5 ms·
Probably not a great sign of things to come.
by moose_man 4y ago
Probably not a great sign of things to come.
- bmitc 4y agoProbably didn't help that an Air Force general was openly and loudly proclaiming that war is inevitable. I looked up some speeches of his, and he is off the rails, like the German general in All Quiet Along the Western Front.
- throwbadubadu 4y agoWould be great if just more people had read this great book nowadays (and please, not watch that super bad recent movie that doesn't deserve to bear the same title (: ). And cannot belief statesman proclaiming that now everywhere :( War should always be seen as evitable, at least that belief needs to hold up til the last second.. and even further. But who am I...
- moose_man 4y agoI mean, it's nothing compared to the internal speeches that China gives its troops. Heck it's nothing compared to the speeches Xi gives internally to troops. Chinese troops are currently training on their missile corp on models of US aircraft carriers. Edit: Chinese propaganda video of attack on Guam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBOho1AOKYY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBOho1AOKYY https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36598/chinese-air-force-video-depicting-bombers-attacking-guam-steals-scenes-from-transformers https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/36598/chinese-air-forc... https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-builds-mockups-us-navy-ships-area-used-missile-target-practice-2021-11-08/ https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-builds-mockups-us-...
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- riku_iki 4y agomy speculation is that the main goal of Chinese covid lockdown was to train and simulate mass policing of population in case of upcoming war.
- mikewarot 4y agoMy understanding is their vaccine doesn't work at all, they don't have a strong emergency medical care system, thus it was the only real option for them.
- dfadsadsf 4y agoWhy would you need to police population in case of war for returning Taiwan? It will be very popular war and you definitely won't need to lock people down.
- riku_iki 4y agothere will be consequences from these war for population.
- nostromo 4y agoLook at Russia as an example. The war has been longer and less popular than expected and economic sanctions have hurt the working class the most. China imports 66%-75% of its oil. That would drop dramatically in a hot war, as oil imports via the South China Sea would likely be blocked. This would require any imports to sail around Australia, which would likely be stopped by the US. Russia would happily sell China oil, but it doesn't produce nearly enough to cover the gap. No oil, no military. No oil, no economy.
- jollyllama 4y agoThat's been going on for decades, and supposedly the balloons are nothing new. What's changed is the USA response, in terms of the American general's rhetoric and the coverage and downing of balloons. So there's been a shift on the part of the USA.
- moose_man 4y agoThat's a lie. It started in 2012 but it took until the middle of the 2010s before they started openly threatening war. This is not some status quo situation that the US General upended. China's been escalating toward war since Xi took over. I mean before Xi it was hide your strength bide your time.
- jollyllama 4y agoOk, a decade ago. > it took until the middle of the 2010s Here's a Chinese general openly threatening war with Japan in 2012: https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-general-prepare-for-combat/ https://freebeacon.com/national-security/chinese-general-pre... The Taiwan Strait crisis of the '90s was before my time but it'd be interesting to know how bellicose the rhetoric got back then.
- moose_man 4y agoDifferent than threatening war with US. Edit and yes, it stepped up in 2012 when Xi took over. Started with Japan and has migrated to aggression against US and allies. Edit: Taiwan crisis wasn't great, but it ended when the US sailed an aircraft carrier through Strait of Taiwan. So while it wasn't great, it wasn't like they were threatening war against US.
- Rebelgecko 4y agoSome of the propaganda videos people are posting on douyin (OG tiktok) are hilarious (even if the historical events they're inspired by are very serious). It's interesting to compare foreign propaganda about the US military to US propaganda about foreign militaries. https://www.douyin.com/video/6946497713223585028 https://www.douyin.com/video/6946497713223585028 https://www.douyin.com/video/7081571993102961958 https://www.douyin.com/video/7081571993102961958
- bmitc 4y agoChina's actions are unacceptable but so are the general's words. I would be very surprised if he wasn't reprimanded in some way.
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y agoDo you have a link or name of the guy? I haven't heard about this
- bagels 4y agoedit: Maybe this? https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-air-force-general-predicts-war-china-2025-memo-rcna67967 https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-air-fo...
- nonethewiser 4y agoI dont see anything crazy there > Minihan said in the memo that because both Taiwan and the U.S. will have presidential elections in 2024, the U.S. will be “distracted,” and Chinese President Xi Jinping will have an opportunity to move on Taiwan.
- bmitc 4y agoYou need to read the full memo, sent out as an email and watch his prior speeches. The memo appears to have been admonished by actual national security experts. Irregardless of the accuracy, there are better ways to handle these things, and he doesn't seem to have proper authority to make those statements.
- ethbr0 4y agoParent is presumably talking about recent comments by Gen. Mike Minihan (Air Mobility Command). IMHO, people/news are blowing it out of proportion. If the boss of FedEx said we're going to end up in a war with China, how much does that say about what defense contractors are doing? What it was probably actually about was shocking the troops assigned to AMC, establishing an important mission and raising morale, and declaring business as usual was no longer acceptable. Gotta be creative to make people excited about moving supplies. See also: every ridiculous statement by every startup CEO in a bubble, ever
- nostromo 4y agoThat is entirely up to China and what it decides to do with regards to Taiwan. Xi has made it very clear he would like to invade Taiwan, and soon. If Ukraine was going well for Russia, he may have already invaded.
- HillRat 4y agoYeah, he’s … a little excitable. Dude runs Air Mobility Command, he could stand to remember he’s not running ACC, he’s FedEx for things what go bang.
- krapp 4y agoWarmonger tries to sell a war. Film at eleven.
- MonkeyMalarky 4y agoI'd say it feels like a return to the era of cold war tensions but I wouldn't know, I was born around when the Berlin Wall fell. What say you older HNers, is this what it was like?
- moose_man 4y agoThe Cold War had expectations, guardrails, rules. Those don't exist in the current setup. China didn't even pick up the emergency hotline in the first balloon crisis.
- foobarbecue 4y agoSo... it's worse?
- moose_man 4y agoHonestly, I've been watching this unfold since 2012 and the point where we are now is pretty bleak. Unless something intervenes to change the course of where things are going, we're headed for a bad place. It's bleak to the point where experts on both sides (Chinese and US) seem resigned to conflict.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- influx 4y agoIn the 80s, I resided on a US Military base in West Germany. Currently, I feel like the world is getting closer to World War III, which is the closest experience I have had in my lifetime. There is ongoing conflict in Europe involving a country that possesses nuclear weapons. Additionally, tensions are escalating with China and the economy seems unstable. I sincerely hope that reasonable minds will be able to prevent any further escalation of these conflicts, but there is always the possibility of an unintentional incident that could lead to an expansion of these wars.
- LarryMullins 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]