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I do agree Bush is to blame for pursuing a wrong end goal, but 9/11 having happened was a big catalyst for invading Afghanistan and because of that, I just think it is overly simplistic to squarely blame Bush.

Well I was referring to Bush going into Afghanistan, not his going into Iraq. Also maybe the outcome in Afghanistan would have been far different if Iraq had not been invaded because as you said it diverted significant resources. On the other hand, who knows, then maybe Saddam Hussein would have...

But he likewise did not want to preside over the nightmarish scenes we’ve witnessed. Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the principal architect of America’s engagement with the Taliban that culminated with the catastrophic February 2020 withdrawal agreement, terms intended to get the...

That's not a proper analogy.

That's likely because Soleimani wasn't assassinated until 2020.

My point is that because 9/11 had happened, whoever had been in charge likely was going to do "something" regarding Afghanistan. Now the plan to make it a liberal democracy I agree was rather naive, but a goal to stabilize it and lay waste to the terrorist forces there I do not think was. And...

The thing about Trump is I think the Taliban would have been a lot more hesitant about trying this with him in charge. He is the man who was threatening to blow Kim Jong-Un to high hell, who killed Soleimani, had laid waste to ISIS, etc...he was feared. And it was made very clear that he...

I think it is a little over-simplified to just blame Bush. Bush got us into it because of 9/11.

If they helped save the industry from further destruction (which is probably hard to quantify) then I'd say they had some level of success. Why was it the wrong thing though? What else could have been done? We weren't going to get the Chinese to just stop flooding the market with subsidized...

I can't read the first link as it requires a subscription, but the other two engage in a way oversimplified analysis and from people who ought to know better, IMO. For one, we didn't really get to see just how the tariffs were supposed to play out because of the virus and the ensuing global...

They might well still do that, long-term. The problem is what happens in the short-term. It reminds me of a joke: in the 1870s Japan was opened up to trade and began modernizing their economy, and by the 1950s were a prospering, democratic country. Germany began really modernizing in the early...

We also let China destroy our rare earths mining industry, moved our pharmaceutical supply chain to China, and the Chinese have been intent to wipe out our steel and aluminum industries as well (hence the reason for Trump's tariffs).

Well it is a specific case but it constitutes one of the most major of the major wars in history which was why I was curious. The thing is though that if it had not been for some major mistakes on their part, the outcome of the war still might have been very different (Stalingrad and Kursk were...

Yes I am aware of the fact that the German war machine was actually mostly horse-drawn. I wouldn't say that was shocking however because horse-drawn militaries were still very much in use then. The Soviet military at the time was mostly horse-drawn as well and so were the Japanese I believe...

I don't think it was so much that they were not prepared as they were under-prepared, which I'd say is a bit different, and even then that was more in terms of supply as tactically, they were very prepared. But in comparison to everyone else at the time, both supply-wise and tactically, they...

Which bad guys? The Germans I'd say were extremely prepared for WW II and they weren't launching any haymakers when they started. And had they not made some of the major mistakes they did, might well have been impossible to oust from Western Europe and much of Eastern Europe.

I hate to admit this, but I don't understand the reference. I don't know if that is an insult or a compliment??

While I don't have any hard proof to link to right now, I would also suspect because a lot of them have investments ($$$) tied into China and their business community constituents likely do as well.

Another thing, but on this issue of being "expendable," in what way? Unless you are in the combat arms, than there probably isn't much risk of you being "expended" as an enlisted soldier any more than an officer. If you are in the Navy and on a ship, your chance of being expended as an officer...

I don't see how enlisted are more expendable than officers. That depends on the job and the particular enlisted and officer. For example, who is harder to replace, a sergeant with twelve years in and a thorough knowledge of their job or a fresh 2nd Lt. with no experience? Remember also that even...

Biden I will give credit to if he is keeping the tariffs in place and being hard on the Chinese, but the rest of the political class has been, at least until Trump came along, far too soft on them.

No idea---I think Xi will seek to have a selected replacement, or it will lead to a power struggle. But whether China stays with the dictator model or reverts back to being more how the Soviet Union was led (post-Stalin), it will still be a sizable threat.

This has been the thinking of the global community for the past few decades, i.e. bring China into the world economy, trade with them, and it will lead to increased prosperity for the people who will then demand more freedom and China will liberalize and hopefully become democratic. But thus...

China isn't the be-all, end-all but they are a big enough consumer base that they can call the shots with many. Also corporations can very much boycott. Boycott means to withdraw from commercial or social relations with a business, country, or person as a protest. Companies can very much do...

The impression (though maybe wrong) that I've had is that companies doing business in China have had to be willing to share their intellectual property with the Chinese for many years now, but many have been willing to do it because of the large population to sell to.

It isn't that the world needs China but rather that China presents such an enormous economic opportunity that no one individual is willing to take a stand against them, which thus creates the practical outcome of the world acting like it is more in need of China than the other way around. As...

How are we seeing it though? Businesses moving their production out of China doesn't mean they don't tolerate an oppressive China because they have no problem selling to China. Also this reminds me of a point I forgot to address, but regarding the entertainment industry, I am not thinking of the...

This is a legitimate point but it's one factor and like you said, it's 10-15 years out, and even then, I am skeptical that at that point, China won't still represent a huge source of profit for global business and for quite a long period to come. So it's a long time stil.

I respect what you are saying too, I think maybe we are misunderstanding one another. I agree that China is captive to the forces of global economics as much as the U.S. is. What I meant though is that in terms of that limiting China's various oppressive behaviors, it would require the world to...

I would dispute that the world is moving beyond China. And Hollywood is but one example. I also cited Big Business as a whole. Also professional sports like the NBA. It is good if large businesses are moving a good degree out of China, but that is only in terms of their manufacturing and supply...

nodropinufaka, I disagree with three points you've made thus far: This is just my opinion, but I do not believe that China has any mutual or shared interest with the U.S. on climate change. Climate change for the Chinese is an issue to use to help hamper the U.S. economically because they know...

IMO, a problem is can the rest of the world be counted on to unite its economic strength against China. Right now, China seems to be getting the rest of the world to bend to its will, with all the big business and Hollywood turning a blind eye towards China's slavery, oppression, and now...

Well what I meant more was that I don't think we'd have the capability to destroy them aside from nuking them and they could do that to us.

Just curious, but how would China "face the end"? They are not small Japan. And even Japan was very hard to break, it took two atomic bombs and the Soviet Union declaring war. At most, IMO, China would just suffer an embarrassment if they lost a conflict with the U.S.

What I wonder about is will China be like Japan in that it takes them 60 years of modernization to achieve the military capabilities to really project power and then start using it. Japan started with the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and by the 1930s was engaging in imperialism. China started in...

One thing, but is that the Navy in that region or U.S. combat aircraft overall...?

It is a statement about the topic on a part that is of concern to me. Maybe saying their navy is "right in one area" is technically incorrect, but it seems to be far less spread out then ours is.

So just my civvie perspective, but what I wonder is, regarding China, the U.S. Navy people say (such as Brett) that it doesn't have the resources to do its peacetime missions let alone handle a peer adversary. The U.S. Navy is spread globally. Whereas the Chinese' goal is mainly to take Taiwan...

Sculpin, you seem very bent on convincing everyone here of your arguments, hence your very long posts. The thing is, due to how you came/come across in your first posts, you did the equivalent of take the lid off of a garbage can and serve everyone the dinner you cooked on it, i.e. even if the...

Army Infantry OSUT, at least when I went through it in '05-'06, just taught us the very, very basics of infantry. Basically just enough so that when a soldier gets to a unit, they can then be taught by the unit (the Drill Sergeants told us that most of our training would come at our unit).

Sculpin...a couple tips. I don't think you realize how arrogant you are coming across. According to your profile, you do not have any military service. But you are talking like a straight up "Been There, Done That." It just comes across as extremely arrogant and very disrespectful. My own...

Fast and Furious: Atlantic Drift? :) :) Have noticed you guys have some tough views regarding SWOs!

According to the Gold Standard of Internet-based information (aka Wikipedia), the Navy says there actually is no specific definition of a CSG, that they can be scaled up and down depending on requirement, so I suppose they could scale them up to the equivalent of a CBG if needed. The issue with...

Well on the capabilities and capacities, if the CSG has less capability to defend itself than a full CBG, I would want to bring it back up to the capabilities of the CBG, and if that means converting back into a CBG, I would be for that. If it could be done without converting into a CBG, then...

So been wondering about this, from what I've read, around the late 90s-early 2000s, the Navy made the decision to get rid of the Carrier Battle Group model and turn them into Strike Groups, a strike group being a carrier with just a few ships and around 75% of the aircraft of a battle group...

I would be much more inclined to believe it is a human creation simply because the statistical likelihood of extraterrestrials is so nil. First there's the statistical likelihood of aliens with intelligence akin to humans, then the likelihood of them creating a civilization and advancing it...

Saw this pilot on Fox News in an interview and thought, "Okay, I will go to Air Warriors and see if they have anything to say..." Aside from the object itself, what about the acceleration of the object? He said he knows of no aircraft capable of such maneuvers...?

George Will wrote an article about this some years ago: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-blue-national-soil-of-chinas-navy/2011/03/18/AB5AxAs_story.html Also if you Google "china Mahan" and "George Will china Mahan" you will find some interesting articles.

Could also be that the Chinese are just trying to assert themselves and intimidate. I don't know if China's naval strategy has to do with wanting purely to control the seas as national territory due to their being a terrestrial people. My own (amateur) opinion on China, navy-wise, consists of...

This makes me curious, but does anyone ever do so-so or more lousy say while in training but then do stellar while in the fleet later on?