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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Round 3
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 11:47 AM
M52NICKERSON
DALEK!
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: It costs money now so it does not cost lives later. Its all well and good to go to war with the Army you have...but it's far better to go to war with the Army you need. The best example is the Persian Gulf War in 1993. In a mere 30 days (and 100 hours) we destroyed the world's fourth largest Army, an Army composed of large numbers of combat veterans and using a large amount of the best Soviet and Warsaw Pact equipment that was available at the time. American planes flying at will over enemy territory, precision munitions, tanks that could run at 50mph and still bullseye the enemy, attack helicopters, precision artillery with pinpoint counter-battery radar etc. When the other side has more men and equipment then you then the last thing you want is a fair fight. If they have ten tanks and you have one tank then if your tank can't kill eleven bad guys then your going to lose. In war...losing is bad.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 12:50 PM
HERO
Quote:Originally posted by BYTEMITE: >_> You... Want a big enough military to go to war against China? And this is also Romney's intention?
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 1:08 PM
BYTEMITE
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 2:02 PM
Quote:Originally posted by BYTEMITE: If China goes to war with us, something has very seriously gone wrong and we're screwed no matter how big our military is. It's not like in WW2 when we had the manufacturing power to counter numerically greater forces - China HAS our manufacturing power by the BALLS. They are closer to sharing global superpowerdom with us than Russia ever was. They have nukes. Their leaders have no regard for human life and are human rights violations and atrocities waiting to happen. They have a billion more people than we do. And they hold a big share of the world global economy. This is like a step beyond Mutually Assured Destruction, this is suicidal.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 3:51 PM
Quote:You also do not understand Mutual Assurred Destruction.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 4:41 PM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: Quote:Originally posted by m52nickerson: Right now the US military is larger and more powerful by a vast amount. So much so it is riddiculus. There is no need for us to be able to take on the rest of the world x3. Being able to beat it twice is enough. China has a much, much larger military. Russia is also bigger and in terms of heavy divisions we are very far behind as a result of Clinton's 50% reductions in the 1990s.
Quote:Originally posted by m52nickerson: Right now the US military is larger and more powerful by a vast amount. So much so it is riddiculus. There is no need for us to be able to take on the rest of the world x3. Being able to beat it twice is enough.
Quote: Rather the fielding a 100 million man army or dozens of heavy divisions we use force multipliers based on combined arms tactics and use of advanced technologies. For example, outnumbered five to one our Air Force uses advanced fighters, standoff weapons, airborn controllers, and training to even the playing field. That costs money.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 4:53 PM
Quote:Originally posted by BYTEMITE: This kind of thing makes me want to deliberately limit the military because if they're even considering they can fight China, then our military is too reckless to be trusted with our defense.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 2:19 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: I think you are being unrealistic about China and downplaying the threat posed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. You also do not understand Mutual Assurred Destruction. You incorrectly assume that any conflict would be nuclear, therefore all conflict should and would be avoided. All it really means is that all conflict should and would be non-nuclear. This is why we spent decades preparing for the conventional defense of Europe...because we could not risk all out nuclear war to achieve that objective. It's why China has spent more effort building cruise missiles that threaten American carriers then ICBMs to threaten American cities. Look at China's ICBMs. They have only a few, a couple dozen at most based on Soviet designs from the '70s. Enough to deter, nothing more. Virtually no long range bombers. Even their tactical weapons are limited in number. Lets say they attack Taiwan. Now they're at war with us and by law we're pledged to defend Taiwan. Your understanding has us jumping o an all out nuclear war. Actually it will be a fast paced conventional conflict. If we win China wont risk a nuclear attack because they can't win. If the win the conventional war we won't risk our west coast to save Taiwan. Even in the midst of an all out regional conflict, the risk of an exchange is too high.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 6:16 AM
Thursday, October 25, 2012 7:09 AM
STORYMARK
Quote:Originally posted by m52nickerson: Quote:Originally posted by Hero: It costs money now so it does not cost lives later. Its all well and good to go to war with the Army you have...but it's far better to go to war with the Army you need. The best example is the Persian Gulf War in 1993. In a mere 30 days (and 100 hours) we destroyed the world's fourth largest Army, an Army composed of large numbers of combat veterans and using a large amount of the best Soviet and Warsaw Pact equipment that was available at the time. American planes flying at will over enemy territory, precision munitions, tanks that could run at 50mph and still bullseye the enemy, attack helicopters, precision artillery with pinpoint counter-battery radar etc. When the other side has more men and equipment then you then the last thing you want is a fair fight. If they have ten tanks and you have one tank then if your tank can't kill eleven bad guys then your going to lose. In war...losing is bad. I'm glad you got that off your chest. Would you like to address my point now?
Thursday, October 25, 2012 9:07 AM
Quote:Originally posted by BYTEMITE: What you are suggesting is you want to build the military up so we can defend ourselves if China attacks. That sounds like an arms race. We also have nukes. Arms race + nukes = the definition of a mutually assured destruction policy.
Quote: Only instead of that being a deterrent, you think we can fight them. I'm saying whether or not we win it would be devastation on an human, environment, and economic level.
Quote: This kind of thing makes me want to deliberately limit the military because if they're even considering they can fight China, then our military is too reckless to be trusted with our defense.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 9:56 AM
Thursday, October 25, 2012 9:58 AM
Quote:Originally posted by m52nickerson: Hero you simply do not understand war. You are right in the fact that China could never hope the win against the US in a conventional war. Even if they teamed up with Russia I doubt the two of them could beat NATO minus the US.
Quote: This is why China would never risk any type of conventional war with the US, even if we cut our military back by some. They would look to hurt us economicly. That is there power.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 10:01 AM
Thursday, October 25, 2012 10:02 AM
Quote:Originally posted by BYTEMITE: Nick: It's highly unlikely that China will attack us. Agreed. I am hopeful that the people commanding our military are smart enough - and cynical enough - that they would be able to see what a phenomenally bad idea this would be, win or lose. But sometimes our military is pretty gung ho. That actually scares me more than China does.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 10:22 AM
Quote:Originally posted by BYTEMITE: No, I said if a government group insists on chasing a reckless action and coming up with plans to attack China and destroy the global economy, then I really kind of would like to see the means of that entity to do things that I think would have widespread destructive ramifications limited.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 10:23 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: That is crazy. First of all NATO minus the US is paper thin. Remember France is not a member of NATO. The only NATO power with a large modern Army is Germany and they'd be a tough nut to crack. Spain can field a division or two at most, same for Italy, and they are poorly equiped. Portugal contributes very little. Greece has a decent sized force, but mostly infantry and poorly equiped. Turkey has a very nice Army that is better then the average Arab nation but it's more in line with Greece's level of technoogy with a few more tanks and modern planes. Norway has a very well trained and equiped Army that is tiny. Iceland...moving on, Canada. Ok, Canada has a couple very nice mechanized brigades. Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria...good, ok, poor. Poland has a large modern force using mostly outdated Soviet era equipment. Romania has a large 1970s force, but are well trained. Bulgaria, has a small army, poorly supported. All three have some amounts of modern US equipment and pound for pound aside from Britain and Germany they would be NATO best troops. Britain no longer has the Army or Navy it did in the 1980s. NATO has no ability to project for in sufficient numbers to oppose Chinese aggression without signifigant logistical support from the United States. Read up on the Faulkland Island War. Without US logistical support those folks would all be extras when Madonna shoots the sequel to Evita.
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: Actually they would wage conventional war on their neighbors. They would use economic power to keep us out of the fight, but their recent military build up is all based on countering US force projection capability. They are both planning for the best and preparing for the worst.
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: There is also a cultural distinction. China believes that conflict with the United States is necessary as our power diminishes and their's grows. We American's have a very similar philosophy that can be summed up with "to be the Man you gotta beat the Man."
Thursday, October 25, 2012 10:24 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. In the event of war with China...I'd prefer those things belong to China. As Will Rogers once noted (besides being a cowboy he was a noted humorist and widely regarded for his public commentary) 'America is the only country in the world that waits till we're in a war to start gettin ready for it.' He was speaking just prior to World War 2. Peace is something everyone ever wants, but it is not the primary goal of any rational foriegn policy...even Hitler would have happily accepted a peaceful outcome to his conquest of Europe and had people simply surrendered to him then there would never have been a war. China is planning a war, it probably will not come tomorrow but it will come. Since 1990 their entire focus has been on diminishing US power. They steal our technology, subvert our industry, weaken our banks, are building up their military, they support countries like Iran and Syria that tie down and drain our resources. Even now...would we oppose them? Would we risk a 50,000 casualty war to save Taiwan? Japan maybe, but Taiwan? Maybe not. When that answer is 'no' they will attack. They've been preparing to cross Formosa since 1950. 50,000 casualties. We can barely stomach 3,000. Sometimes there is a peace that can only come on the other side of a war.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 10:39 AM
Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:09 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: Quote:Originally posted by BYTEMITE: No, I said if a government group insists on chasing a reckless action and coming up with plans to attack China and destroy the global economy, then I really kind of would like to see the means of that entity to do things that I think would have widespread destructive ramifications limited. The purpose of the State Department is to engage in diplomatic relations with other nations and seek peaceful resolution of our conflicts. The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. In the event of war with China...I'd prefer those things belong to China. As Will Rogers once noted (besides being a cowboy he was a noted humorist and widely regarded for his public commentary) 'America is the only country in the world that waits till we're in a war to start gettin ready for it.' He was speaking just prior to World War 2. Peace is something everyone ever wants, but it is not the primary goal of any rational foriegn policy...even Hitler would have happily accepted a peaceful outcome to his conquest of Europe and had people simply surrendered to him then there would never have been a war. China is planning a war, it probably will not come tomorrow but it will come. Since 1990 their entire focus has been on diminishing US power. They steal our technology, subvert our industry, weaken our banks, are building up their military, they support countries like Iran and Syria that tie down and drain our resources. Even now...would we oppose them? Would we risk a 50,000 casualty war to save Taiwan? Japan maybe, but Taiwan? Maybe not. When that answer is 'no' they will attack. They've been preparing to cross Formosa since 1950. 50,000 casualties. We can barely stomach 3,000. Sometimes there is a peace that can only come on the other side of a war. H Hero...must be right on all of this. ALL of the rest of us are wrong. Chrisisall, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:23 AM
Quote:Originally posted by m52nickerson: They might try and keep us out of the fight, but it would not work. How many air craft carriers do they have again?
Thursday, October 25, 2012 11:32 AM
Quote:Originally posted by m52nickerson: Quote:Originally posted by Hero: The purpose of the military is to kill people and break things. In the event of war with China...I'd prefer those things belong to China. As Will Rogers once noted (besides being a cowboy he was a noted humorist and widely regarded for his public commentary) 'America is the only country in the world that waits till we're in a war to start gettin ready for it.' He was speaking just prior to World War 2. Peace is something everyone ever wants, but it is not the primary goal of any rational foriegn policy...even Hitler would have happily accepted a peaceful outcome to his conquest of Europe and had people simply surrendered to him then there would never have been a war. China is planning a war, it probably will not come tomorrow but it will come. Since 1990 their entire focus has been on diminishing US power. They steal our technology, subvert our industry, weaken our banks, are building up their military, they support countries like Iran and Syria that tie down and drain our resources. Even now...would we oppose them? Would we risk a 50,000 casualty war to save Taiwan? Japan maybe, but Taiwan? Maybe not. When that answer is 'no' they will attack. They've been preparing to cross Formosa since 1950. 50,000 casualties. We can barely stomach 3,000. Sometimes there is a peace that can only come on the other side of a war. A lot has changed since WWII. The US is basicly ready for a war with anyone and everyone, twice over. 50,000 casualties to save Taiwan? Were do you come up with that?
Thursday, October 25, 2012 3:54 PM
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: One. How many do they need to cross Formosa? None. Its a short hop.
Quote:Originally posted by Hero:The South China Sea and the Formosa straight is a shallow water region. China has diesel electric subs that are most effective in those waters. Extemely quiet, close to their port so fuel is not a restriction. Our subs have diminished capacity in those waters. The waters are restrictive and to fight our carrier (we'd never get a 2nd one into the region in time to stop them) would have to fight within range of shore based aviation and anti-ship cruise missiles. We're talking thousands of fighters and missiles.
Quote:Originally posted by Hero:China recently unveiled a hypersonic cruise missile similar to Russia's that is designed for a one-shot kill on a carrier. The missile is specifically designed to penetrate an integrated group wide Aegis air defense system by combining supersonic speed with extreme low level flying.
Quote:Originally posted by Hero:That's all assuming China is stupid enough to plan a war while our carrier is in the area. If it was me I'd plan to hit our carrier in port in Japan or maybe while its transiting into the region from the Indian Ocean. There's a nice giant region of island rich shallow water that traffic flows through on that route. Great for pirates...and diesel subs. You don't even have to sink a carrier, just put it out of action. They only need a couple of days. Even better, stage an attack on an American carrier in the Persian Gulf region...or gin up some other crisis to draw the carrier out of position. They saw how we drew on naval, air, and ground troops from the Pacific to support operations in the Gulf and Afganistan.
Thursday, October 25, 2012 4:33 PM
Thursday, October 25, 2012 5:02 PM
Friday, October 26, 2012 1:15 AM
FREMDFIRMA
Friday, October 26, 2012 1:59 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Hero: 110 miles separate Taiwan from China. Goes like this, Taiwan gets hit with hundreds of short range missiles, massive air strikes, air assault by helicopters and airborne troops, then delivery of follow on forces by ships, boats, hovercraft...then we start hour number 2...ok, to be fair the military estimates it could be two hours from embarkation to landing. Would we detect the build up? Yes. Because they already did it, they've been built up for invasion for years.
Friday, October 26, 2012 10:06 AM
Quote:Originally posted by FREMDFIRMA: What's the point of a "Nuclear Deterrent" if it doesn't, yanno - DETER anything. LOGIC FAILURE, INSUFFICIENT KOOLAID. I want my fekkin money back.
Quote: Also, seriously, the Chinese wouldn't have a hope in hell even if they DID invade us - they would suffer decimating psychological casualties almost immediately from culture shock alone.
Friday, October 26, 2012 12:08 PM
Friday, October 26, 2012 3:14 PM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
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