China

[dawg80]

Chicoms sentence Canadian businessman Michael Spavor and a former Canadian diplomat, Korvig, to 11 years in a Chicom prison on trumped-up spying charges. Immediately after the kangaroo court ruling the Chicoms offered to swap the two men for Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive being held on charges by Canada...that being violations with international trade boycotts with Iran. The world has protested the obvious "hostage" ploy by the Chicoms.

“The practice of arbitrarily detaining individuals to exercise leverage over foreign governments is completely unacceptable,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “People should never be used as bargaining chips.”
Canadian Foreign Minister Marc Garneau said his country was “moved by the demonstration by solidarity from our international partners.”

[dawg80]

Taiwan warns the Chicoms...

'Don't Be Delusional,' Taiwan Warns China Amid Afghanistan Comparisons (msn.com)

[dawg80]

Will the Chicoms attempt to have more influence in Afghanistan? Well, as previously mentioned, we can certainly hope so! But, I doubt it.

Right now the Chicoms have a controlling interest in an oil field, and own a copper mine in Afghanistan. But neither provide much production. There have been all kinds of problems with both operations in terms of production and logistics. Also, Chinese workers there have been frequent targets of attacks. The Chicoms own facilities in Pakistan which, by comparison, is a far more stable government, but Chinese workers have been murdered and otherwise attacked in Pakistan too. It is quite clear China is not welcomed in those countries. Any large scale "invasion" either militarily or just by flooding economic development into Afghanistan will not be met with welcoming, open arms. More likely to be met by small arms...

The Chicoms have used large, VERY large, economic "invasion" methods elsewhere, attempting to overwhelm competition and drive out other companies. Examples of this include gold mines in South America, and copper mines and other precious metal mines in Africa. These Chinese "companies" are owned by the Chicom government and they send in paid mercenaries to "protect" their people, but are really used to threaten and bully local companies to give up their claims to the mines. This won't work in Afghanistan. The loony Afghans can't be bullied and will shoot first anyway.

[dawg80]

Taliban is already in Red China. Chicom officials, in an intercepted internal memo, revealed what the West had long suspected, that the Taliban was in China, specifically in the Xinjiang province. One west intelligence agency says that the Taliban have been training separatists for more than 20 years, and had stepped it up in recent years given they had been hamstrung by the US presence. And now, embolden, fully equipped with all kinds of brand new equipment, ammo, and supplies the threat has greatly increased. Last month a Chicom border patrol encountered what they thought were a few terrorists crossing into China. Turned out to be 400 Taliban soldiers with another 50 Xinjiang "rebels." The Chicom soldiers were just barely able to escape with three wounded. By the time Chicom reinforcements arrived the entire Taliban force had disappeared into the hills.

Now many believe the Taliban will step up their assistance to the Xinjiang rebels. Let's hope they put all that new US equipment to good use, eh!

[Guisslapp]

You don’t think China will want Afghanistan’s lithium and rare earths rather than allow a new competitor?

[dawg80]

You don’t think China will want Afghanistan’s lithium and rare earths rather than allow a new competitor?

Well, China's copper mine is more a liability than an asset. It has produced very little copper and it has been very expensive. But, would they WANT access to more minerals? I'm sure they would. But the question is, well, first, will the Taliban even allow them in? and if so, at what cost? Perhaps the Taliban will ask the Chicoms to grant independence to Xinjiang in exchange for access. There is something like 1 million metric tons of REEs valued at $3 trillion.

Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires. China might as well have their head on that wall too.

I just read an article about the Mongol leader, Timur. As a young man he wanted to make a name for himself so he disobeyed orders and took his small army off on expedition to do something great. Instead his army got slaughtered....in Afghanistan. He only avoided being executed because he was the nephew of Genghis Khan.

[Guisslapp]

One of the problems we had in Afghanistan is that the people won’t stand for any principle other than what makes them money. China merely needs to bribe (or debt financing) the local leaders to get access and then they can roll their Belt and Road through Afghanistan.

[dawg80]

One of the problems we had in Afghanistan is that the people won’t stand for any principle other than what makes them money. China merely needs to bribe (or debt financing) the local leaders to get access and then they can roll their Belt and Road through Afghanistan.

Yep, valid point. Commies are practiced at corruption, comes easily to them. And if the money is right they'll find willing tribal leaders.

[FriscoDog]

Yep, valid point. Commies are practiced at corruption, comes easily to them. And if the money is right they'll find willing tribal leaders.

We spent billions in Afghanistan on social engineering experiments on such things as classes for women, toxic masculinity classes for men, everything that a progressive worships.. Afghans would have none of it.. wasted $$$...

[dawg80]

Japan and Taiwan Officials To Hold Security Talks Over Joint China Threat (msn.com)

[dawg80]

Pakistan suicide bomber attacked Chinese workers. His plan went bad and he ended up killing two children playing along side the road, and himself of course, and only injuring the Chinese workers who were in a van. A separatist group supporting Muslims in China claim credit...or discredit....for the attack. They vowed to step up the attacks against Chinese nationals.

This is why I don't think the Chicoms will just waltz into Afghanistan and reap the rewards of natural resources there.

[dawg80]

Chicoms finally gave up...at least for now...on their whining.

A recent training exercise in the South China Sea which included the HMS Queen Elizabeth task force, the USS Ronald Reagan Supercarrier task force, the USS Iwo Jima escort carrier and her escorts, the USS America "assault" ship (helicopters and marines), joined by a Ticonderoga class, guided missile cruiser(s), task force, a Japanese helicopter carrier, assault ship, and her escorts, and a Dutch anti-submarine frigate...amongst a host of support vessels and frigates. Two US guided-missile destroyers, The Sullivans and Halsey, are assigned to the British task force.

This time the Chicoms just cleared out of the way instead of having some of their ships shadow such operations, and their national media which usually is screaming about such activity being provocative, has been very quiet.

[dawg80]

HMS Prince of Wales carrier is about to "come out" into full operational status. She will have 40 F-35 fighters and a variety of attack helicopters, as well as serve as "mother ship" for 250 British Marines. As such her mission is slightly different than her sister ship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth...but only slightly. The F-35's make her a formidable asset to the allies' forces that the Chicoms will have to try to deal with. With two modern carries the Brits have now matched the naval aviation capability of the Chicoms. Yes, the Chicoms have 4 carriers now...but these two British ships are so superior, especially the F-35s vs. the Chicoms' JU fighters, that 2 vs. 4 is a fair fight, kind of. My money would be on the Brits even 2 vs. 4.

Japan is currently refitting two of her former helicopter carriers to host F-35s. Australia already has one such carrier, refitted helicopter carrier, and a second one, the aged HMAS Melbourne II, first launched in 1962 and has been refitted and updated many times. India has two carriers, with their own VERY good fighter, the French-built Rafale fighter. Fastest jet fighter in the world...they can get out of trouble just as fast as they can get into it! The Philippines are working on a combo carrier: F-35s and helicopters and South Korea already has one.

Ya know....why don't the Chicoms just play nice in the sandbox? Would be a whole lot less fuss and bother if the commie bastards would just fire themselves and retire somewhere. They should know by now, as they look around the world and see all these allied nations building superior carriers and other vessels, that their bullying tactics have backfired. Just stop it already and join the world community of peaceful nations.

[FriscoDog]

HMS Prince of Wales carrier is about to "come out" into full operational status. She will have 40 F-35 fighters and a variety of attack helicopters, as well as serve as "mother ship" for 250 British Marines. As such her mission is slightly different than her sister ship, the HMS Queen Elizabeth...but only slightly. The F-35's make her a formidable asset to the allies' forces that the Chicoms will have to try to deal with. With two modern carries the Brits have now matched the naval aviation capability of the Chicoms. Yes, the Chicoms have 4 carriers now...but these two British ships are so superior, especially the F-35s vs. the Chicoms' JU fighters, that 2 vs. 4 is a fair fight, kind of. My money would be on the Brits even 2 vs. 4.

Japan is currently refitting two of her former helicopter carriers to host F-35s. Australia already has one such carrier, refitted helicopter carrier, and a second one, the aged HMAS Melbourne II, first launched in 1962 and has been refitted and updated many times. India has two carriers, with their own VERY good fighter, the French-built Rafale fighter. Fastest jet fighter in the world...they can get out of trouble just as fast as they can get into it! The Philippines are working on a combo carrier: F-35s and helicopters and South Korea already has one.

Ya know....why don't the Chicoms just play nice in the sandbox? Would be a whole lot less fuss and bother if the commie bastards would just fire themselves and retire somewhere. They should know by now, as they look around the world and see all these allied nations building superior carriers and other vessels, that their bullying tactics have backfired. Just stop it already and join the world community of peaceful nations.

I truly hope her F-35's are in better shape than ours are.. In Jan of this year we only had 36% of our F-35 fleet that was fully mission capable. The number increases to 69% if you look at the ability to complete "1" of the mission profiles of the portfolio. This is due to ongoing issues with the canopy and engine modules.

[dawg80]

I truly hope her F-35's are in better shape than ours are.. In Jan of this year we only had 36% of our F-35 fleet that was fully mission capable. The number increases to 69% if you look at the ability to complete "1" of the mission profiles of the portfolio. This is due to ongoing issues with the canopy and engine modules.

The F-35s assigned to the HMS QE undertook two missions into Syria & Iraq and performed magnificently. That is one squadron of US Marines F-35s and may not reflect the overall condition of the fleet. But it did show what that jet is capable of. In a related note, a F-22 Raptor pilot published a commentary that he would not want to be opposite the F-35s for real after he and his F-22 squadron was smoked in war games by the F-35s.