and Canada and maybe Mexico too.
If we value what this country stands for we all have a responsibility to help keep it safe.

Sorry if this sounds like a sermon but sometimes we all take everything a bit too much for granted.

Like dah, what planet are u all on ?they took us in industry. We owe them a trillion dollars, they own us. they already took every body in bleeping electronics mind control= it was a battle of tech, they WON. they own everything and you are all asleep. They didn't need a military or nukes its done NOW
wake up people!