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Aircraft carriers are a tool to plunder weak countries. Carriers are offensive weapons, not defensive. That's why only USA has aircraft carriers: parasitizing

Aircraft carriers are a tool to plunder weak countries. Carriers are offensive weapons, not defensive. That's why only USA has aircraft carriers: parasitizing on the world resources requires a huge offensive force that has to be regularly used to send a message: "Don't try to resist if we want your resources". They have almost zero contribution to the prevention of another major world war.

cturner 5y ago
US carrier groups are the main defence against the ccp’s slow-push into its neighbour’s territory. This test may signal the CCP that their current generation of long-range anti-ship cruise missiles are less of a deterrant for US presence in the international waters called the South China Sea than expected. This should be encouraging to all ASEAN members, and the rest of the Quad. Good book just out on the dynamics in the region, /Red Zone/ by Peter Hartcher.
- anticodon 5y ago
  What has US to do with China neighboring territories that are located on the other half of the globe away from US?.. Same for Afghanistan or Iraq or Vietnam.
  - cturner 5y ago
    It is not equivalent. The US presence in the west pacific is welcomed by almost all the countries in the region, including Vietnam. All of the countries supporting the US presence want to see the current rules-based order continue, and are alarmed by the CCP's illegal territory grabs. There is no analogy with US engagement in the Middle East, Afghanistan, or the Vietnam War. That the US is a long way away is also not significant - several of its largest trading partners are in the region, and it has long-standing treaty obligations to many countries. US security guarantees have served non-proliferation goals since the second world war, and everyone wins from this: lower investments in military, less risk of rogue nuclear weapons, simpler strategic calculations than if every small country had nuclear weapons.
thehappypm 5y ago
Wow, so woke. Carriers certainly are offensive weapons, but by far their heaviest use was in the Pacific theater in WWII -- would you call imperial Japan a weak country that needed plundering?
- anticodon 5y ago
  Weapons used in WWII were different. There's no use for aircraft carriers now in a global conflict. It is only an instrument to punish countries that are not willing to give up control of their natural resources (mostly oil-rich countries in the Middle East).

cturner 5y ago

US carrier groups are the main defence against the ccp’s slow-push into its neighbour’s territory. This test may signal the CCP that their current generation of long-range anti-ship cruise missiles are less of a deterrant for US presence in the international waters called the South China Sea than expected. This should be encouraging to all ASEAN members, and the rest of the Quad. Good book just out on the dynamics in the region, /Red Zone/ by Peter Hartcher.

anticodon 5y ago
What has US to do with China neighboring territories that are located on the other half of the globe away from US?.. Same for Afghanistan or Iraq or Vietnam.
- cturner 5y ago
  It is not equivalent. The US presence in the west pacific is welcomed by almost all the countries in the region, including Vietnam. All of the countries supporting the US presence want to see the current rules-based order continue, and are alarmed by the CCP's illegal territory grabs. There is no analogy with US engagement in the Middle East, Afghanistan, or the Vietnam War. That the US is a long way away is also not significant - several of its largest trading partners are in the region, and it has long-standing treaty obligations to many countries. US security guarantees have served non-proliferation goals since the second world war, and everyone wins from this: lower investments in military, less risk of rogue nuclear weapons, simpler strategic calculations than if every small country had nuclear weapons.

thehappypm 5y ago

Wow, so woke. Carriers certainly are offensive weapons, but by far their heaviest use was in the Pacific theater in WWII -- would you call imperial Japan a weak country that needed plundering?

anticodon 5y ago
Weapons used in WWII were different. There's no use for aircraft carriers now in a global conflict. It is only an instrument to punish countries that are not willing to give up control of their natural resources (mostly oil-rich countries in the Middle East).