Why do you think America is so deeply involved in the Middle East? It isn’t for the climate, it’s because America is vulnerable to supply disruptions there.
The more vulnerable China is, the more it will feel the need to address the situation.
Perhaps in another fifty years isolationism will reign triumphant in the newly energy-independent United States and China will step into the Middle East, Africa, etc. to play a new tune for all the puppets to dance along to.
BTW, I am a big fan of the F-35B in particular, this is the sole F-35 version which is truly impressive – a quantum leap compared to Yak-38s or Harriers.
F-35B is only a quantum leap over previous STOVL aircraft because there has been so little development in the field previously. If Yak-41 or P.1216 (or any of the other STOL/STOVL designs of that era) had gone ahead it would be a different story.
And even so I wouldn’t describe F-35B as ‘impressive’ — rather more of a fool’s errand. Even leaving out how it has managed to drag down the rest of western airpower, considered in isolation it shows a wanton disregard for cost and risk management, and is completely out of step with what should be the limited role of USMC air power in the national context.
But sure, it’s ‘impressive’ I guess — so was the Titanic.
The advent of the F35 is not a game changing event such as the launch of HMS Dreadnought; lm marketing are desperate for people to believe it is, but it is not.
Much as the Huey was a symbol of the Vietnam war, the Bear a symbol of the Cold War (and since 2007 the revival of the Russian state), the F-35 program is destined to symbolise the decadence and complacency of American empire in the present, and the decline in American power which promises to coincide with the aircraft’s service life. That any number of other nations are caught up in the F-35 saga, largely to their own detriment, only adds to its symbolic power: the fall of a giant is seldom a tidy affair.
Also I agree with the article’s observations re: diplomatic significance of Xi Jinping first state visit being to Moscow. Except is not only message to Washington, but also to Japan!
No moron war is war and as I said but you did not quote to make an asinine statement, human nature and therefore; the nature of was does not change.
So the nature of war never changes … and the nature of war is to pour men into the furnace until victory is obtained or no men are left. Yeah, um, ok. :rolleyes:
It would probably just be easier if you just admitted that raising the VC was a complete non-sequitur borne out of ingrained cultural/racial prejudice.
The funny thing is the Austrian airforce is now perhaps one of the most potent in that part of Europe with a grand total of 15 stripped down Eurofighters and 3 ex-RAF C-130s.
God knows what the Austrians were thinking with Typhoon — well, they were probably thinking of Germany and the EU. But Gripen C/D would’ve been a much wiser choice. Or nothing.
So, what planned today in one of the worlds worse economies.
There will be no miracle economic recovery either in the United States or Europe, nor is there any prospect of significant increases in military spending. The current fiscal environment for US and NATO/EU militaries is more or less here to stay for the foreseeable future.
There are two possible exceptions to this scenario, both unlikely:
(1) the descent of the United States into fascism.
(2) the unification of Europe.
If you ever get a chance speak to a veteran of the Korean War, or even in Nam where Cong were shot down like hogs in slaughter because they just kept on coming.
Another point: the Viet Cong were not Chinese. But then those Asians (or commies?) are all the same, right? :rolleyes:
Concentration of strength is the norm in any military operation. [….] This is military tactics 101.
It is easy to forget such things when there is an underlying racist narrative of the not-quite-human Asiatic races into which observations are packaged.
Yes I am claiming that war has changed. China isn’t going to try ‘human wave’ tactics in a modern high-end air-sea conflict for the simple reason that it would be retarded, and — as evidence by basically everything they’ve done over the last generation — China is not retarded.
Of course there are still scenarios where volume will be useful and China is prepared to take advantage of that, but that no more reflects a commitment to ‘quantity over quality’ than do US developments re: SDB to counter high-end SAM systems.
Talk of China’s reliance on ‘human wave’ tactics reminds me of European arrogance before Japan’s defeat of Russia in 1905 sent shockwaves throughout the European world. Perhaps the Americans will have to suffer a similarly rude awakening before letting go of their 1950s conceptions.
Back in reality USN has cut several hundred from its order books as SH continues to roll off the line, Australia has cut 48, Italy has cut a few dozen, and cuts across the NATO and American board are a matter of ‘when’ and ‘by how much’, not ‘if’.
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