The case against going to war with China should be self-evident. From Danny Sjursen at antiwar.com:
There’s nothing military men like more than obsessively training for wars they will never have to fight. The trick is not to stumble into a conflict that no one will win.
Let’s everyone take a breath. Yes, China presents a potential threat to American interests in the economic, cyber, and naval realms. The U.S. must maintain a credible defensive and expeditionary posture and be prepared for a worst case scenario. What we don’t need is to blunder into a regional, or, worse still, all-out war with the Chinese dragon. Not now, probably not ever.
And yet, in Washington today, and within the Trump administration in particular, alarmism seems the name of the game. This is risky, and, ultimately, dangerous. In his 2018 National Defense Strategy, Secretary of Defense Mattis, a known hawk, refers to Russia and China as “revisionist powers,” and announces that the US military must now pivot to “great power” competition. Look, I’m all for extricating our overstretched armed forces from the Middle East and de-escalating the never-ending, counterproductive “war on terror.” What doesn’t make sense, is the reflexive assumption that (maybe) dialing down one war, must translate into ramping up for other, more perilous, wars with nuclear-armed powerhouses like Russia or China.
The usual laundry list of Chinese threats is well-known: China is (how dare they!) building a sizable blue-water navy and (gasp!) patrolling around sandy islands in the South China Sea. They conduct cyber-attacks (so do we) and steal intellectual property. They are planning a new “Silk Road” to integrate much of Eurasia into a China-centric trade and transportation system. No doubt, some of those items may be cause for measured concern, but none of the listed “infractions” warrants war!
Bottom line: China, like Russia, possesses neither the capacity nor intent for global domination or the subjugation of the United States. Period.
Let’s start with the capacity problem. China has a growing military. That is to be expected of one of the world’s top-two economies and a nation with more than 1 billion people. Don’t act so surprised. Still, China spends only one thirdas much as the US on defense. It has one leaky, outdated former Russian aircraft carrier and is building a few more. The US has about a dozen and our local Asian partners (India, Japan, Australia, and South Korea) – count another nine between them.
To continue reading: Don’t Poke the Dragon: War with China Would Be an Unnecessary Disaster
Its idiots that ignore the obvious and warn about the danger that Albania poses.
Its idiots like the author who can vomit forth nonsense such as Russia have neither the intention, capacity nor intent for global domination.
Yeah like Hitler, Mussolini or Japan didn’t match that description yet they managed to plunge the world into its bloodiest war with perhaps1% of the capacity for destruction of either the Chinese or Russians. And we all know the goodwill and humanity of the Russians and Chinese.
Its those Mormons, Amish, and Rotarians the author warns us to be on guard against. Along with those reactionaries who refused to allow girls/transexuals/and undecideds into the Boy Scouts.
Mr Sjursen was much more credible writing speeches about sexual equality for NY Attorney General.
One other thing, why does the Dragon poke the Eagle and risk war? The fact that certain sectors can’t ask this question reveals what and who they are?