War in Ukraine

Your spending questions are fascinating in another time and place where we are not on the verge of great-power conflict. If you think we’re spending too much now, imagine how much it will cost to fight a third world war that we aren’t prepared for. Through no choice of our own, Russia and China are pushing us to the brink. Now you assess that China won’t cross that line (and I hope they don’t, and I again assert the best means for deterring a far more dangerous China is to defeat Russia as an example), but is that because you think they have lost interest in Taiwan or because the U.S. and its allies will just say, “Meh. Let them have it,” like you would have us do with Ukraine?

 

China isn't waiting to see what happens with Russia in Ukraine

They're waiting for our economy to collapse, and pulling every string in their puppet chest to expedite that result.

Ukraine is just another cape to coax the bull into exhausting itself, while the matador sticks harpoon in our back.


Covid:


Ukraine (etc):

 

China respects power, both military and economically. Using the US arms to allow Ukraine to thwart Russia, and economic sanctions to hobble Russia will be seen as power to the Chinese.

 

On your first point, they have already waited once. They were geared to go after Taiwan in late spring 2022 after Russia’s easy victory. But now they’re not waiting, or you just deny the evidence that China was colluding with Russia in 2022? I’m guessing it’s the second scenario you’ll have to go with. Only denial would fit your narrative.

On the second point, that’s not likely to work. If you’re suggesting we will spend all of our munitions on Russia that would be necessary for China, then they’re different munitions for a very different kind of fight. China would be delighted for our economy to fail, never doubt it. But support of Ukraine is not likely to get them what they want, and it’s the Chinese economy right now that is failing for reasons that also have nothing to do with Ukraine.

 

another artificial reef?? would be great of the last of the missile capable russian fleet in the black sea is now underwater

Ukraine sinks Russian missile ship Tsiklon in occupied Crimea (msn.com)

The spokesman for the Southern Defense Forces, Dmytro Pletenchuk, said on May 20 that the Ukrainian military may have destroyed the Russian missile ship Tsiklon in Crimea, which was allegedly the last cruise missile carrier in Crimea.

The destruction of the Tsiklon should give the Ukrainian Armed Forces more time to respond to Russian attacks.

The pro-Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Crimean Wind also reported that the Tsiklon ship had disappeared after the Ukrainian attack on May 19, suggesting that the small missile ship was hit.

 

this needs to change. Thought Blinken said it was up to Ukraine, apparently Z says otherwise.

Can we provide the same type of missile defense shield we helped Israel with without having people inside Ukraine?

Zelenskyy pushing US to lift restrictions on weapons use / The New Voice of Ukraine (nv.ua)

The United States is making it harder for Ukraine to defend itself by maintaining restrictions on the use of U.S.-supplied weapons to strike military targets in Russian territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with The New York Times on May 21.

In the interview, the president said Ukraine's inability to make full use of advanced weapons creates a "huge advantage" for Moscow. Russia clearly exploits this by conducting cross-border air and missile strikes in northeastern Ukraine.

Zelenskyy’s requests for Washington to lift the restrictions come at a critical time for Kyiv, as Ukrainian forces are losing ground to Russian assaults, and the most recent package of U.S. military assistance is yet to arrive in full.
............................................
Additionally, the president stated that NATO should shoot down Russian cruise missiles in Ukrainian airspace. Zelenskyy assured that this would be purely a defensive tactic and would not pose a risk of direct military confrontation with Russian military personnel. “So my question is, what’s the problem? Why can’t we shoot them down? Is it defense? Yes,” the president said. “Is it an attack on Russia? No. Are you shooting down Russian planes and killing Russian pilots? No. So what’s the issue with involving NATO countries in the war? There is no such issue.”

 

Agree. Put some more slack in the leash. Continue to escalate support until Russia gets the message.

 

amazing that they will not let them attack troops massed on the border, like they are there for some kind of parade or something..smdh at how many ukranians are being killed as Biden and his boy blinken continue to cower.

Especially when you consider the fact that when Xi and Putin met, the only statement was that a nuclear war should not ever be fought. I doubt Putin agreed to that statement voluntarily. Certainly the WH didn't miss the statement. Not much ambiguity to it either

Putin, Xi Issue One-Sentence Warning on Nuclear War (newsweek.com)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have issued a one-sentence statement about nuclear war as part of their "new era" strategic partnership.

Putin and Xi announced plans to deepen their partnership on Thursday, issuing a statement addressing their position on a number of issues facing the world, ranging from questions about the economy to the war between Russia and Ukraine. China and Russia have steadily strengthened ties as the two countries have found regularly themselves at odds with much of the West.

"There can be no winners in a nuclear war and it should never be fought," the statement reads.

 

Makes one wonder if not for the possibility of a nuclear conflict erupting that a conventional war would have already started (aside from the Ukraine war).

 

OT - sort of, but interesting that they are planning for the possible event

The world's largest chipmaker could flip a kill switch and remotely disable its machines in the event of an invasion (msn.com)

TSMC is the world's largest chipmaker, and it produces a massive percentage of the world's advanced computer chips—by some estimates over the past few years, even around 90%. What happens if something were to happen in that part of the world to disturb this chipmaking ability? It'd be catastrophic, of course, but TSMC and its main machine supplier, Dutch company ASML, say the machines wouldn't fall into hostile hands.

Citing people close to the matter, Bloomberg reports both TSMC and ASML have ways to disable the lithographic machines located in Taiwan. This kill switch would be able to be remotely activated, should such a drastic action ever be required.

Officials from the US government have reportedly spoken to both companies about what might happen in the event of an invasion, with ASML reassuring officials it was able to stop the machines from falling into the wrong hands.

The switch applies to the latest EUV machines out of ASML. These are also some of the most complicated, expensive, and sizable chip-making machines around today. The machines themselves have taken years to develop, and even longer to actually implement, though are now responsible for producing the most intricate and powerful computer chips today.

 

What? China asked Russia to hold of on invading until after the winter Olympics in Beijing. Then proceeded to help them out overtly, in the wake of our very scary sanctions.

Sounds like China is quivering in their boots over us.

And where are you getting this 2022 business vis a vis China/Taiwan? Intel has them targeting 2027, which coincides with *my narrative*:

Milley: China Wants Capability to Take Taiwan by 2027, Sees No Near-term Intent to Invade

China wants the ability to invade and hold Taiwan within the next six years but might *not intend to do so in the near term*, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress today.

Milley said congressional testimony earlier this year from former U.S. Indo-Pacific Command commander Adm. Phil Davidson and current INDOPACOM commander Adm. John Aquilino that China was preparing to take Taiwan within the next six years was based on comments Chinese leader Xi Jinping made to the People’s Liberation Army.

“Their assessment is based off a speech by President Xi that challenged the People’s Liberation Army to accelerate their modernization programs to develop capabilities to seize Taiwan and move it *from 2035 to 2027*… If Adm Aquilino and Adm. Davidson said that China had an intent, has made a decision, and they intend to invade and seize Taiwan then I do disagree with that. I see no evidence of that actual intent or decision-making. What I’m talking about is capability,” he said in response to Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) during the hearing.

“It’s a capability, not an intent to attack or seize. My assessment is an operational assessment. Do they have the intent to attack or seize in the near-term defined as the next year or two. My assessment of what I’ve seen right now is no, but that could always change. Intent is something that could change quickly. “

[emphasis added]

https://carnegieendowment.org/posts...n-china-is-preparing-to-invade-taiwan?lang=en


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We've got munitions enough to wage war on the entire planet. Not at all what I was talking about. What we don't have, is much resolve to wage war for extended period of time, and what we have in terms of resolve, will be diminished exponentially, if (when?) our economy crashes. ie.--when the bottom falls out of the dollar, b/c we can't make interest payments.

Y'all are watching Russia-Ukraine--i.e.--the cape--like it's a BFD.

This is what China's watching, and that 2027-2035 target fits like a glove--especially when you factor in for the 8+ Trillion dollars China coaxed us into pissing away to save our boomer gen--i.e.--the harpoons--i.e.--the bull spending itself into abject exhaustion, until it has no fight left in it:




I mean--Xi literally moved up the original target date by 8 years, in the wake of our swan dive into suicidal debt territory.

But yeah, it's *my* narrative.

 

Wow. Gullible city. There is no chance (ZERO) that China will cause the U.S. economy to collapse. That is something that we will have to do on our own; building the Great Wall of Mexico, and dealing with the aftermath of gunfights at the O.K. Corral on every street corner every week, and paying entitlements that we can't afford because We the People demand Cash the Money and will not let a good entitlement go (or even be scaled back).

China has its own set of economic and social problems. They will almost certainly experience an economic collapse before we do. They do some smart investing (education, infrastructure, etc.), but they also have some bad habits (spending too much on a "good" thing without understanding why it is "good" and when enough is enough). And they have little experience with the ups and downs of an economy--all they have experience with is an exponentially growing economy, so they don't know what to do when the economy hits a major pothole in the road. China is no matador to the U.S. (to Taiwan and the Philippines, maybe, but not the U.S.)--get that out of your head.

 

Interesting that your link characterized the statement as a "warning."

Sounds more like an overt acknowledgement of MAD--which seems wholly out of character for Putin--which indicates that Xi is wearing the pants in the r'ship, and squeezing Vlady's nuts to own that point.

IOW...China, calling the shots.

...keep chasing that cape yo!

One of these days, we'll gore the hell out of that damn red cloth!

 

Your post = "dude, your totally wrong, because [what I said = correct]".

Note: you : "There is no chance (ZERO) that China will cause the U.S. economy to collapse. That is something that we will have to do on our own"

(then you proceeded to list a bunch of shit WE piss money away on, financed by debt--more and more, deeper and deeper debt...).

That's what I said. The only difference, is you want to pretend that China has no say in our suicide. I'm saying they're pulling puppet strings in DC, to get us, to kill ourselves.

...and yes, China has its problems, but they'll evaporate, once they can displace the dollar with the yuan.

 

better stay away from balconies, stairs, and plutonium tea


Russian Major General who fought in Ukraine arrested in Russia (msn.com)

In July 2023, Popov, in an audio address to his subordinates and the military, said that he had a "difficult situation with his senior officers". He said he "laid out all the issues" that existed in the Russian army, including the lack of counter-battery weapons and artillery reconnaissance bases, as well as "mass deaths and casualties" among Russian soldiers.

Popov said he was dismissed a day after delivering his report. Andrei Gurulyov, a State Duma deputy and former 58th Army commander, shared Popov’s address online. The Russian Defence Ministry has not officially commented on this information.

 

and the surest way to neutralize China is for the west to show a combined commitment not to accept invading and conquering as a means of taking what you want. not sure why you can't see that

 

China does NOT have any significant say in our "suicide". Our system requires politicians to respond to the concerns of large groups of American citizens, no matter how batsh!t insane those people are. One large group of Americans, riled up by a con-man, wants brown people to be kept out of the U.S. at all costs. And they want LOTS of guns to defend themselves against the brown horde, even though the brown people behave better on average than the current citizenry. These same people are not willing to do the jobs that the brown people do, so they do not have an answer to that issue.

There is no evidence that China is pulling puppet strings with our government. Why would they? Russia has demonstrated that it is fairly easy to get semi-literate Americans to jump on foreign propaganda like a chihuahua on a pork chop.

Why don't you tell us when the dollar will be displaced with the yuan? I would be curious to know when the rest of the world gets stupid enough to trust a country with so little history of honoring agreements and being a stabilizing force in the world.

 

but they do, just like Russia does. They can encourage internal dissent such that we turn on ourselves. Sadly, so many cannot see that this trend to hate each other is just a great win for our enemies

 

I think it's harder for China to embrace western culture enough to subvert it with propaganda. Russia is a part of Europe, so they have a better understanding of western culture, and find it much easier to get into western heads to control them. China is more likely to do things with bribery, which works to an extent, but in many cases not as well as propaganda for controlling the masses. It is probably very difficult to bribe enough Congressmen from two different parties to do something against the best interests of their own country.

 

Conversely, the surest way to enable China to do as it pleases, is to get the US out of the way.

....which can best be accomplished by our economy collapsing (in turn, most effectively accomplished by prompting us to spend ourselves into ruin).

Why would 'the West' give a shit about what we say, if we're economically ruined?

Our influence comes from, and has always come ftom, our economy. Iraq, Iran, Russia, China, Vietnam, North Korea... have all called our bluff militarily (some having paid the price more severely than others...)--post WW II, when the world was supposed to be petrified of us.

China isn't just not intimidated by us; they don't just want to defeat us. They want to replace us.