US pulls last aircraft carrier in Asia as Trump focuses on Iran and the Western Hemisphere
4 days ago by UnderpantsWeevil to c/world
The lack of a U.S. carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived if the Navy deploys another in the next couple of months. But it shows how the open-ended operations with Iran are running some American sailors ragged, analysts say, while the Trump administration further retreats from the Asia-Pacific region and focuses on the Western Hemisphere.
“The administration says that the Pacific is supposed to be the most important behind the Western Hemisphere,” said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Instead, the U.S. is “doing the exact opposite” of its previously expressed goal of pulling out of the Middle East.
How many years and how fortuitous do the circumstances have to get before people stop insisting an invasion is imminent?
There's an enormous amount of value in China and Taiwan remaining friendly trading partners. Westerners refuse to acknowledge this.
It would be indeed incredibly stupid for Xi to try to invade Taiwan. There's the economic cost and there's a real possibility that he could wind up in the same situation Trump and Putin are currently in. Lots of those pesky drones creating a stalemate situation.
But authoritarians are being really stupid lately, so we can't discount the possibility of Xi being as stupid as Trump and Putin.
we can’t discount the possibility of Xi being as stupid as Trump and Putin.
I'm trying to think of a comparable series of blunders the Chinese have committed.
Xi's much more in the mold of an Obama or a Merkle than Putin or Trump
What about the sino Vietnamese war, that’s one blunder I remember
The three-week incursion into Vietnam in 1979 was certainly a bad decision by the Chinese government. Idk if it stacks up against the American 13 year invasion, occupation, terror-bombing, and torture/assassination campaign that became emblematic of US Foreign policy. Easy to forget the scope of the difference between the two interventions, given how often modern China-watchers love to bring up the former while neglecting the latter.
But do you have anything perpetrated by the Xi administration specifically? Or just something a sitting administrative official actually presided over?
I mean sure, but I don't see China behaving much better if they ever become a super-power the way the US was for the last hundred years. Especially considering their treatment of Uyghurs.
I would argue a large part of China not trying to militarily expand their Power was US dominance and their global policing.
I don’t see China behaving much better if they ever become a super-power
I'm not sure what else they'd need to do to qualify, shy of actually building out a global network of military bases. In that case, sure. If they start acting like the US, then they're no better than the US.
But for the time being, what I'm seeing - and I'll quote Dr Lubinda Haabazoka, Director of the University of Zambia Graduate School of Business and former President of the Economics Association of Zambia on this one
Every time China visits we get a hospital, every time Britain visits we get a lecture.
To date, I've seen a lot of Chinese Hospitals (and factories and ports and colleges) opening up across the world. Meanwhile, the only thing guys like Trump and Starmer seem to want to contribute are frowns, finger wags, and 500 lb bunker busters onto wedding parties.
I’m not sure what else they’d need to do to qualify, shy of actually building out a global network of military bases. In that case, sure. If they start acting like the US, then they’re no better than the US.
Yes, and what I'm saying is that the only reason they haven't done that yet is because the US hasn't let them. But I suppose that is something we can only speculate about until the time comes. And again, I think we only need to look at how they are treating Uyghurs and their aggressive/imperialistic local geopolitics to be able to guess how they would act if they were in the position the US is/was. And that's not touching on their surveillance state which is unrivalled in the world.
To date, I’ve seen a lot of Chinese Hospitals (and factories and ports and colleges) opening up across the world. Meanwhile, the only thing guys like Trump and Starmer seem to want to contribute are frowns, finger wags, and 500 lb bunker busters onto wedding parties.
That's the same type of Neo-colonialism the French have been up to for the last 100 years. Definitely not something positive for these African countries. There's a reason it's called debt trap diplomacy.
I just don't see why we should hope for the benevolence of the upcoming authoritarian super-power when there's ample evidence they are no better and just haven't had the freedom to be as bad scope-wise as the current super-power.
the US hasn’t let them
It's not the US, it's this big magic rock. Also works to scare away tigers
The magic rock apparently also makes people blind and naive towards chinese repression, what a world!
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Uh, fucking, I DO!
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