Comments by "" (@Rob_F8F) on "VisualPolitik EN" channel.

  1. With Australia being member in both AUKUS and the QUAD, one would have thought Australia's position regarding China was clear.
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  2. He wants the leave a Greater Russia. Instead, his successor will receive a Lesser Russia.
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  3.  @JynxPlaysGames  Have you seen the CCP and the way they treat their own citizens and that's now? Say what you want about the USA, but the choice should be pretty easy.
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  4. When the period of Pax Americana ends, many people, who are not Americans, will be harmed in the ensuing chaos. And, as with all chaos, it usually comes down the hardest on poor, the old, the very young, the minorities, and women. That doesn't mean that the US should dominate forever. But for people who want the US to collapse, they must also "own" wanting the inevitable consequences.
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  5.  @THEROOT1111  As I recollect, in World War I and II, the US sent its soldiers across the ocean to fight, when the US could have stayed out and been safe behind two oceans. I don't say the US participation in those wars were acts of pure altruism. They were not. But at the end of the second World War, when the USSR was busy installing puppet governments and shipping entire factories from conquered lands back to the Motherland (like the Russians are doing with major appliances nowadays), the US committed itself to rebuilding the countries of both friends and enemies alike. Again, not altruistic, but at least those nations also benefited from their relationships to the US.
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  6. Europe, outside of the Balkans, enjoyed 30 years of peace. In the Early 2000s, there was talk that Europe was in a "post-war" era. That period is over. However, we should all be grateful that there was 30 years of peace.
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  7. Taiwan should probably retire its destoyers and larger surface warships and redirect those personnel and money towards more stealthy missile boats and shore-based anti-ship missiles. This is critical as all Mainland forces will have to come on ships.
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  8. Russia is a two industry town: hydro carbon extraction and arms sales. Russia has lost its largest customer for the first and China/India aren't making up the difference. With its own need and the poor performance on the battlefield, the arms sales side has also plunged. Russia may not have a debt problem, but it has one heck of a revenue problem.
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  9. Oh yeah, part of France, but not French enough. Economy is still the archaic merchantlism model - commodities back to the ruling country, no industry not trade with other countries. France broke these territories, it owns them, there is no "begging from Paris" when France dictates everything about how these territories work.
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  10.  @babanagrahim5439  Let's see....my original comment has no typos, is grammatically correct, and uses complete sentences. Yup, must be a boomer! 🤣🤣🤣
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  11. I know that the parting question, "Do you believe that the Chinese Army is as powerful as it seems to be?" Is intended to elicit engagement. But, unless you are the special kind of War Thunder forum member, what does it matter what a rando on the YT comments thinks?
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  12.  @Curt_Johnston  The question is not empathy. The US can certainly seize the capital, but then what happens? Years of fighting the gangs, taking casualties, civilians caught in the crossfire, to prop up a government that would fall without US protection? Seen that movie. No desire for a sequel.
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  13.  @cranberryeater7459  You have got to get the updated talking points. Even the Kremlin stopped saying Zelensky was a nazi back during the summer. 🤣🤣🤣
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  14. Not sure that buying Russian commodities atva deep discount should be considered an act of support and solidarity.
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  15. ​ @32Jlocke The bad political mistake was assessing that the president of the Afghan National government would not flee the country before the US withdrawal. With their leader fled and safe in the UAE, the instant collapse of the Afghan National Army was unavoidable.
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  16. It's well within their capability. Peter Ziehan says Japan is not a nuclear power only because there's one screw left un-tightened on each of their nukes so they can say that they don't possess any. If needed, those screws get tightened.
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  17. I agree with your numbers which begs the question: Why is Russia still doing this. There isn't enough troops left to scrape out of the bottom of the barrel and they are launching an offensive? Basic military math says that the attacker has to outnumber the defender by a factor of 3 to 1.
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  18. As the Mainland has focused on a strategy of A2AD against the USA, Taiwan must have a similar strategy against the Mainland.
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  19. ​@vyralinfection Same could be said for the Republicans.
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  20. Japan has access to the top tier of US exports. The ballistic missile defense system is based in the US Aegis system.
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  21.  @THEROOT1111  After Pearl Harbor, the war with Japan was America's own. Even so, the US went with a Germany First strategy. This was the US not being myopically self interested.
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  22. An undeveloped country that gains independence and improves? Examples, examples.... Brasil, Nigeria, Kenya, Israel, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, India, Singapore, Indonesia, oh, and United States of America
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  23. While it's doubtful that Russia will put 700,000 additional troops into Ukraine, the thought of supporting them beggars the imagination. Obviously 700,000 rifles, but 21 million rounds of ammunition to equip each soldier with one 30-round magazine. If each h soldier gets 3 meals a day, that's 2.1 million meals every day. Even if Russia had this, how would they move it to the front from the railheads?
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  24. Strategically, Russia is the aggressor. However, as Ukrainians continue to liberate the occupied portions of their country, Ukraine is on the tactical offensive while Russia, in trying to keep their seized territory, is on the tactical defensive.
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  25. Arab states have used the Palestinian issue as a political weapon against Israel, but the Arabs states have never had much love for the Palestinians. There are many reasons why Arab states may not ally with Israel but Israeli treatment of the Palestinians is not one of them.
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  26. That was the peace dividend. How could the US justify maintaining a Cold War level military after the Cold War. With the reduction of the military establishment went the military industrial complex.
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  27.  @SaiKiran-fd3gq  Small correction: the US did that in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not anymore.
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  28. ​ @unitedfloridamapper7669 That's Russian optimism for you: We launched a special military operation to take over the remainder of another country in a 3-day lightning campaign. Now we are cheering that the other country is not seizing land we occupied 9 years ago in a lightning campaign! 🤣🤣🤣
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  29. ​ @skankhunt38 Yes deescalate with the man who has taken over half of your house and beaten your children up. I'm sure he will not take over the rest of your house if you let him rest for a while.
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  30.  @AjayTiwari-en9nz  It's nice to meet someone who knows relevant facts and cause/effects that the many people that just spout talking points mindlessly. Bravo!
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  31.  @dionysise5008  30 years since the end of the Cold War. During the Cold War (1945-1991), there was a real probability of war in Europe.
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  32. Small correction, Russian conscripts serve for only one year (not two). Really not long enough to learn anything but basic soldiering.
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  33.  @ABC-ABC1234  Pssst, my guy, Australia is already making an independent country that's making independent choices about its national security and trading practices. As for China, decoupling from Australian natural resources would be self harming. China needs every kilo of coal, iron, and other commodities it can get. It can't have outputs without inputs. China's embargo against Australian coal last winter resulted in many Chinese people having to burn corn cobs and other suboptimal materials in order to stay warm. Certainly, lack of Australian coal resulted in suffering, illness and death for Chinese people.
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  34. So not the US, Canada, or the UN. Maybe Mexico or El Salvador. What about the mother of the Francophone world, France?]0
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  35. Europe should absolutely do it. Completely transform culture and spending practices to generate enough troops and equipment to match the USA. When the EU has 10,000+ combat aircraft and a fleet of 11 carrier strike groups, the US can finally be kicked out of the Middle East and concentrate on repairing its infrastructure and creating a more European style healthcare system.
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  36.  @ABC-ABC1234  The US also recognized that any reunification of Taiwan with the Mainland would only be peacefully and with the consent of the peoplenof Taiwan. The US also recognized the right of Taiwan to defend itself.
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  37. Abraham Lincoln's speeches were always poetic.
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  38.  @ABC-ABC1234  With that tear-jerker of a story about the evil Taiwanese murderer, you have discredited yourself. You say that the murderer ought to have rotted in a jail on the Mainland. Okay, that's a proper punishment for a murderer. What do you say to the tens/hundreds of millions of Chinese how are left to rot in their apartments when the CCP shuts down their cities for Zero Covid? Not murderers, these good Chinese people had metal barricades erected in front of their apartment buildings, their streets are blocked, and they are forbidden to leave by armed men in white tyvek suits. People have starved. People have died. Is there zero Covid? No. The CCP treats the people worse than it treats murderers. Don't speak of Beijing's rights to Taiwan under the Three Communiques when it casts aside the basic rights of its own people.
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  39. The US doesn't need Saudi oil. As the Europeans do, let the Europeans deal with MBS.
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  40. 🤣🤣🤣
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  41. @Just a Player I would cite the small countries of Singapore and Taiwan as island nations the improved after decolonization.
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  42.  @justingoretoy1628  If Putin's goal was to force Ukraine back to the negotiating table, then he has failed miserably. BTW, that was a poor talking point. All you did was make Russia appear weak and ineffective.
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  43.  @northstar1878  A nuked West would also mean a nuked Russia. Hard to enjoy the mega yachts, the multi-million dollar townhouses in Belgravia, and the billion dollar dachas then.
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  44. Well said. But there are only 200 Gripens in the world. Not enough to spare. The Super Hornet would be the natural complement to the Growler for easing logistics. It's heavy duty landing gear would also be well suited to rough field operation. But not enough of those either to spare. The are optimal solutions ans then there are available solutions. The F-16 is the available solution.
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  45. The factories are set up for peacetime production levels. If there is enough demand, these factories could be redesigned to produce at a wartime level.
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  46. It really depends in whether Kim Un Jung has a "burn it all down" mentality. It can launch nuclear missiles ONCE.
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  47. Let me guess, you've just read International Relations through a Focauldian Frame?
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  48. Sending spies to see on Western militaries do it is like watching a workout video bt The Rock while laying on the sofa eating crisps! 🤣
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  49. Putin wouldn't dare for the same reason no one has since 1945.
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  50.  @DavidHalko  I assume you are young and in good health. If so, you are what the healthcare industry calls an Invincible. The whole system, whether government-run universal, or private for-profit systems depend on people like you. It's your unclaimed premiums that gets used to pay for care for the older and sicker. But, if you don't die before then, you can look forward to getting older and sicker, costing more than you put in, and depending on the Invincibles to keep the system rolling.
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  51. Looks like Putin provoked and now he's crying. 🤣🤣🤣
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  52. Outside of Russia (since last year), I don't think that anyone has personal experience with fighting a 1st World near peer conflict. For the US, that would have been WW2 for active conflict and the Cold War for readiness. Desert Storm and OIF (invasion phase) might also be considered. China's last big military operation was Vietnam in 1979. The PLA is very different now. The question is, can the PLA learn from US combat experience?
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  53. There is certainly Turkish-Arab rivalry, but Israel has worked with Turkey before and has no great animosity towards Turkey.
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  54. The world keeps the dollar as the world currency. Whenever there is an economic downturn or political instability in a country, people rush to convert their money into dollars. The value of the dollar is stable, it does not skyrocket or crash. Currently, ther is not other currency that can replace it. Not the Euro, not the RMB, and currently not bit coin.
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  55.  @paulthomas963  You are absolutely right! I regret missing Russia's Victory Parade in Kiev at the end of February.
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  56. Last time Moscow took on an Actor President (Ronald Reagan), the whole country (USSR) collapsed.
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  57.  @Robrulz666icloud  I think you may have misinterpreted my comments. I am neither anti-Australian, anti-American, nor anti-Australian/American bond. My point is that those bonds are deep and old while the relationship of China and Australia is commercial and recent.
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  58. Friend, China prosperity is only possible through the free trade system established by the US. China was allowed to join and leverage its workforce to produce and sell its products worldwide with minimal barriers. Western companies were allowed to invest in China and China enjoyed the freedom to import commodities from all over the world under the protection of the US Navy. If the US was a colonial power, it would have never have permitted China to have the degree of access that it enjoys. Modern Chinese wealth is only possible through the system established by the Americans. Without the Americans, the phrase, To Get Rich is Glorious would not be the motto of the CCP.
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  59.  @faaltoh  You need a little help with your math. I gave you 11 countries as examples. Besides Brazil and the USA, the other 11 all gained their independence between 1945 and 1991 which largely overlaps the period of Decolonization. As for Nigeria and Kenya, yes there were dictators and civil wars since independence. But do you have any reputable research that states they would have been better off remaining as colonies?
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  60.  @dosa2990  If Russia started nuking targets in Ukraine, it would immediately lose China and India as friendly countries. This is not even considering a certain NATO response. At that point, Russia might claim an irradiated Ukraine, but could count friends on a single hand with fingers left over (and none of them a major economy)..
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  61. The Minsk Agreement where Russia agreed to..... Class, I'm waiting.
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  62.  @Goodmans93  If you mean that France is at fault, that you are correct. As those colonies were never countries, the failure to defend its people rests entirely with the only country in the equation, France. France took these places in order to extract natural resources or to establish plantations to grow crops that would flow back to France for its benefit. The locals were compelled to do the extraction or farm the crops. For hundreds of years, France fobbed off its third and fourth sons to govern these places while drinking themselves to death. All of their bungling decisions enforced at the point of the bayonet of the French garrisons stationed. But you would argue, "if you don't want to be French anymore, then thank you for the all of resources, the crops, the labor which enriched Metropolitan France, good luck with independence, don't call us, we'll call you!"
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  63.  @dosa2990  In invading Ukraine, Putin has not gained territory. Instead, Putin has hastened the transformation of Russia into client of China. Economically, diplomatically, and militarily, when the war ends, Beijing will can calling the shots in Moscow. Putin gambled Russia on this special military operation and he has lost it.
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  64. You mean save the Russians? Because Russian talking points has going from taking Kiev in 3 days to the Ukrainian offensive isn't progressing as fast as their last one.
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  65. I hear that all of the Australian snakes were eaten by the Huntsman spiders.
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  66.  @elitecoder955  On RT, the war is already over and Russia has won. The partial mobilization is just to pad out the victory parade! 🤣🤣🤣
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  67. Putin has done more for the Western MIC than his own. He should get a Thank You for your Business gift basket from them. 🤣🤣🤣
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  68. Australia will probably get British built nuclear submarines.
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  69. So the People of Taiwan should thank Xi for imposing an economic blockade instead bombing the island? I'm sure the Russia feels the same way about the sanctions imposed in it - grateful to the US and the Western countries. 🤣🤣🤣
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  70.  @northstar1878  At this rate, Russian aims are to return Crimea to Ukraine and stimulate the domestic funeral market.
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  71.  @ibrahimmekonnen8259  If Germany folds on Ukraine why wouldn't it fold on the Baltics or Poland? NATO ally or not.
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  72.  @lennartkaiser2809  Perhaps caring more when Germany was making itself entirely dependent on Russian gas could have avoided this. Whether it was Ukraine, the Baltics, or Polands, Germany made itself dependent on Russia.
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  73. Patrick Lancaster? I prefer getting my Russian propaganda straight from Russian TV. 🤣🤣🤣
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  74.  @sherrysnyder4195  And the Sudetenland was mainly German speaking. Large parts of Europe are English speaking. What's your point?
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  75. Russia loved the Minsk Agreements. Froze the war in Eastern Ukraine, allowed Russia to seize Crimea. Maybe you neighbor can side with your children and declare their rooms independent of your house, seize your bathroom to have a warm water port, then try to take you whole house.
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  76. That Russia has been trying (and failing) to take Avdiivka for months should tell you something about the how likely it is for the Ukrainian frontlines to collapse.
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  77. It seems the fashion in world navies to not classify any warship as cruiser anymore. Destroyer is as big as they go even if there's a big displacement difference between the smallest and the largest "destroyer."
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  78. Holding is easy. It's advancing that's difficult. Just ask the Russians.
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  79. Over 50% of US federal expenditures go to debt service, Social Security and Medicare. Military spending is a little over 10% of the budget. Most American bases are located in the US. We can certainly argue about how much the US spends on defense but to say all Federal taxes for "overseas bases and such" is just not factually true.
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  80. Where is this imperialist expansion occurring? After Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has been withdrawing from the international stage.
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  81.  @ahmedlusajogibbonsmwaikamb6099  That's actually the OPPOSITE of what imperial Britain did. Britain imported cheap raw materials from its colonies, tuned then into finished products, then sold them for value added profit. Within the globalized free trade system established by the Americans after WW2, China has, instead, imported cheap raw materials from abroad, turned them into fin8shed goods, and sold them to other countries for profit. And it has done so with a minimum of trade barriers or tariffs. In fact, it runs a trade surplus with the US. Go and do some research on your own to verify what I have said.
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  82.  @michaelmoorrees3585  Three as Taiwan would surely do the same and have more incentive that the other two ti use them.
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  83.  @darrylwikohika9068  That is very interesting. For the USSR/Russian Federation, from 1917 to 2022, it has only been at peace for 5 years.
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  84.  @fatheranthony4pope  Sure, we can understand the motivations of Russia with three major invasions in the past 250 years. That said, understandable motivation does not excuse bad behavior. It's understandable for a man who has suffered from famine to be concerned about food security. But that doesn't excuse the man if he breaks into his neighbors' homes and takes their food.
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  85. China's tremendous economic power is dependent on an export-l3d economy to Western markets. Chinese provincial governments are funded by land sales to real estate developers. Chinese people invest in condos as a way of saving for the future. This has resulted in a real estate bubble that has ruined the developers, wrecked provincial budgets, and wiped out the nest eggs of hundreds of millions of Chinese. The national Chinese government engages in large prestige public works projects to keep people employed bo matter what the lack of economic return may be. This is all fueled on debt. This has resulted in a debt level that makes the US look like a model of fiscal restraint and miserly spending.
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  86.  @peaceleader7315 Got it! Capitalism bad! ☹️☹️☹️
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  87. Germany and Japan were US adversaries. Russia and China were US allies. Times change.
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  88.  @jonb914  Whether the US was neutral must be argued in the light of Japanese aggression prior to Pearl Harbor. Japan had invaded Korea, had invaded and set up a puppet regime in Manchuria, had conquered the Eastern seaboard of China, raped Nanking, and in the six month period following Pearl Harbor, carried out a pre-planned assault that swallowed up (modern day) Malaysia, Indonesia, many, many Pacific islands. Japan was not some innocent country trying to secure its resources and defend itself against an avarious United States. With that in mind, please continue your debate with @Nick Goyas on the state of US neutrality.
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  89. With respect, you are mistaken. Russia committed some of its best units early on, from the VDV (airborne) attacking Antonov Airport on Day 1 to the First Guards Tank Army. In 7 months of fighting, these and other strong units have gotten worn down. As for tanks, Oryx has documented the use of T-72s, T-80s, and T-90s in Ukraine. The T-90s are the most advanced tank that Russia has put into operation. Russia has plans to pull old T-62s from deep storage as those don't require the Western equipment that later Russian tanks are dependent on but can obtain because of the sanctions. Russia is not holding any units or equipment back.
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  90. As you said, for Iraq and Afghanistan, the US won the war, lost the peace. The peace was occupation. Learning from those experiences, perhaps the US will just do the won the war stage and let someone else do the winning the peace stage.
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  91. Russia will not exercise the option of using nuclear weapons s so the US does not exercise the option of using its nuclear weapons.
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  92. @davidford3115  I am familiar with the beautiful ex-Kidd destroyers, the ex-Oliver Hazard Perrys, and Lafayette class frigates. It seems to me that, lacking Aegis, these ships would get swarmed by anti-ship on Day 1. Taiwan's new stealthy corvettes and submarines would have a better chance of putting warheads on PLAN warships. That must be the role of the ROCN.
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  93. @davidford3115  I meant swarmed by old-fashioned anti-ship missiles (not drones). Without Aegis, each ship is more susceptible to being overwhelmed by attacking missiles.
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  94.  @ABC-ABC1234  it's sadly apparent that you have no sympathy for the people of China who have been imprisoned in their apartments by the CCP. That you didn't even mention them in your response speaks volumes about how little you care about the Chinese people.
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  95.  @hansolo1804  Paratroopers and air mobile assaults are fine for raids and seizing critical points. But those troops will need to be relieved quickly by ground forces that would come by sea.
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  96.  @ABC-ABC1234  The CCP created the One Country, Two Systems principle with Hong Kong as a model of how Taiwan could integrate with the Mainland. The CCP promised to maintain the system for 50 years. Barely 20 years passes before the CCP imposed the Security Law in 2020 which removed some of the fundamental rights of Hong Kongers under the Two Systems. The people of Taiwan has see this and is in no rush to accept the same bargain with the CCP. The problem with the communists is they always go for coercion and never for enticement.
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  97. @hansolo1804  Thanks for clarifying. I agree with you that Taiwan's defense cannot be one dimensional. I was just speaking to how I think the Navy budget should be allocated.
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  98. 12 month conscripts at that
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  99. It's on the list.
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  100.  @rogerbrownreacts8528  China takes Siberia while Russia is diatracted? Intriguing thought. Setting aside the whole nuclear weapons part, China would have the same problem as Russia. The logistics of supporting troops in the field are mind boggling and invasions are not to be entered into lightly.
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  101. ​ @nobodyherepal3292  Did Russia conquer Ukraine and is now dealing with an insurgency problem? No, Russia is still in the open combat with an uniformed opposition phase. Russia is in a conventional peer conflict.
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  102. Question is who will replace the US? China is even more deeply indebted, the RMB is held only for trade with the PRC. China is still reliant on exports as its domestic market has not developed to the extent that can replace the exports. This does not even mention the dependency on energy imports or the looming demographic cliff.
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  103. Can you give examples to where it is bloated, bureaucratic, and thinly-spread. I'm not disagreeing, I just want to understand where you are coming from.
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  104.  @THEROOT1111  Countries already hold different currencies. How is the status quo different from "replacing the USD" as the reserve currency. That position is not official, cannot be granted or revoked. It is the confidence in that currency that each nations places. Please let me know if you disagree and, if so, why.
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  105. The question is: what would replace the USD as the global reserve currency? Needs size, convertibility, and transparent monetary policy.
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  106. Minuteman, Trident, and B61
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  107. Yet, with two destroyed armies, Ukraine has cleared out the land surrounding Kharkiv and taken Izyum. How is that possible? 🤔
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  108. Is gaining four territories worth all of your modern military equipment, 10s of thousands of trained contracted soldiers, $300B frozen off shore, and the inability to build any tank newer that the 1960s era T-62?
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  109. Of course it was not a Russia invasion, it was actually Putin's PRIDE parade getting lost.
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  110.  @acdevan  For readiness to join, the list should be USA, AUS, JPN, KOR as these are the ones with preexisting bilateral defense agreements with the USA and are probably already operating with on NATO standards. Tier 2 would just be TWN as it has the most urgent need but has not had the chance to get to NATO standards. Tier 3 would be IND as CHN is its greatest rivals but IND has carved a third way path for decades. Tier 4 would be everyone else. Most seek to remain neutral. Of these, SGP and IDA have some modern US equipment and would be easier to join. NZ, PHP, MAL, TLD, BGD, NEP, BTN have either Russian equipment, old equipment, old, Russian equipment, or little equipment that integrating would be hard.
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  111. Putin is the US defense industry's best salesman. He should really receive a set of steak knives for this achievement!
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  112. Taliban won the war against the US and I do believe the later was and is a nuclear superpower.
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  113. Russia has to be careful what it does, keeping in mind that the US, UK, and France does have nukes. There, fixed it for you.
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  114. Can't tell if you are being intentionally ignorant or genuinely ignorant.
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  115.  @slimjimnyc270  Yes. I know. But at least, besides the debt service, the rest is for the benefit of Americans.
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  116. Putin has rationally stuck Russia's arm into a wood chipper.
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  117. Hey, April 2022 called and they want their Russian talking points back!
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  118.  @jonathanrussell594  Losing its modern equipment, trained contracted troops, oil contracts with Western countries, the ability fo sell oil to China and India at full market prices. Most important, the veneer of Russia military toughness and inevitability.
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  119.  @jonathanrussell594  So, clearly the Russians don't own this as they are losing.
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  120. The Cope runs strong in this one! 🤣🤣🤣
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  121. Are you reading that somewhere or just making it up as you type?
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  122. If Ukraine is not winning, is Russia winning?
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  123. When the bumbling Ukrainians stumble into Sevastopol, you will let everyone known if you are having fun.
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  124. Yeah! If we go pure-American, we could ditch the Air Force except a few fighter squadrons, ditch the Navy except for a few subs, the Marines entirely, and reduce the Amry to a coastal artillery force. The $$$ that could be saved!
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  125.  @raziismail8230  The great lesson of Afghanistan for the US is to be sure about its allies. The Afghan National government was weak and unpopular. It was foolish to try to prop it up. This has been the US approach with Ukraine, small support in the beginning until the US gained confidence that the Ukrainians would fight. Then support increased.
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  126.  @AlexxAMV  China is running its economy on a credit card. The focus of the CCP has been to maximize employment. This is what it has engaged in massive public works projects. These projects cost billions and will never recoup their costs. While their economy is growing, that is manageable. But between the collapse of the real state bubble and the government's ZeroCovid policy, the economy is losing its luster. This is on top of their inescapable demographic problem. China has set a huge debt trap for itself.
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  127. Nuclear Armageddon is not joke, which is why Kiyv will not get nuked. Putin prefers an intact Russia more than a destroyed Ukraine.
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  128. You missed one: USSR 1991*
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  129. We would just as easily compare America to Rome. We could either by post-Sulla (79 BC), pre-Crisis of the Third Century (AD 235), to name some possible analogs. If the Western Roman Empire ended in AD 480, then America still has another 235 to 560 years to go.
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  130. China has zero interest in spreading Communism. The CCP is only concerned with maintaining its power and extending its influence. Communist ideology has nothing to do with it.
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  131. Except for the last 6 months, the Putin wing of the GOP stopped US aid during that time.
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  132. Stop-loss is not attractive.
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  133. Low cost manufacturing can return to the "fly over" states if only its citizens would be willing work for the pay that a Chinese or Bangladeshi worker is paid. Or, those American worker can be paid a decent wage and the price of toys, clothes, and cheap electronics can triple in price. That is the choice to be made if the US wants to return labor intensive low margin manufacturing back to the US. People who actually care about the economic blight of the "fly over" states know that manufacturing and Emma's moms have very little to do with each other.
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  134.  @gavasiarobinssson5108  The Emm issue isn't in the top 10 or top 100 of US military priorities. The recruitment need of an all volunteer force means that the armed forces is willing to reach to anyone who is willing to serve. If that means a dozen Emma's joined because of that ad, then it's a dozen more than none. Armed forces still recruit at NFL games, NASCAR races, and WWE Smackdowns. I'm not where you get that the US cannot help Ukraine more is because of an insufficient industrial base. The US didn't not anticipate having to supply artillery to another country. The US does not stock as much artillery as Russia does for the same reason that Russia dies not stock as many fighters as the US does: its not consistent with their way of war. The war in Ukraine now has a decidedly Soviet nature. The American way of way emphasizes air and sea power and the use of precision guided munitions so it takes one round to destroy a target instead of 100 rounds to blanket the area where the yarget is.
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  135.  @gavasiarobinssson5108  Ukraine has asked for fighters on multiple occasions. The US has F-16s that could be given to them. Initially, the US declined as to not provoke Russia. Now, the demur is over concerns on the logistical pipeline from Poland to Ukraine and the ability of Ukrainian ground teams to maintain the jets. But none of the reasons is related to US industrial capacity.
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  136. Social ownership of the means of production is actually the definition of Socialism.
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  137.  @nerdlingeeksly5192  Granted there are many flavors of socialism. That said, communism occurs when the government disappears. That's why t it was the USSR instead of the USCR. The communism was aspirational and not actual.
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  138. In Moscow, Russian Forces are victorious. The partial mobilization is just to pad out the victory parade in occupied Kiev! 🤣🤣🤣
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  139. Trump was a real humanitarian.
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  140. Russian gloves have bee. Off for months. Every elite Russian unit, from the VDV to the 1GTA has been long committed. But I could be wrong. Please name the elite Russian formations that have not been committed in Ukraine yet.
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  141.  @abiku2923  With all due respect, you did not provide an example. Saying that officers are staying in for a kushy 20 years is just another way of asserting the original comment. Officer slots, like enlisted slots, are determined by the military establishment authorized by Congress. Do you have an example where that establishment is excessive?
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  142.  @frontseated5983  I am sure, given the opportunity, the US would gladly seize all of Russia's nukes. But the US would operate them like a captured tank. Russian nukes would be secured and eventually disassembled, with the enriched uranium being recycled to nuclear power plants or in brand new American designed and manufactured warheads.
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  143. Only people who have no contact can think that LGBTQ is even priority #4,228 for the US military.
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  144. Who, exactly, start wars that they don't think they can surely win? As it is not a democracy, Russia surely must have thought, "We will start a war in which we will surely get our ass kicked."
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  145. ​ @vap72a25  When there is no competition, there is a huge risk be bad, poor-thought out systems get put into production. Furthermore, with no competition, the incentives for graft, for waste, and for abuse greatly increases. One need only see how badly Russia is being serve by having no competition in its military procurement process.
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  146. ​ @michaelpelzek8882  Someone has been watching too much of a certain set of "news" sources that are designed to trigger the. He needs to get out of his safe space and actually see reality. Unfortunately, that will likely not happen. His definition of "woke" and "CRT" is whatever he doesn't like or doesn't know.
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  147. It's understandable that you may not be willing to die in Europe for Europeans. Assuming that you are American, is there anything that you would be willing to die defending? Another state in your country? Another county in your state? Another town in your county? Another neighborhood in your town? Another house in your neighborhood? Another room in your house? Another person in your room?
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  148.  @ofershragay  I believe the South Koreans would differ with you that the Korea War was a loss, as their country exists and is nearly as wealthy, on a per capita basis, as their neighbor, Japan.
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  149. The US has enough, no need for the crappy Russian nukes
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  150. What is the teeth to tail ratio?
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  151. US is releasing petroleum from its strategic reserve in order to lower prices. The reserve was a critical defense asset in the 1970s when US was a huge importer. Now that the US is self-sufficient or even an exporter (thanks to shale), it can afford to open the reserve to manage prices. When the prices drop again, the US will refill the reserve with lower price petroleum and net a small profit.
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  152.  @Werkelijk  Just see how UK and France handled winning World War 1. Handling the peace after a victory can be a tricky thing.
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  153. Wow, China and India make very strange allies!
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  154.  @gavinwilln7571  India is part of the Quad (India, Australia, Japan, USA) created to counted China.
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  155. Not even considering the clouds of American combat aviation and the American preference for using aviation early and hard to establish air dominance over the battlefield.
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  156. Your history is not very good on US wars won and lost. Care to redefine your statements to just the past 20 years?
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  157. When you have some details on this Utopian system, please do let the rest of us know. 🤣🤣🤣
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  158. Considering that Bin Laden's original reason for attacking the US was the presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, the withdrawal of US forces from the ME might even make the US less of a target. Now that the US can meet its own petroleum needs, why poke the bee hive anymore if the honey is not needed.
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  159. Mexico is an integral part of the US's re-shoring initiative. It replaces China for low wage workforce. The other member of USMC, Canada, would remain a commodity exporter ti the US of petroleum (from its shale fields), wood products, and bacon.
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  160. How is Russia going to cloth, train, arm, transport, and feed 1M more men? Russia can barely do it with 120K men.
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  161. The people supported COVID 0 policy because they were literally locked in their home and prevented from leaving by the men in Tyvek suits. The people will "supprt" the CCP when the bank funds are sucked out of their accounts and used by the government. That's how the CCP ensures that it has the support of the people. 🤣🤣🤣
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  162.  @qingzhou9983  1. Since you are discussing the results of these 20 "secret" Pentagon war games, can you provide a link to them or to a news article discussing them? 2. The CSIS war games modeled actual conflict and not a blockade of Taiwan by PLARF. If gaining control over Taiwan was as easy as a blockade, why hasn't the PRC done it already? Perhaps because it is considered an act of war and the PRC does not want the risk of escalation. 3. In a cross Taiwan strait fight, PRC war aim would be to seize control of the island. US war aim would be to prevent that and preserve the democratically elected ROC government. So the "end" is clear. As for US troops in ROC, that might not materially affect the ground fight. US forces would be focused on destroying PLA air, sea, and rocket power.
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  163.  @shurik121  I agree. Putin needs a 🏆. However that win needs to be defined.
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  164. @qingzhou9983  In the CSIS war games reported in January 2023, ROC/USA/Japan are victorious in most of the 25 scenarios played. The big take away is that ROC must resist until US/Japanese forces can enter the conflict. In these scenarios, PRC loses its ability to support its troops on Taiwan when PLAN amphibious ships are destroyed. Tens of thousands of PLAGF troops are stranded and taken prisoners. There is no years long war because PRC either takes Taiwan in a short fight or PRC loses because its ability to support its landed forces with supplies or additional troops.
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  165. 1. End the culture of hazing 2. Convert to an all volunteer force 3. Develop a core of career NCOs with experience and institutional memory. 4. Empower NCOs and junior officers to take the initiative to adapt plans in order to achieve goals. Do just these four simple things and Russia will have a first class military in just 20 years.
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  166.  @agentblack5598  If this is your own work, I recommend that you spam it to every YouTube comment section you can get on so this manifesto can get some mileage. Honestly, if you are going to write this much, make your own video. It's really too long for a comment.
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  167. Chinese military is pretty corrupt: https://youtu.be/-5hENyRScto
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  168. @qingzhou9983  The point of increasing ROC A2/AD capabilities against PRC is to prevent a PRC victory prior to intervention from USA and Japan. If USA and Japan can enter the fight, PRC will likely lose. If PRC cannot defeat ROC before their entry, then PRC will be deterred from trying.
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  169. @qingzhou9983  Matching PRC is not necessary, nor should it even be a goal. Taiwan is a small island with a limited number of beaches suitable for amphibious landing. Even with all of the ships, planes, and troops in the world, PRC could only land the number of troops and equipment that a beach could physically support. ROC simply needs enough ASuMs and SAMs to engage the PRC ships and aircraft approaching Taiwan's limited beaches and airspace.
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  170. The war was over in a few months. The next 19 years was the US trying to impose a western democratic government on a country that didn't want it. That was the mistake.
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  171. You mean Javelins designed in the 90s?
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  172. TLDR ! 🤣🤣🤣
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  173. That was Russian artillery. Check-out an video about it on Ryan Macbeth's YouTube channel.
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  174. Ukraine will probably exist in 6 months considering how much military equipment Russian is giving it.
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  175. Who is attacking NATO while Russia is in Ukraine?
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  176. Knowing all this, Putin was still diluted enough to think his forces could take then.
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  177. If he was fighting NATO, the sky would be dark with NATO combat aircraft, the fields would be crawling with Leopards, Challengers, and Abrams, and the Russia fleet would be in formation with the Moskva at the bottom of the Black Sea. As none of those things happened, Putin is not fighting NATO. He is just fighting Ukraine, and getting his butt kicked.
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  178. Putin is giving Ukraine more weapons as quickly as he can. The Ukrainians are returning the ammunition as quickly as they can! 🤣🤣🤣
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  179. There were no new wars under Trump because he rolled over like a puppy for a belly rub for every dictator who sent him an ego-stroking letter. He threw his own intelligence community under the bus for Putin. He let North Korea develop ICBMs. Although he blamed China for the virus, he let them off scot free (the trade war doesn't count because it wasn't about the virus).
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  180.  @95ellington  China is no lackey of the US, which is why China is observing the sanctions against Russia so fastidiously. China wouldn't even supply Russia with MREs let alone any weapons. This how China treats an ally "with no limits."
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  181.  @Pepe-dq2ib  The US is kicking Russia's ass - with a checkbook! 🤣🤣🤣
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  182.  @nsebast  The CCP wonders why all of puppies atbthenper store bark and snarl at it.
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  183.  @peaceleader7315  Exactly what American companies are selling Australian natural resources to China?
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  184. Do you know how Russia can screw the greedy Americans out of their arms sales profits? Just leave Ukraine and Russia will give the US MIC such a black eye!
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  185.  @peaceleader7315  Thanks! You gave exactly the answer that I thought you would give. Cheers!
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  186.  @john_doe_not_found  I didn't mean it in a good way. I meant that the CCP is just a cynical bunch in it for their own enrichment. They are not tru believers.
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  187.  @johnrock7255  Americans are white, and black, and brown, and red,...and yellow. The strength of America is that ANYONE can become an American. No one, based on skin color, is a permanent foreigner. You could, as a Chinese, immigrate to America and become an American as many Chinese have already done.
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  188.  @Waverlyduli  I think we agree completely. 👍
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  189.  @neetikakumawat1238  not sure what you mean.
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  190.  @Robrulz666icloud  Here's a short video about the beginnings od the Australian- American relationship: https://youtube.com/shorts/cyZ7vqub1s8?feature=share
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  191. The US is not going to. After trying nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan, there is no interest in trying it again.
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  192. It seems there are no foreign countries that want to intervene.
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  193. China's support of Pakistan is one reason that the BRICS nations will never unite to displace the USA with an alternative monetary system.
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  194. So long as Xi continues the Zero Covid policy, China will remain weak.
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  195. ​ @sinefromabovebabylon3577  America is certainly not willing. After billions and years sunk into Iraq and Afghanistan, America is done with nation building.
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  196.  @john_doe_not_found  This is not financial advice: With Shanghai and Shenzhen having gone through lockdowns, many foreign companies have been re-shoring manufacturing or moving them to another country. Those companies are looking ro reduce their exposure to China.
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  197.  @ruggeddiscipline6026  I agree with you but that's irrelevant. We are talking about Modern China, under CCP rule.
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  198.  @sunhuatom  Perhaps you should read the news instead of the history books, your views on US-Vietnamese relations are about 50 years out of date.
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  199. If so, all of China's neighbors had better be wary.
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  200. You are forgetting the reason for the quad. India hates China.
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  201. @kaelanskinner8298  If Russia was actually fighting the entire West, Ukraine would be in shadow from the clouds of western tactical aircraft overhead. Western fighters would have sent Russian fighters racing to land on Russian airbases in the Fast East. Western bombers would be carpet bombing the Russian frontlines. Every S400 battery would be a smoking hole in the ground because of western SEAD/DEAD strikes. And every Russian command center, supply center, barracks, or airbase in Ukraine would under constant attack from Western strike aircraft and cruise missiles. So, no, Russia is not fighting all of the West. Ruseia is just fighting Ukraine with some old, hand-me-down equipment from the West. Your propaganda is ignorant.
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  202. Literally fake news.
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  203. Can you provide a link to an reputable source on corruption in the Ukraine post-invasion?
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  204.  @TheGhostOf2020  Europe has been used to the US playing Bad Cop. After the last 20 years, I think the US is ready to stop playing Bad Cop... at least for a while.
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  205. Do you have a source that India and China are holding military exercises together? Seems unlikely.
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  206.  @sherrysnyder4195  Wow, the level of cluelessness you are showing is EPIC. Mine was a rhetorical question. (You should look up any words you don't understand. ) Maybe if you know what the Sudetenland is and its historical significance, you will have a singke clue as to what is going on. Please try harder.
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  207. The purpose of the sanctions and the support of Ukraine is to liberate Ukraine. Nothing else. At least for the US, it's no longer in the regime change business after Iraq and Afghanistan. Especially if there is no obvious preferred sucessor. Shaking the Russian 8-Ball and hoping for someone better is a receipe for disaster.
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  208.  @tunuitahitianfire9875  He's embedded with the Russian Army. He is basically a spokesman.
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  209. Yes, all that backing up by the Russians in Kherson is just to give peace a chance. 🤣🤣🤣
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  210.  @mikyt5893  It's called Halo
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  211. With the shale oil fields, the US doesn't need ME oil anymore. Only Europe and the Far East Asian nations depend on ME oil.
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  212. Yes. And Putin better be on Lockheed Martin's Christmas card list.
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  213.  @andrewthen8998  If low population density, good resources, and religious tolerance are the standard for why high density populations should move, then entire states in India and provinces in China should to relocates to the vast and open spaces of Siberia.
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  214. They are going to find out as the Europeans Haven chosen to not being dependent on Russian oil and gas.
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  215.  @scottwillie6389  Lyman, Izyum, Kherson, Putin has a tenuous hold on cities that are part of Russia Forever. At this rate, Russian will be advancing all the way from Gates of Moscow.
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  216.  @scottwillie6389  For 30 yaers, it has been the independent nation os Ukraine. Now, it's novorussiya? Convenient. But that's a fantasy, had Putin's special military operation ended in 10 days with Russian forces proudly rolling down the streets or Kyiv and Odessa, the whole region might have been folded back into Russia. Alas, while the future is unknowable, certain realities have become evident since the special military operation has begun. One, it has thrown Sweden and Finland from neutrality to NATO. Now Russia has a new, very long border with am actual NATO country. Nevertheless to say, the Baltic has become a NATO lake. Unfortunate, considering the only seaway to Russia's second city goes through it. 2. The operation intended to shatter NATO unity has done the opposite. NATO has not been so united in 30 years. The stream of weapons and funds from NATO to Ukraine is a veritable flood. Wobbly members such as Germany and France have repledged their support. On the other hand, Russia's own defensive alliance, the CSTO, is breaking in the light of Russia being unable to come to the aid of Armenia. Russia partnership with with China, that had not limits, found limits very quickly. Last, the myth of Russian military might has been shattered. Once thought only second to the US in might, now it's second to Ukraine in Ukraine. Putin's legacy, whenever he leaves office, will be that of the one that awoke the world from the dream of Russia being a global power.
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  217.  @justingoretoy1628  If Kyiv has repeatedly gone back on previous agreements, then Putin's goal of forcing Ukraine back to the negotiating table is.... moronic. If Ukrainian going on the offensive with the full backing of the West is what Putin really wanted, then he is indeed playing 12D checkers! 🤣
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  218.  @northstar1878  Why would Putin initiate global nuclear Armageddon? If he survived, his country and his people would have been destroyed (like everyone else). Is being King of the Irradiated World a life's goal for Putin?
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  219.  @SP95  China's one child policy has sent it into a demographic death spiral. The 10 of millions of Chinese that the CCP killed will be matched by the 10 of millions of Chinese that the CCP never permitted to be born.
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  220.  @northstar1878  That's the point, nuking is MAD. That's why no one does it
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  221. It is difficult to imagine a person earning an average wage in Guadalupe being able to afford to live in Paris. This while a pensioner from Nantes, holding great savings, enjoying rich retirement benefits, and who fancies himself to be a second Gaugin, can easily go live in Martinique.
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  222. I doubt your sentiment makes "these people" feel better at all.
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  223.  @jimgaston9863  So what did Russia agree to? STILL waiting...
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  224. While the CCP would like to grab the Taiwanese chip plants, seizing Taiwan has a greater political value of asserting the Party's control over "all" of China.
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  225. ​ @ViolentCabbage-ym7ko Russia must keep hoping for global warming if it wants to use its artic ports for anything more than nuclear-powered icebreakers during the short summer season.
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  226.  @dosa2990  The truth might hurt if you actually gave it, but if you haven't, nothing hurts at all. Putin went from "de-nazification" in February to "I am willing to make peace if I get to keep the land that I'm holding." He sure did stuck to his principles. He's like a bank robber who has been trapped in the bank by police. Now he's negotiating for a way to escape with his ill-gotten gains. It was always a land-grab, the nazi stuff was just the barest of fig leaves to cover his true intent. Do believe me. Believe what has been coming out if Putin's mouth in the past two weeks.
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  227. I think you are missing a "not" in your comment, which reverses the meaning.
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  228. Were HIMARS or Storm Shadows empty promises?
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  229. Try and put a little more personal effort in than just copying and pasting from RT.
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  230. The differentiates the tiers?
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  231. What's your source? ISW?
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