The General US Politics Thread

Nah, the Soviets always had logistics to back it all up. Germany only caught them in a once in a millennia opportunity.

China's military exists just as a way to scare it's domestic population. Even they know it's useless, morale there is nonexistent.

But they've never really been tested in combat so who knows. The invasion of Tibet doesn't count, and yes Tibet is still Tibet regardless what the PRC says.

Then again when were there neighborhs last tested? They'd probably wipe each other out.

On that note, It was fun trolling the shit out of the Chinese exchange students in High School, when I did a report on the Dali Lama? and Tibet. You'd think I pissed on Mao's grave and t-bagged his corpse by how angry some of them got.

I meant like Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and the other minor nations.

edited 3rd Aug '15 2:52:02 PM by Skycobra51

Lets see, Russia basically destroyed Ukraine without even using their actual military and just handing their equipment out and invaded and defeated Georgia in a little under a week and that was with the Georgians fielding some of Israel's and American's finest gear and having our support.

Japan actually has a sizable and respectable Navy plus American support.

South Korea is no pushover and also has American support.

And China has been tested recently and fallen very flat every time. Modern China has suffered catastrophic defeats in every conflict it's ever participated in.

edited 3rd Aug '15 2:46:16 PM by LeGarcon

Not even remotely the case.

Chinese forces broke the back of the UN winter offensive into North Korea in 1950, booted India off the Aksai Chin in 1962, did reasonably well during the Sino-Soviet border skirmishes, and captured the Paracel Islands from South Vietnam in 1974. That's before we get into the Peoples' Liberation Army's greatest victory, of course, which was winning the Chinese civil war.

There is also the not inconsiderable contribution of Chinese forces to WWII.

Where do you get this shit?

edited 3rd Aug '15 3:09:53 PM by Achaemenid

Its k guys if shit begins blowing up mike huckabee knows how to handle a gun

I thought China's most recent test was the border flap with Vietnam in the late 70s, where Vietnam knocked them sideways.

I distinctly recall the Russian military being a very active participant in annexing Crimea. Pretty sure that counts as destroying Ukraine. And Georgia was fighting it's own separatists in addition to Russia. These were hardly equal match ups, so the Russian victories vs possible Chinese failures don't strike me as an apt comparison.

It scares me

You're all the way in Costa Rica, nice and safe from their T-55 knockoffs and plastic rifles that nobody enjoys.

China might be able to bully its land neighbours but it can't hurt its neighbours via sea because of three simple facts.

• The Chinease economy is built around the export of Chinease produced good to the outside world (largely Europe and North America)
• Most Chinease exports go via contained ship across the South-China Sea before going to either east across the Pacific or west across the Indian Ocean
• Turning your main export route into a war zone is really fucking bad for your economy

Also if I remember rightly, China adheres to mass wave tactics. A few cluster munitions, a couple of A-10s and you got a nice Chinese junk yard.

edited 3rd Aug '15 3:52:46 PM by Skycobra51

And, of course, the Chinese will always do this even when it doesn't work, because commies /s

The so-called "human wave" attacks in Korea were nothing of the sort; they relied on very careful scouting and infiltration to succeed and were the product of the circumstances the Chinese had to fight in: no air support, very limited mechanisation.

edited 3rd Aug '15 3:58:08 PM by Achaemenid

@ the China owns us myth. It's not just widely believed in the US. At my model UN class some of the foreign students were practically rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of China calling in it's debts and ruining our economy. One Columbian even proclaimed that they could seize half the country as some kind of collateral, and dismissed my and several other people's points to the contrary as "American arrogance." Ironically the Chinese kids had nothing to do with this.

I would have told the Columbian to lay off the coke.

But they weren't soldiers, they were volunteers who just happened to pack military grade hardware.

Doesn't surprise me any

edited 3rd Aug '15 4:23:09 PM by Skycobra51

Puerto Rico defaults for the first time in it's history.

It was apparently inevitable. PR is kind of fucked as far as its domestic economy is concerned, although its people won't be totally screwed thanks to federal supports.

Tell the people in your model UN that if, somehow, the Chinese ever decided to call in the debt (which isn't how any of that works and they wouldn't want to do that because they'd have to forego interest later in exchange for principal now), then we could just print the money to pay it off, China's foreign currency reserves would jump, and they'd have to dump it to keep their currency from revaluing.

Ha, I never thought of it that way.

But yeah, they can't just decide to call on their debt. It does not work that way.

And dumping dollars would make the dollar weaker, which would make the renminbi stronger. China wants a strong U.S. currency, not a weak one.

Edit: Something that comes up occasionally in these discussions is the risk that China will, rather than "calling in our debt", which is impossible, refuse to buy more of it — "cut off the credit card", so to speak. That isn't a problem right now, because U.S. bonds are in high demand around the world as well as at home, reflected in the incredibly low interest rate — someone else would snap them right up, gleefully.

But let's assume that foreign demand for dollar holdings completely, implausibly, tanks. The U.S. could still fund its debt domestically without blinking an eye, and again, this would cause dollars to drop in value in world exchanges, making all the other currencies it competes with stronger. Countries that depend on the U.S. to buy their exports would be up shit creek, and the U.S. would suddenly enjoy a strong boost in in export competitiveness, letting us make bank by rapidly reshoring our manufacturing. A major reason for the U.S.' current trade deficit, after all, is the strong demand for dollars as a hedge against weakness in world markets.

In other words, bring on the invisible bond vigilantes! Please! We'd love it.

edited 3rd Aug '15 5:32:45 PM by Fighteer

@Jack In South America it isn't uncommon for pseudo-intellectuals to cheer and root for the end of the US as a world power and think that without the US the world will magically become a better place.

Considering the countries aspiring for the position have arguably worse human rights track records, I find those people to be incredibly naive and stupid.

edited 3rd Aug '15 6:30:50 PM by AngelusNox

Eh China and Russia haven't done anything bad to South America so I wouldn't blame them for thinking that. Also, is the Columbian army the greatest fighting force in the World at Guerrilla warfare,though given his leanings the guy may have been referring to FARC when he described the Columbians as having "the best soldiers at guerrilla warfare." He also claimed the Egyptians are the best in the world at something or other.

Schools in America are still essentially segregated, and parents fight to keep them so.

All the parents protesting, I wonder what their solution is, exactly. Aside from build a wall around the community in question and wait until there's no one there. I also wonder why they only associate drugs and violence with black kids. I can only wonder how they'd explain the violence and drugs in my mostly white high school.

Article contains an full audio program from This American Life, an NPR program.

edited 3rd Aug '15 7:35:27 PM by TheWanderer

Is it not obvious?

Yet they are the only army to force the U.S military into retreat on conventional warfare.

And to say there is "Low morale" in the Chinese army it's absurd. They might not be in love with the CCP, but give them an external threat to fight and you will see rabid nationalism.

Trump's greatest nemesis - the Harvard Lampoon.