Comments on: The ultimate South China Sea “secret”

By: bryce elmore

bryce elmore — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 23:05:38 +0000

Great trolling, Paul. You earned a free “happy” meal from McDonalds in Langley.
Try sometime to do some business in Russia, or China.
My hyper-capitalist Russian friends went to China to create a business in translating the literature, but were scared away by the aggressive mega-capitalist Chinese.
Money, money, money, Paul. All they think about; those pesky Russians & Chinese.
Enjoy your “freedom fries”, & Cheers !

By: Eric_B

Eric_B — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:56:05 +0000

In reply to pauldalleyD.

China isn’t really a Communist country any more and is scarcely expanding much militarily.
But regardless, given the now gigantic size of China’s economy I doubt the heavily indebted USA can beat China long term in a military spending match.
Where will China be in 10 years economically? Much bigger. Where will the US be? Slightly bigger but essentially stagnating economically, as it has been for the last 10 years.

By: Admin

Admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 10:55:53 +0000

In reply to pauldalleyD. Military over-extension? How does that apply to the SU or to China? Does it also apply to the US/NATO?

By: pauldalleyD

pauldalleyD — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 07:01:56 +0000

Everyone is missing the overall picture.
The United States successfully brought down Communist Russia.
It will likewise bring down Communist China.
Communist China will collapse internally due to military overextension.
Just as Communist Russia did.

By: Max

Max — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 21:39:25 +0000

The US will continue to flex it bully muscle till a point that they realized they are no longer capable to block others just to make themselves superior.
They made the most stupid mistake by trying to block China with it so-called 1st and 2nd islands chains.
This gives China the opportunity to develop and expend it military present in SCS, China will takes few more years to match US military superiority but it won’t take long with the money and resources China far exceeds US.
The only solution is US withdraw from SCS and back to 2nd islands chain, before China counter them by placing military present at central and South America and it will be too late.
The day of Western power control the world is over, US and it alliance has to learn to accept this fact, like it or not.

By: ptol

ptol — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 18:22:16 +0000

In reply to Tony. Maybe that could give the US something to give. The US could pull back some of its forces to facilitate a compromise between China, Philippines and Vietnam that also ensures continuing free trade routes. Better to avoid a fight that could leave the US and China much weaker for a long time.

By: ptol

ptol — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 18:16:20 +0000

Nobody will win if this turns into a shooting war.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 14:02:23 +0000

There is no happy ending to this. China’s arms buildup will continue for as long as it can afford it or until it matches the USA. China and the USA have already taken their relationship down an adversarial path. From a Chinese perspective it has little choice. It wants the United States out of Asia. The South China Sea, Taiwan and the Senkaku Islands are simply symptoms of that goal. China will continue to arm until it is able to establish control of these despite US and other objections. The eventual removal of the United States beyond the second island chain is a prerequisite to resolving matters to the PLA’s satisfaction. China’s press and politicians make no secret of their objectives. I am afraid John Mearsheimer (The Tragedy of Great Power Politics) and Alderic Au (China: The Aztlan Protocol), in their very different ways, have seen the future with clarity. It presents the US with some uncomfortable choices. The rub is they won’t get any easier; time is on China’s side. At some point in the next few years, we may expect a ‘doctrine’ and it will not be Monroe’s.

By: writerroddis

writerroddis — Mon, 29 Aug 2016 13:34:57 +0000

In reply to leruscino.

I agree with most of your points, which I see as laws of capital accumulation playing out. But your comment strikes me as too reliant on a variant of the mutually assured destruction doctrine. There are those in the US ruling class and Pentagon who believe a ‘limited’ nuclear war can be fought and won.
In any case, I’d urge you to leave room for the possibility that as those laws of accumulation – and falling rates of profit, and an intensifying of inter-imperial rivalries – play out, things may get out of control. My own view of the ruling class, while Marxist rather than conspiracist, is that at least some of its leading lights are not your bog standard sociopaths but criminally insane. Neither component of that two word designation should be underestimated.