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How Big Are China's Man-Made Military Outposts? The Pentagon Explains
Apparently, someone at the Pentagon thought that between the four-year civil war in Syria, the heightened violence in Turkey, the proxy war in Ukraine, and the threat of a new war in the Korean Peninsula, the geopolitical situation wasn’t unstable enough, because on Thursday the DoD issued a report entitled "Asia Pacific Maritime Security Strategy," in which a considerable amount of space is spent discussing China’s land reclamation efforts in the Spratlys.
As you might recall, Beijing has embarked on an ambitious effort to build artificial islands atop reefs in the disputed waters of the South China Sea. The US and its regional allies say it’s an illegitimate attempt to redraw maritime boundaries and project military supremacy while China claims it’s simply doing what other countries in the region have been doing for years. The dispute came to a head earlier this year when the PLA essentially threatened to shoot down a US spy plane carrying a CNN crew.
Below, find some interesting and provocative commentary from the Pentagon about the islands along with some telling visuals. Note that Beijing is all but sure to view this as an escalation.
* * *
From Asia Pacific Maritime Security Strategy
One of the most notable recent developments in the South China Sea is China’s expansion of disputed features and artificial island construction in the Spratly Islands, using large-scale land reclamation. Although land reclamation – the dredging of seafloor material for use as landfill – is not a new development in the South China Sea, China’s recent land reclamation campaign significantly outweighs other efforts in size, pace, and nature.
China’s recent efforts involve land reclamation on various types of features within the South China Sea. At least some of these features were not naturally formed areas of land that were above water at high tide and, thus, under international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention, cannot generate any maritime zones (e.g., territorial seas or exclusive economic zones). Artificial islands built on such features could, at most, generate 500-meter safety zones, which must be established in conformity with requirements specified in the Law of the Sea Convention.
Although China’s expedited land reclamation efforts in the Spratlys are occurring ahead of an anticipated ruling by the arbitral tribunal in the Philippines v. China arbitration under the Law of the Sea Convention, they would not be likely to bolster the maritime entitlements those features would enjoy under the Convention. Since Chinese land reclamation efforts began in December 2013, China has reclaimed land at seven of its eight Spratly outposts and, as of June 2015, had reclaimed more than 2,900 acres of land. By comparison, Vietnam has reclaimed a total of approximately 80 acres; Malaysia, 70 acres; the Philippines, 14 acres; and Taiwan, 8 acres. China has now reclaimed 17 times more land in 20 months than the other claimants combined over the past 40 years, accounting for approximately 95 percent of all reclaimed land in the Spratly Islands.
Though other claimants have reclaimed land on disputed features in the South China Sea, China’s latest efforts are substantively different from previous efforts both in scope and effect. The infrastructure China appears to be building would enable it to establish a more robust power projection presence into the South China Sea. Its latest land reclamation and construction will also allow it to berth deeper draft ships at outposts; expand its law enforcement and naval presence farther south into the South China Sea; and potentially operate aircraft – possibly as a divert airstrip for carrier-based aircraft – that could enable China to conduct sustained operations with aircraft carriers in the area.
Ongoing island reclamation activity will also support MLEs’ ability to sustain longer deployments in the South China Sea. Potentially higher-end military upgrades on these features would be a further destabilizing step. By undertaking these actions, China is unilaterally altering the physical status quo in the region, thereby complicating diplomatic initiatives that could lower tensions.
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The only way to take on China is thru North Korea.
How does that make any sense?
no, it's brilliant.
Kim Jong Un, young and paranoid, gets suckered by a US move to do something stupid and fires one of his banana republic almost-nukes into Seoul, prompting a response from the US, who occupies shortly thereafter. The American presence in North Korea, with the backing of South Korea and Japan, scares the shit out of China, who also get baited into firing something at allied forces, prompting an all out attack on China, the only economic rival the US has. Russia, as usual historically, waits and watches and takes advantage of the situation incrementally, but does not officially join the war and retains its newfound stature, becoming once more the only counterbalance to US military hegemony.
Call it the Ukraine strategy on steroids. If you can't push Putin to start a war, try Kim.
I have to say, you have a hell of imagination.
And, perhaps, right.
When the Pentagon bombs the Federal Reserve I will support them. Anything else is banker bull shit.
The US won't conquer anyone. Have you been paying attention the last 30 years? They'll be out maneuvered.
Those little island outposts are militarily as valuable as aircraft carriers with missing engines.
North Korea is threatening South Korea again...
http://www.planbeconomics.com/2015/08/nkorea-un-ambassador-warns-us-skor...
Department of Offense
penis size joke here.
China is a threat. But so are a lot of other nations. Life is a terd. But what's a boy to do?
The U.S. Department of Attack complaining about other nations establishing military bases!
Fucking hypocrites.
The US invading North Korea? It would be much worse than Vietnam, and everyone knows how well that war went.
The North Koreans are perhaps more determined than the vietcong and with russian and chinese weapons they would fight until the last woman and child. I don't think they would even hold back if they were nuked, worse, they would nuke back with reckless abandon. North Korea is the safest country in the world, because no government is stupid enough to poke the hornets' nest.
Stuff and nonsense. It'll be over by Christmas, I tell you.
Why would north koreans be more determined than the viet cong?
hungrier?
By what logic should a Chinese military be of equal sze to a Philipne military base? Does the same logic apply to the military basses of the US and it's neighbors?
So you think it is not deliberate that we have not prevailed in any military contest in sixty years?
It is the progressive way. Division and conflict without end. No right or wrong, no cause to stand behind. Everything and everyone purposely demonstrated as flawed and lacking. Every military conflict with rules of engagement that prevent any chance of victory, much less pride.
No, its working perfectly. We distrust everyone, our own country the most, and most assuredly with cause. We trust nothing or no one which is suffocating our society and economy. We find ourselves alone in a big ugly world.
That may be so for the manipulated herd, but most ZHers have graduated from looking left and right at all the various pawns and instead look to see who is doing the manipulating: WHO BENEFITS? Once you shift your focus toward WHO BENEFITS, clarity returns. The heart of corruption lies at the Top.
Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes
Cui Bono?
Every time.
Every war is a bankers war. Having a perpetual, sustaining war that never ends is very, very profitable a la the "War on Terror" for example.
When a war ends the profits stop, and we all know that is the worst case scenario for sociopathic enterprises.
Concurrently, we have the same problems once we trust everyone, just sayin.
if China will lend us some dough we can conquer the world!
Imagination, the greatest nation of them all.
We lost any real chance with North Korea 40 years ago, unless they declare war and then give up due to starvation, no fuel for tanks or no amunition. Lost cause.
North Korea will be the next Cuba. Everyone will be Myspace friends and open embassies. Then the land developers and bankers will turn the North Koreans into slaves.
Slave to Kim, slave to Rothschild.
I'd take Kim. At least with the Kims you're released by death.
That's a terrible strategy. Truly awful.
In a war between two super powers the "who started it" meme is irrelevant by day 2. Because whoever loses the the war thereafter will be blamed for starting it.
If you want a war with China (you have no reason to want this) then the best strategy is a Shock and Awe on primary infrastructure (dams, power stations, bridges, airports, refiners, etc) followed by a hasty ceasefire and a Naval blockade.
Any kind of invasion against a country of 1,200,000,000 people is quite simply unwinnable. USA couldn't even hold Iraq FFS.
It's not possible to deploy enough troops fast enough to overrun the population of China.
The fact that the war is unwinnable will be the main factor for starting it.
The idiots in DC don't care about conventional losses, because the nuclear option is on the table against China. As soon as they're used...well, history will be written by the survivors, whoever they are.
surivors sitting in a bunker built by tax money.
The only good part of the story would be when Hillary, bernake and obomba realize they have to start digging the dirt because their food stock is running low.
Set off a couple nukes 200 miles up. The EMP takes out everything electronic. If any missles fly up, set off another EMP and the missles crash back down. Blowing people up with nukes is so 1945.
And then China's 21 nuclear reactor goes boom and we can say goodbye to a large part of Asia.
that will happen sooner or later anyways.
Everyone who ever lived in china knows that, just look at tianjin if you want the latest proof.
What is worse is if their trading system stops working. All hundreds of millions of farmers who got their land turned into concrete and waters polluted by industries. What will happen to them when the shit goes down?
There's not going to be an all-out anything against anybody. At least not on the surface. What we see on the news is posturing. What's really going on is a war of attrition based upon economic and infrastructure attacks.
Internal strife in China is a bigger threat to them than we are. Think about it: US stops buying Chinese crap, China's stock market collapses, China devalues, now something like an (engineered) crop blight hits right when we can't export due to our collapsing food production in CA etc. and you get rapid food price inflation. Now all you need is a little "encouragement" of internal radical elements and they are going to have their hands full.
Who says China has to be baited into it? I seem to remember something about the Gulf of Tonkin being staged/fabricated...wasn't that in the Pentagon Papers?
I forget sometimes - there's just too many conspiracy theories that have been proven true in the past decade.
The only war in the last two hundred years involving the United States that didn't come about from a false flag/absolute lie is WWI.
And at this stage I'm not even sure the Archduke was killed.
The Lusitania was carrying arms. The Germans knew it. They met with Secretary of State W. J. Bryan and he tried to get Wilson to do something about it. He failed and resigned. The Germans then tried to run advertisements in US papers saying that the Lusitania was considered fair game and would be fired upon. The ad was dropped from dozens of papers and only ran in one (Des Moines Register?) right next to the ad for sailing on the Lusitania.
The Lusitania sailed with Americans aboard despite the German efforts, as it approached Ireland it was ordered to sail at reduced spead and the warship escort was called off. The Germans then sank the ship.
The US was drawn into war just as Churchill, who had previously ordered a report on how the US would respond to the sinking of a ship with US civilians on board, expected.
Churchill was not without his good qualities but, net-net, Winston was a leading architect of the Twentieth Century's chief disasters.
Still, he did save the British Empire, so there's that.
It is breath takingly stupid what some of these brainless fuck sticks do, "Lets drop some spies in amongst the doctors there giving out Faaarrreee! immunizations to the locals.
I mean, what could possibly go wrong when they find out some of them are spies, right?"
Our best & brightest in full retard mode.
MacArthur couldn't do it in '52 what make you think a country that legalizes sodomy can occupy NK today?
Thailand???
Isn't that pretty much exactly what happened in the Korean war, and China kicked our butts back to South Korea?
Yabut the kool-aid tastes good.
Pride goes before a fall.
The military had full confidence that they could take NK, but our leadership stopped them for fear China would be drawn into it beyond simply supplying NK. If we capitulated then, when china had nothing compared to today, we would have to be completely nuts to start something now. Obama has been intent on gutting and neutering the military so it is obvious that they are both agitating conflicts around the world while also ensuring we would lose such conflicts. This is either suicidal or designed to remove us from any position of power....subjugation. And there are plenty here who would welcome that without any understanding of what it means.
Careful with that ax, BK.
China is in deep eco-shit and not far behind is Russia.
As with the US; all three know war is good for an economy.
However, you have forgot who is calling the shots on top of the US military heap - yup, that ass hat. BTW he heads America and will do whatever he can to crush the US even more.
Your antidote is a series of tactics based on a premise of what you would like to see progress not will be the most likely progression.
Decent tactics based on a fantasy strategic progression following the path of ones desires is a sure guide for failure.
I predict, Kim, emboldend by his latest live firing escapade, cracks open a bottle of Johnny Walker, wakes up with roaring hangover. Seized with anxiety, climbs down and shuts the fuck up for a while.
double post
"The American presence in North Korea, with the backing of South Korea and Japan, scares the shit out of China..."
Right! Just like it did in October 1950, when massive numbers of Chinese forces crossed the Yalu river and entered the war in Korea forcing UN troops into full retreat.
For a guy who writes, "Russia, as usual historically..." Sure seems like you don't know your history.
Just replace Russia with USandA and you get a more accurate "historical" picture.
Remember WW2 and who essentially fought and won it - I mean not the fancy weaponry, but human lives and blood.
Except the US elites do not see China as a threat but another region in their globalized global globe.
Except the US military does not have the manpower to take North Korea. Sorry.
CHN will engage, eventually - taking over the Peninsula.
CHN might just invade TWN simultaneously. The Anglo-American Five-Eyed Hegemony won't be able to defend both - let alone one against a serious CHN.
Both will fall. Whether DPK is allowed Sovereignty is Academic or Moot. PLA Troops will be all over the Peninsula.
RUS doesn't need to engage.
You're not ex military are you?
The only way to bring peace to the world is through the re-unification of Korea.
You is one stupid fucking neocon sucking amerikan.
I laugh at those who think the world is a peaceful place where everyone should be holding hands and kissing each other.
You will someday be quite surprised.
I bet they are kissing something.
I did nt say it was going to heppen stupid mother fucker, I said it is the way,
The only way to world peace is to end tyranny. Something that will never happen while there are more than a handful of people living. :/
Yeah that...and Mutually Assured Destruction. It will be peaceful then.
Now you know why North Korea exists.
It limits China's Air, Sea and Ground capabilities. So NK is a buffer zone for China. Without NK. it would be like a knife in the side.
Without nk there wont be any muritards troops in sk. Korea would be existing as a single state as it used to exist back then. Got sand in your vagina bub ?
Best of luck with that. That my friend is a bottle neck.
Yes, a bottle neck for china.
All I know is that if we keep feeding china money in this so called "free market" we will all be communist and speaking chinese someday.
Or I shouldn't say "We" I should say "Your Grand Children."
Say what? It seems to me the best tactic would be to provide tax relief to US companies that pull manufacturing from China. Have it be financially beneficial for them to not be in China and watch China fall under its own weight as millions of Chinese would be out of work thus creating domestic tension in the communist nation.we have exported so much tech to China and ultimately it will be a mistake for our national security.
Lets see, a land war with China... You must be related to Wolfowitz.
What I like most about Putin and Xi is that unlike Obama they love their country although I"m not sure if Obama loves Kenya or not.
Obama's stepfather was Kenyan. Obama is not. He is the son of two Americans, Ann Dunham and Frank Marshall Davis.
https://www.google.com/search?q=frank+marshall+davis&biw=1280&bih=563&so...
psst
yeah, over here.
hey buddy, you got ten Dollars; I have a really special bridge it's yors for tem bucks! - totally worth it...
Compare facial features of Obummer with Frank Marshall Davies and come back to us, yeah?
you mean Davis was also a fuckface narcissistic prick?
The apple seldom falls far from the roots.
Chelsea Clinton is NOT the spawn of Bill Clinton.
Webster Hubbell.
Doesn't matter in the slightest. You sound like a gossipy female watching a soap opera. There are real issues, and then there are the "who slept with who", sophomoric level, inconsequential-in-the-big-picture type of stuff. I really don't give a shit about who fathered which kid or where obama is from. Grow up.
I'm convinced that there are many here who do not love or even like their country. They are natural born illegal aliens in that they have about the same investment in it. They do not vote and have divorced themselves mentally from their home country. It's like nations are melting, and not into something better but a collectivist nightmare boiling mass of disparate and incompatible elements awaiting catalyzation to explode.
Multiculturalism has worked then.
Exactly. Multiculturalism only exists to destroy national identity and normal social growth, and replace it with group identity rights and warped societies. The little groups are pitted against one another like warring tribes sqabbling over grazing land. Then twisted Marxist language and legalities move in to reinforce the fake social framework, so that any questioning of a group gets tagged with anti- this or that, follwed by punishment. Like the recent rulings about destroying bakeries for not baking gay wedding cakes.
They cannot destroy the culture with people who love their country so they need to bring in aliens who have no allegience. All part of the one world strategy. These fuckers have no respect for sovereign nations
Least they make their own stuff, including islands. The US just takes them over (mariana islands, wake island, midway, etc).
Sad but true, the USA's Top Secret Spratley Island they were building was discovered by the Chinese hacking Hiltlary's Shitter Server, and it was shortly over-run by 300,000 undocumented immigrants of Mexican origin. It's a huge shit-sandwich, and the white Amurikan tax-payer's gonna have to take a bite. Again.
Do you have a link to an article about this please ? I would like to read more about this.
Here ya go:
www.TheUnitedStatesSpratlyIslandConstructionProject.com
Link goes to Onion: http://www.theonion.com/
What is CNN doing on a US spy plane?
Who put stupid in charge of the military?
God help us!
CNN was filming propaganda for zion as they always do.
ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS!!!!! ARTIFICIAL ISLANDS!!!! THEY'RE COMING FOR US..... PHUCK!!!
The "Artificial Island Gap," now's there's a winning campaign issue for ya.
There used to be a bit of a joke here in Australia to counteract the "reds under the bed" fearmongering that ran a little like this:
"The Chinese navy can't get their army to Taiwan, I think we're fine".
Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined they would simply build a land-bridge to overcome this obstacle.
Chinese have guns too.
Too bad you clowns let the ("your") Gov take yours.
China has stricter gun control than we do. The point being that there's a whole lot of water and/or the world's largest islamic country (which happens to hate China more than it hates us) between them and us.
Though with our USAmerican overlords dictating our military spending for the last fifty years I don't like our chances in a conventional war with NZ, let alone China. What we should be doing is buying S500s from Russian and just dotting them along our coast. No need for a navy, army or airforce then.
a land filled flight line compared to 700 plus outposts all over the world. who is the dangerous one?
You are, friend. Please to be coming down to the station for us to talk at you. You've apparently had to much to think.
The neocons are attempting a comeback. Time to try to scare hoi polloi into another nonsensical war.
Twelve miles out and it's fair game, regardless of what China thinks about the South China Sea.
Ah, excuse me ..
The important base(s) are not in the South China Sea (their backyard) ..
They are in the Horn of Africa ..
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/08/19/press-tv-china-to-take-over-stra...
Did uh, the wizkids in the Pentagram give you the memo on that one?
Subic Bay and Clark AFB were the greatest free military a country could ever ask for but the Filipinos said go home Yankee. Now look what they got 20 years larer. Foolish move.
A bunch of Comcast call centers owned by retired U.S. Generals
Prolly has to do with the Philippine American War 1899 1902. When we beat Spain in our war with them, we clearly won the Philippines but they said we didn't and war broke out.
So we killed 20,000 of them and 90 years later, cut to the chase, they threw us out of Subic Bay.
They must have still been pissed about the 20,000 dead.
"The funniest thing was when at the close of the Spanish-American War the United States paid poor decrepit old Spain $20,000,000 for the Philippines. It was just a case of this country buying its way into good society. Honestly, when I read in the papers that this deal had been made, I laughed until my sides ached. There were the Filipinos fighting like blazes for their liberty. Spain would not hear to it. The United States stepped in, and after they had licked the enemy to a standstill, instead of freeing the Filipinos they paid that enormous amount for an island which is of no earthly account to us; just wanted to be like the aristocratic countries of Europe which have possessions in foreign waters. The United States wanted to be in the swim, and it, too, had to branch out, like an American heiress buying a Duke or an Earl. Sounds well, but that's all."
-- Mark Twain
The US, which found itself a naval power at the end of 19th century, needed coaling stations to supply their fleet of steam ships.
So they did what they always do, they just took Spain's.
Nobody cares about anonymous dead. They were not pissed about that but rather glad to have a good sob sob emotional argument against the US.
20.000 pinois means nothing for 100 million pinois a century later. Really. As with all cases of selective outrage the noble cause comes first, the justification later.
.
Now they, and a lot of other countries (dare I say Vietnam), are eagerly rehearsing the verses of "Yankee, Come Back" at choir practice. Caught between the evil, imperialstic Uncle Sam and kindly old Uncle Mao and his nephews, they are all voting for the same guy to be the next Class President.
After most of their People were reduced to Prostitutes and Trinket Peddlers by the US Military and the Marcos Regime (most aid money were channeled to grifters), they've decided to ask both to leave.
Now? Well, after a few years of hosting a resurgent economy, the Corrupt still control the Country at all levels, the Marcoses are back, they're losing to Muslim Anarchists, and they've lost the Spratleys to CHN.
What's next? They'll probably engage CHN somehow (by having more US Troops "reinvited", ISIL Sympathizers establishing Base Camps, or Challenging Atoll/Island Activities); and a conflict will prompt CHN to invade it.
They're too weak, too dependent on the USA, and too close to CHN (and its Bases). Something's bound to happen.
Can we just sell NATO and Middle East to Chinese? http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/18/425206/Africa-Djibouti-US-milita...
perhaps they can take all the officer pensions that took an oath to the constitution and while their at it take the MIC pensions. What the heck is going on half as many dead as WWII for what?
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/11/gary-north/russian-plane-disabled-us...
gee ever wonder why the welfare of security clearance produced such bad and corrupt scientist and engineers.. feeding a bureaucratic mess called education exploiters.
In an information world immoral hegemonic actions have some warped Machiavellian justifications... Bad Ideas are Bad and authoritarianism is not security, peace or basis for free trade.. Just get a secret TPP deal..
USSA USSA USSA USSA USSA
"Sweet Caroline" "Sweet Caroline""Sweet Caroline""Sweet Caroline"
JEWSA JEWSA JEWSA JEWSA JEWSA JEWSA
If you have four power hungry dictatorships vying for supremacy all at once life is bound to get interesting real quick IMHO. Each is weighing the probability of a first strike scenario, and each is realizing that they have a statistical advantage if they are first to launch nukes. This means that at least half of decision makers in war rooms are likely planning a preemptive first strike.
Smart. Cheaper in the long run than maintaining an aircraft carrier and at the same time saying....
Look, were not so bad...we're not some grand geopolitical Imperialists....just thugs, local thugs. On a budget
How much land the other's reclaimed isn't really relevant. China needs the Islands to project power, all the other parties just need to point a gun in the right direction.
Zion stole the west, and China ended up with title to a lot of it.
Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.
What happened to Liberty is a demand ?
Same thing as "The Banksters Need to Repay Us"
Still very much alive, however, I cycle tag lines with new things of import to convey from time to time.
That Zion is a scheme, and not an ethnicity, seemed needed said, and said often, so it is up at bat for the next three to 6 months.
Keep demanding Liberty, and not submitting to tyranny.
Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.
Perhaps try:
Pro-liberty, Anti-war
I find it works for me, personally as a maxim and it keeps all nature of parasites, predators and pretenders at bay.
Are you Anti-Defense too?
No Anti-War is not Anti-Defense. Self defense is paramount.
I didn't say pacifist.
All Wars are Banker Wars.
Thing is, humanity's problem is NOT aggression, but obedience.
No obedience, not war. No obedience, no tyranny.
So it should only be "pro-Liberty," as Liberty implies anti-aggression, more importantly, anti-obedience.
Zion is a scheme, not an ethnicity.
See my comment above.
I still think that all these "islands" are gonna disappear in the next super-typhoon. I doubt that any of these nothing-at'olls is any more than five feet above sea level.
This.
I'm sure someone can help whip a sufficiently sized typhoon by cooking up the right part of the atmosphere, just so.
The key is waiting until the last bucket is dumped and the paints finally dry,
Then watch those cute sand castles slip under the waves.
As long as they are filled with puppy-eating pig-petting hotties, I'm good with it.
These military outposts sound like the ghost cities for which the Chinese are so famous.
Ghost bases? Ghost-busters?
Crock of shit. Bring on the gloabl monetary collapse. And then, war.
Life will be better without 40 or 50 million people, especially doublegood if many of them are bankers, insurance executives, politicians and bankers.
Oh, did I mention bankers twice? Sorry, it wasn't by accident.
I have said for a long time that China is NOT to be trusted and that ultimately the nuclear option may have to be used. I hope not, I really do. But given the craziness of the fascist thugs in Beijing perhaps sacrificing Shanghai to bring down this regime may be a good thing. Of course example warning can be given to give the residents time to leave.
China MUST Be stopped. Their ambitions are global, and NOT only aimed at Asia. In the meantime BOYCOTT ALL CHINESE GOODS. It is that simple.
wow, this stupidity here
My mumma says...stupid is as stupid does.
I smell curry.
Milton Freidman's profit motive in action:
If I manufacture my product in China I can gain a competitive advantage.
I am losing profits as that firm manufacturing stuff in China is under-cutting our prices.
I must move my manufacturing to China.
Sometime later.
Everyone is manufacturing stuff in China and there is no competitive advantage.
China has become a new super-power.
There are no decent jobs left in the US, UK or Western Europe.
Domestic consumption and GDP fall.
The balance of power shifts from West to East through one businessman's short term increase in profit.
Not to mention decades of product development and manufacturing expertise handed to China on a plate.
The businessmen never did take into account China's lax attitude to intellectual property rights.
A statue of Milton Freidman is being erected in Tiananmen Square, one of the founding fathers of modern China.
Essentially the chinese human resource is cheaper by the BTU than the western human resource. Theres as much reason to use chinamen for repetitive tasks as there is for burning coal rather than oil for producing steam.
The citizens of the united states could mount a limited defense of sorts by refusing to deal with China or similar countries but even that would not stop virtually all companies from moving there. And any new company would have no incentive from estabilishing in the United States. If they do, they would be at a competitive disadvantage regarding ROI, and would get no funding.
How is this a problem i wonder. Coal doesnt complain for being cheap and being burned for steam, and cows dont complain when milk is cheap, why do human resources do?
I am talking about the Uk below though rising productivity ia an issue throughout the West.
The West has chosen to specialise in the service sector where raising productivity has always been notoriously difficult.
China is talking about the first fully automated factories, but things are not so easy in the service sector.
When are the first robot accountants, dentists, lawyers and hairdressers coming off the production line?
How can you have less people running any branch of Subway or KFC?
Most shops now run on the absolute minimum of staff, there can be no further cuts.
Consumer convenience has pushed up costs for supermarkets where once the consumer did the work in travelling to the supermarket.
The internet never raised profits and allows instant cost comparison of all products driving down profits and margins.
Amazon has dominated internet retail by cutting prices to such a level it makes no profit though its CEO has made a fortune.
Why did the West choose to specialise in the service sector?
Because after the end of the cold war the communist half opened up and there you had several billion available workers. The west is not real, has no mind, and never choose anything.
From a purely capitalistic point of view it makes a lot more sense for private companies to employ cheap asian workers than expensive american ones and if borders are closed, to simple relocate there.
The average american and western worker is as obsolete as oil is for producing steam, but no more.
I think you are probably a psychopath.
An early sign is torturing animals.
Later on you will probably seek a career in banking.
There are a few typos in the last sentence... here, I'll fix it:
"China is CHALLENGING AMERICAN IMPERIAL DOMINANCE OVER the region, thereby complicating diplomatic initiatives that ONLY FAVOR THE WEST."
Who gives a shi* about man made bases. Lets look at total foreign bases around the world and see who has more. What about Aircraft carriers for ultimate force projection they are man made bases too, lets add them into the mix.
You want to worry about FORCE PROJECTION then the recently American expanded drone program to enable it to kill anywhere any time should be near the top of the list.
Worked so well for the Germans.
It worked so good that now refugees want to journey to germany, anyway they can.
Who is pushing the envelope ? It depends on your beliefs and how strong they have been reinforced. But one thing that is asinine is that Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia (all under corrupt regimes) parade their vanities with their own pockets in displeasing/pleasing 2 unrelaible enemies/friends. Have no highfalutin ideals, this proxy show has no benefits to the People in that Region. Another short term sure thing is that your money should be yanked out from these regions. Have you been suckered by the Emerging Asia Growth Story from the WS Peddlers ?
Beset a Spratly to catch a MIRV.
http://tarpley.net/
An unimpeachable Middle East source sends the following intelligence estimate:
“The delivery of six MIG 31 combat aircraft to the Syrian government in Damascus corresponds to the withdrawal by Germany, Spain, [and the US] of Patriot missile batteries from Turkey within the framework of NATO.[1] On this subject, there is a kind of cooperation between Moscow and Washington. The idea is to give the Syrian Arab Army the equipment required for a bombing campaign in northern Syria. Up until the present moment, the Syrian Arab Army’s aviation has been deterred from doing this by the Patriot missiles stationed in southern Turkey, and did not possess a sufficient number of combat aircraft able to operate at altitudes low enough to evade the surface to air missiles now in the possession of the jihadis. It is for this reason that the Syrian Air Force has not been capable of defending the Kurds in a city like Kobane.
This is the response of Putin and of Obama to the maneuvers carried out by General John Allen, who had gone off the reservation to stipulate an accord with Erdogan for a safe zone for rebels in Syria.
Obama is attempting to push ISIS [aka Daesh, ISIL, etc.] out of Syria and to use some of its components against Russia in Ukraine. Putin and Assad are attempting to liquidate the jihadis on Syrian territory.
The delivery of the MIG-31s comes against the backdrop of the creation of a Russian-Syrian military commission. Numerous Russian military advisers have been arriving in Damascus over recent days. For the first time in five years, they have been sharing their satellite imagery with their Syrian counterparts.
This is the first time since the beginning of the Syrian conflict that the Russian Army has been directly involved in military operations in Syria. In addition, the Russian military advisers have been becoming familiar with the situation on the ground so as to evaluate the options for the deployment of a peacekeeping force under the aegis of the United Nations.
Report from Moscow: Putin Warns Against Subversive Foreign Forces Attempting to Destabilize the Crimea; Kurdish Leader Unmasks Erdogan as Behind ISIS Massacres
The Mig-31 is primarily an interceptor. It's effectiveness in the ground attack role remains to be seen. The Mig-31BM version is upgraded for ground attack. Is that what was delivered? Have Syrian pilots been training in Russia? Will Russian pilots fly the missions in Syria?
Thinking out loud...
The MIC and the joint chiefs only know perpetual war. They subvert the presidency such that the only president to stand up to them was assasinated by one man who was so talented that he could shoot from several places at the same time!
America has not won a war since 1945, and Russia did all the heavy lifting on that.
The next war America is in will be fought on American soil. When the shit hits the fan, the armed Americans will hunt down and shoot all the people responsible for the death of millions of American citizens. They will start with the Neocons and move on to AIPAC and thier ilk.
I moved out of the country a couple of years ago. I'll be watching it live on the Internet from the other side of the planet.
Put a large nuclear depth charge (maybe a few) somewhere close by these islands and see how much infrastructure survives when the large wave goes roaring over the almost sea level reclaimed land, if nuclear weapons scares you then substitute for a large freighter packed with explosives, you could even call that one an accident.
Or give it a few years and wait for mother nature to provide something, there is a good reason that there was no land there before.
Claims of territorial waters & EZ must derive from lad features and not exceed 200 nautical miles. All states, including claimants, have an obligation to promote and seach for peaceful resolution of disputes. For some interestig ICJ Judgements and legal opinions on terrtorial waters: https://www.academia.edu/10574593/Falklands_Islands_Territorial_Waters