Why China’s ‘unstoppable’ £175billion military is now the biggest threat to world order – and the West can’t keep up

[Donald H]

No, I am discussing actual facts. You are going almost entirely based on your beliefs and things that really do not matter.

And really, a dozen hypersonic missiles? And what is the rest of the fleet around that carrier doing? In fact, how in the hell do the missiles even find the carrier and get within range of it in the first place?

See, that is why you keep failing. You simply can not comprehend the real world is much more complex than you seem to believe.

I've over-estimated your ability to discuss the issue. You don't even seem to understand the meaning of an 'armchair war'!

 

[Mushroom]

I've over-estimated your ability to discuss the issue.

So you think fleet operations and UNREP are of no importance?

 

[The Duke]

The worlds elite are slow learners. It's why our species won't inhabit this planet for too long, relatively speaking. If other intelligent life follows us in the future, extracts our graves and perhaps find our old data from our time here, I wonder if they will know how our inability to evolve impacted our demise?

China sees Russias war as a perfect situation. It ensures the West is focused on Ukraine while Russia is weakened in their war against them. Almost as good as the war in Iraq.

Sure, China is going to publicly say they want peace, and maybe after this length of time they mean it as they figure the damage to Russias military is already done but they are more concerned with keeping a good relationship with Ukraine for their grain needs.

The West did this to themselves. Who had the bright idea "Let's arm a 1B+ Communist country that deems Taiwan, a vital commerce location for us as their territory? Let's give them our manufacturing base, our intellectual property and let them influence our own nation while they expand their influence around the globe. I mean, hey man, what could go wrong?"

I won't ever forget reading a book in my MBA class that covered the massive growth of China, this was in the early 2000s. As I sat on the subway reading the massive expansion China was experiencing and how they were cutting deeply into the U.S global market share, I was more stunned and alarmed than anything. A massive communist country expanding in this manner is good for the world?


I instinctively knew that they weren't going to be capitalist over time. Especially with Russia influence and that of their region. I've always tried to stay objective and I do respect their success in the face of the naive, but my reading of Maos nearly 1000 page biography reinforced what he and his wives/mistresses got away with. Ironically, if they ever wipe out corruption and become capitalist and free, it will simply speed up the Wests demise.

In class the prof and the students were so excited about the opportunities that were to be had for all the future MBA grads. I was far more reserved and definitely in the minority at that time. I can't say I saw this shift in world powers so rapidly at that time, but I knew that their rise would come at a great cost.

Greedy politicians and those in their circles. Also some wanted to weaken the US manufacturing base.

 

[Manonthestreet]

Blow up one dam in China you destroy most of their industry and wipe out millions, no nuke needed

 

[Failzero]

Sa

Blow up one dam in China you destroy most of their industry and wipe out millions, no nuke needed

Same with taking out Shasta Dam In America

 

[Mushroom]

Same with taking out Shasta Dam In America

Not really, there is actually very little of interest downstream from there. No industrial centers of note, almost entirely widely dispersed farmland until you reach Sacramento. And for those of us familiar with the reservoir, it is generally at only half capacity or less for other than a few short months in the spring.

And even if it was blown, I doubt there would be any significant damage by the time the floodwaters reached Sacramento. That is almost 200 miles away, and the area of town that it passes through is actually unpopulated farmland because it floods every year. It is known as the "Yolo Bypass", and that and the other flood areas already in place can handle over a million cubic meters of water. And there is a huge extension being added to the Yolo Bypass at this time.

I can only guess that you have never actually lived in Sacramento. That is the Yolo Bypass, and all of that water you see is about 10 meters deep. And it extends for a much greater distance both upstream (right) and downstream (left). As well as other catch areas farther upstream. Any residents that live there are more than familiar with that area, as for 10 months of the year that is all wheat and rice fields. But for about 2 months a year, it floods and moves a huge amount of water down to the Delta and the San Francisco Bay.

In reality, the far more dangerous reservoir if it was to ever fail is Oroville. That is on the Feather River, and passes right through major towns before it meets the Sacramento River. But I also wish any that tried a lot of luck trying to destroy that dam. It would probably take a nuke, and I honestly doubt if even that would do the trick.

You know, it really helps if you actually know the dams and geography involved. Most of that area of the state is very thinly populated farmland. No real industry, especially as nobody is stupid enough to put major industry in an area that regularly floods even with the dams in place.

 

[Failzero]

The Shasta Dam is so unimportant they are entertaining plans to raise it 18 to 28 Feet at a cost of 30 -100 Billion

 

[Mushroom]

The Shasta Dam is so unimportant they are entertaining plans to raise it 18 to 28 Feet at a cost of 30 -100 Billion

And once again, you completely twist what I said and try to imply I said something completely different.

Tell me, where exactly did I say it was "unimportant"? I wish you luck with that, I never did. It's main purpose is actually flood control, but it is also am important part of the aqueduct system that provides water to the cities. But I indeed meant what I said, destroying it would not have the major impact like it would in China. And they have built up major industries right against the rivers, often shortly downstream from the dam to power from it. This is very different from how and why dams were built in the US. The vast majority being in rural areas and for flood control more than for power.

And we have not had the "cascade failures", like has been seen in China when dams fail. Where the water then overwhelms the next dam on the river, causing two or more to fail.

And that raising is to allow it to capture and hold more water in the spring. As I already said, the Sacramento already sees significant flooding every year. They want to increase the capacity so they can let out the spring melt over a greater period of time. I used to drive over and next to that river twice a day as I drove to and from work. And if we got a heavy spring rain it would be flowing almost at capacity with the combination of rain runoff and the amount they had to release from the dam.

But even with that, like almost every other flood control reservoir it will be damned near empty at the start of winter. Something I was very used to seeing, but always laughed when they would make a big deal of that in the cities and trying to make people believe the drought nonsense.