Comments by "David Ford" (@davidford3115) on "The 4 Lessons Taiwan Must Learn from Ukraine - VisualPolitik EN" video.

  1. Ukraine is not a strategic asset that Taiwan is. There is little upside to the US supporting Ukraine beyond grinding the Russian war machine to dust. And the benefit of that is mixed at best. Yes, it sucks for Ukraine, but it is their fight, not ours. While I am all for giving our old and soon to be expired gear to them, there is no reason for pallets of cash to be laundered by companies such as Burisma.
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  2.  @lie01234  What kind of anti-colonialist drivel are you muttering about? Taiwan is mostly Han Chinese, just like mainland China.
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  3.  @flyinpug3791  Your grasping at straws. The fact that Ukraine found parade uniforms among the captured vehicles left behind showed that the Russian MOD didn't expect ANY fight whatsoever. So while you are correct that they were not meant to engage in much of a fight, the REASON for that is completely off base. As for "diplomatic solution", I suggest you ask the Czechs in 1938 what they think about your proposal.
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  4.  @Rob_F8F  Don't need an Aegis, you just need the Vulcan Phalanx. While not specifically designed for anti-drone, it more than meets the challenge.
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  5.  @Chou-seh-fu  I saw that too. Which is why I contend that the ethnic Chinese population of Taiwan is becoming a separate ethnic identify. The Two Koreas at least nominally both claim the same culture and heritage. Taiwan having blended Japanese, Chinese, and the local aboriginal elements has become something completely different from mainland, having more in common with the overseas diaspora populations (such as Singapore) than they do with the mainland.
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  6. The fondness Japan has for its former prized colony still remains. Formosa was the crown jewel of the Empire of Japan and that affection hasn't diminished.
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  7. Indeed. People forgot the lessons of Munich. At least JFK didn't forget them during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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  8. And yet Ukraine rejects your notion and insists on continuing to fight. If they believed as you think, then they would have simply allowed Russia to capture Kiev without a fight.
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  9.  @xt7519  For sake of argument? That is a fair point.
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  10. Formosa was once the crown jewel of the Japanese Empire. The fondness still remains for its former colony.
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  11.  @kenh758  Puerto Rico has on several occasions been given the option for either independence or return to Spanish rule. They continue to choose to remain in Union with the United States. Your example is an apples to oranges false analogy (logical fallacy).
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  12.  @kenh758  I was talking about a historical truth. You chose to take it to mean that Japan wants to re-colonize which is so beyond the pale that it should not even be dignified with a response. I have no idea what you are talking about regarding "One China" and Christianity. That sounds like gobbledygook by someone who has no idea what they are even saying.
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  13. Have you actually looked into their destroyer-escorts? The Kidd-class (aka Dead Admiral or Ayatollah class) is one of their best investments despite being a ship built in the 1980s.
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  14. Taiwan can't fight without US support. Do you really think the Kiwis and the Aussies can seriously supply Taiwan?
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  15.  @chris0000924  Make a deal like was made in Munich on September 30 of 1938?
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  16.  @chris0000924  The Chinese have been separate entities longer than the Two Koreas have been divided. The idea that they are one entity is a delusional fantasy. And the fact that you assume I am a neocon shows your political myopia. It is the neocons who want to maintain the status quo.
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  17.  @chris0000924  Taiwan is ALREADY independent. This whole "declare independence" thing is simply a charade. Kuomintang refused to accept that they lost the Civil War. Mainland China doesn't want to accept that Formosa was never theirs to begin with. The whole situation is a farce. THERE ARE TWO CHINAS!
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  18.  @GothPaoki  Funny, because their attempted invasion of Kinmen Islands shows that mainland China had zero capabilities of invading Taiwan. They have yet to show any improvement in amphibious operations.
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  19. The US is the ONLY way Taiwan can stand up to Red China. And Taiwan is NOT Ukraine. The US has a vested interest in Taiwan that doesn't exist for Ukraine.
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  20. Ask the Japanese how they held out against the Americans during the Pacific theater. Bloody Tarawa was but the beginning of the blood bath.
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  21.  @alex4863  You clearly missed the point. How long did Okinawa hold out? Or the Defenders of Iwo Jima? How many Japanese soldiers continued to fight long after Japan surrendered? Siege warfare takes YEARS to break the defenders. The Islands that fell fast in WW2 only did so because the US was willing to spend lives to take those mission critical Islands and bypassed the ones that didn't directly contribute to the war effort.
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  22. "Fool you"? Ukraine CHOSE to fight, otherwise they would have let the Russians take Kiev without a fight. Also, the US has already worked out how to supply Taiwan. US war planners in the 1920s called it "The Tyranny of Distance". That is how they came up with War Plan Orange. And I guarantee you that modern war planning follows a similar formula.
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  23. I agree on all except Russia's goals. Their march on Kiev was clear that at a minimum Putin wanted a puppet government much like in Belarus. It is an open debate as to if he would have simply annexed the entire country.
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  24.  @Chou-seh-fu  Red China is an ethno-nationalist society despite their claims otherwise. Taiwan's Han Chinese population has evolved over the last 75 years into a distinct sub-culture much like the Hakka, Teochew, Hokkien and Tanka are a subset of Han.
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  25. And be willing to fight. The fall of Saigon and the Fall of Kabul both occurred because the locals refused to step up to the plate. Kiev and Seoul both stand free because their populations DID fight for their country.
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  26. "Tyranny of Distance". The US Navy already figured out how to do it during the 1920s, coming up with "War Plan Orange" for fighting Imperial Japan. A modern war with China will play out very similar, which is why the Chinese are so keen on securing allies in the Solomon Islands.
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  27. Nor have they heard of the term "pyrrhic victory".
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  28.  @walkingcarpet420  "The Poles are oppressing Germans", they cried right before the 1939 invasion.
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  29.  @TheRomanianRegent  How did Ukraine poke the Russian Bear? You are blaming the victim.
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  30.  @kenh758  Apples to oranges false analogy. But that is to be expected by products of a failed education system that doesn't actually teach history.
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  31.  @kenh758  European schools are not much better. Only the politically connected actually get the privilege to go to the prestigious schools.
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  32.  @peterpanini96  But it is going far worse for Russia. Bakhmut and Advika are what is called a pyrrhic victory.
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  33.  @ajaykumarsingh702  When the Russians are losing 7 men for every 1 Ukrainian killed, that is NOT victory by ANY measure. And don't get me started on the rapid attrition of their armor.
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  34.  @ajaykumarsingh702  And how did that work out in the long run? The USSR was LOOSING until the US joined the fight and started sending them supplies via Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. Without those American supplies, the USSR would not have even been able to launch their counterstroke. Russia is facing a demographic collapse today which is a direct result of 80% combat deaths of all makes born between 1920 and 1930. That is an entire generation that never hand children. And their grandchildren don't exist today either to fight Putin's war.
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  35.  @ajaykumarsingh702  The USSR had more production capacity in the 1940s than Russia does today. if you were trying to make a point, you failed spectacularly. "Backed by China"? China is doing the bare minimum they can without getting blowback from either side. If China really was supporting Russia, then Russia wouldn't be begging North Korea for shells. Sanctions are not an overnight defeat. It took months to years for economic sanctions on Japan and Germany to actually start making an impact on their WW2 performance. Yes, the West is facing a birthing crisis, but in this race to the bottom, Russia is ahead of only South Korea, Japan, and China. And as far as population, I don't think you are comparing the entirety of the EU with Russia.
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  36.  @ajaykumarsingh702  Put down the vodka, you are drunk. Russia has already maxed out its production capabilities. Only 10% of the stuff getting to the front line is new build with 80% being refurbished Soviet legacy equipment and the remaining 10% being recovered salvage front he battlefield. The West is only now starting to ramp up its production lines. Until now, defense production in the west has been bare minimum to maintain the technology, not to actually fight a protracted war. There is LOTS of room for expansion. After 2022. Europe has completely weaned itself from Russian energy. Only scabs like Hungary are still getting it from Russia. As for the "secondary means", even those are easily replaceable. And you got the trade issue backwards. Most nations are NOT helping Russia lest they get hit by secondary sanctions and feel the backlash of loosing trade with the West. Russia meanwhile, is begging China, North Korea, and Iran for supplies. Even the Indian's are reassessing their trade with Russia. They take the oil and gas because they are ripping off Putin.
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  37. Tell that to the Czcehs and Slovaks in 1938.
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  38. Thucydides Trap. Look it up.
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  39. Tell that to Czechoslovakia in 1938.
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  40. The US would not need to fight though a Taiwanese defense. But I agree with your assesment.
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  41.  @kenh758  How easy do you think it is to transport billions of tons of food across the trans-Siberian railway from European Russia to China? It isn't the slam dunk you think it is.
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  42.  @ninglu4846  How can China do that? Specifics and details please.
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  43.  @motowntaiwan9079  Not with a Green water Navy, they can't. Russia has a better claim to Blue Water Navy capabilities than Red China does. Just because you have nuke subs and Aircraft Carriers does not a blue water navy with global reach make. You have to be proficient with the use of those tools. Part of having that proficiency is a PERMINANT on-station presence 24/7/365. Only the US, France, and the UK have that kind of sea power.
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  44.  @k.k.c8670  The PLA may have shiny toys, but that doesn't mean they know how to use them. China's combat effectiveness is as trustworthy as claims of the Russian military in 2020.
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  45. Cuban Missile Crisis. Look to that should Red China try to blockade. If not for Admiral Vasiliy (Laim Neeson's character from K-19 Widowmaker), the American blockade would have been hit with a nuclear torpedo.
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  46.  @wangyaohan8824  Not as much comes from Russia as you think. Have you actually looked at the rail traffic along the Trans-Siberian Railway? And Thailand can be compelled through secondary sanctions to cease its trade with China. Choosing between the CCCP and the West, Thailand will choose the West hands down.
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  47.  @John_Doe448  How does Russia transport that grain? SHIPPING THROUGH THE BOSPHORUS. No joke, it is cheaper for Russia to ship grain to China via the Turkish Straits, Suez Canal, and Strait of Malacca. You clearly have done little research on the topic.
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