Meanwhile, in asia...

[themadscientist]

We have three of the major players in the region getting really hostile with each other over some rocks in the water.

http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?optio ... Itemid=189
http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/12836/

Truthfully, it's more complicated than that. Obviously ownership of land masses determine sovereignty of the seas around them and that is what this is really about, control of the seas and more importantly rights to the oil and gas deposits suspected to be below.

I don't care much about Japan's problems. They don't want me here anyway and would be happy to see me and all other "barbarian criminal foreigners" leave asap so their country can magically change into a pure-blood utopia. I do care that what happens here very much affects America.

In the case of Takeshima, or Dokdo, depending on who you ask, you have two ofour stated allies going at each other. With the Sekakus, or Daioyu you have Japan, our "freind" -vs- China our, whatever the hell they are to us; I would call them a dormant enemy. The first one, I got nothing. I have no idea who is closer to right, but it is worth noting that Japan has offered to go to the international courts to settle it which Korea has no interest in. It could be pride, that they think they have nothing to prove or it could be fear that they could not prove their case. I admit a bit of prejedice tempered with past experience on the other one. f*** China! Those lying bastards cannot be trusted for anything. They have tried this BS before with Vietnamese mineral rights.

http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNe ... il/7032469

Regardless of who is right, this issue is not going to go away and any one of them threatens to turn into something more than heated words across diplomatic channels and the U.S. has the potential to be dragged into these disputes.

As you choose your presidential candidate this go around, pay attention to their foreign ploicy because even though jobs and the economy are front and center right now, the rest of the world doesn't stop turning and we have not shown the ability to mind our own business. Shooting war with China? It's not so hard to imagine.

[carloslebaron]

I'm curious about something. I have read books about Japan before the WWII.

According to the narrations, Japan enjoyed a great fishing industry all around the world. Beyond this economical power, Japan used its citizens living in foreign lands as spies, so -for example- the Japanese citizens living in Africa or South America as barbers used to work for Japan telling everything they saw and heard.

The WWII started and this was an opportunity to destroy such a powerful industry built by Japan through the decades, and its intervention in this world war was intentionally provoked, by cutting their energetic supplies, like oil for their ships, etc.

Do the people in Japan talk/think/this way, or this is just an appreciation made by some historians in the 50's?

[bigbadberry3]

Let Godzilla figure it out.

[IBCoupe]

I used to have a picture of the South China Sea on my computer desktop at work, with the territorial claims mapped out. When anybody asked what it was a picture of, I replied, "Job security."

EDIT: For clarity, I should elaborate that I design nuclear submarines for the US Navy.

[Marenta]

Yeah, they're not that great.. make the head in the AMR larger for one. You can't even turn around in that telephone booth that they call a shxtter.

[IBCoupe]

EDIT: Wait, you're talking about a watchstander's head? Now I'm not sure which class you're talking about.

[themadscientist]

That's gotta be tough being down for months at a time. We need to be thinking about countermeasures to China's antiship warfare capabilities. They are arguably capable of controlling the region's seaways and while we spend billions in Afghanistan shooting at caves the Chinese continue to become more of a threat.

[IBCoupe]

That's gotta be tough being down for months at a time. We need to be thinking about countermeasures to China's antiship warfare capabilities. They are arguably capable of controlling the region's seaways and while we spend billions in Afghanistan shooting at caves the Chinese continue to become more of a threat.

Militaristically, China's not much of a threat. They could certainly shut down a minor navy of one of their neighbors, but against the United States, their ability to sustain a long-term campaign is pretty questionable. They lack natural resources; it may look big on a map, but much of China's territory is useless wasteland. And while China's economic growth may be massive, it's sometimes worth putting into perspective where they're growing from. If you grow from having $1 to $2, you've doubled your wealth, even though it's the same dollar more that would exist between $99 and $100.

It's actually not apparent to most Chinese people why most Americans would consider China to be a threat of any kind.

[themadscientist]

The United States is reliant on the carrier battle group, though and I believe China currently has enough ASW capability to shut down the area. This is why Okinawa is vital. It's like a dirt aircraft carrier. In the opening salvos of a sino-american conflict, air superiority will be key.

[Marenta]

EDIT: Wait, you're talking about a watchstander's head? Now I'm not sure which class you're talking about.

I can't really disclose that information, but you know what the AMR is and you know what head I'm talking about.. make it larger. People will rejoice!

[carloslebaron]

What I know about China as a war aggressor is that China has been mostly the invaded not so the invader. And the amazing thing here is that China had the best capabilities to be the first potency of the world since ancient times, due to the extraordinary technology developed since its very beginning as an empire.

New revelations -ancient scripts that include drawings/diagrams-demonstrate that -be advised that this is not religious propaganda but chronological comparison- while young David was killing giant Goliath with a stone, in China weapons using gun powder were a reality already...sorry Nobel...but knowing how China used gun powder for war purposes long before you were born, well, Nobel...you suck!

[IBCoupe]

EDIT: Wait, you're talking about a watchstander's head? Now I'm not sure which class you're talking about.

I can't really disclose that information, but you know what the AMR is and you know what head I'm talking about.. make it larger. People will rejoice!

I can't really remember which classes have a head in AMR. Now I'm going to have to go look.

And, really, if we stretched any head on the boat, wouldn't there be much rejoicing? Honestly, if I'm going to try and win over anybody's good side, I'm going to be working on growing the CO/XO heads.

[IBCoupe]

The United States is reliant on the carrier battle group, though and I believe China currently has enough ASW capability to shut down the area. This is why Okinawa is vital. It's like a dirt aircraft carrier. In the opening salvos of a sino-american conflict, air superiority will be key.

To shut down the area, and then what? We move our gulf fleet. I think China can't do anything about the SCS because we pose a threat of intervention. They've just built their first aircraft carrier, for heaven's sake. How many do we have? China's potency is only a problem for its immediate neighbors.

[themadscientist]

Don't worry IB, I can see China from my house!

EDIT: Wait, you're talking about a watchstander's head? Now I'm not sure which class you're talking about.

I can't really disclose that information, but you know what the AMR is and you know what head I'm talking about.. make it larger. People will rejoice!

OPSEC!

[Marenta]

For all you know the AMR is the Anteater Massaging Room :P

And, BOO! HISS! To the CO/XO! A few open deck drains and those rooms get flooded! BWAHAHAHAHA!

[IBCoupe]

Haha, I know how my bread gets buttered, and it's not by gussying up the AMR.

[Hijacker]

In the opening salvos of a sino-american conflict, air superiority will be key.

Long term combat sustainment is all about air superiority. USAF can get boots and food to the front lines so long as they have control of the skies. You still need a boot kicking in the door to win in the end, but you gotta get that troop to the doorstep of the enemy first. And if the enemy can drop bombs on our face, we're going to have a tough time doing that. There's a reason we work hard to maintain air dominance, and it's not a budget justification issue.

To shut down the area, and then what? We move our gulf fleet. I think China can't do anything about the SCS because we pose a threat of intervention. They've just built their first aircraft carrier, for heaven's sake. How many do we have? China's potency is only a problem for its immediate neighbors.

IRBMs are also an issue. You don't take down an enemy fleet with your own carrier. A carrier is all about power projection (read bombs on faces). The battle group is all about defending the carrier so it can continue that job. A few well placed missiles can put a stop to the Navy's ability to drop bombs. Did you know that the sole job of the frigate in a battle group was to be a torpedo sponge? Designed to fill the waters to give more targets so a carrier would be less likely to sink.

Now, a drawn out ground conflict with the Chinese is not an immediate concern. China wants to avoid any kind of shooting war with the US just as much as we want to avoid it with them. If they go to war with us, we stop buying goods from them and shut down our manufacturing on their soil. That hits their pocket books hard big time. If you remember the multiple issues the Koreas have had in recent years, China has started to distance itself from the North when it starts doing stupid stuff to the South. That's because they know we HAVE to go to war with the South if bullets begin to fly.

Lastly, we have so many bases in the Pacific region over there, that mobilizing against China isn't an issue. We can already have a good amassed ground force ready to knock their doors in set up within 24 hours. Rabid global mobility is one our tenants of air and space power for a reason.

There's a lot of tension and turmoil over land in the Asian region, but I'm not so concerned with us going to war in the region unless Japan or South Korea were bombed, we're going to take a smaller role in any conflict that happens over there to avoid another Vietnam.

[themadscientist]

And it escalates. For now they are just shooting water cannons at each other. Sooner or later someone is going to shoot a gun and the party gets started.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012 ... lands?lite

About 50 Taiwanese vessels on Tuesday entered waters near a group of uninhabited islands at the center of a bitter territorial dispute involving Japan, China and Taiwan.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed footage of a Japanese coast guard ship shooting water at a Taiwanese fishing boat, while a Taiwanese patrol vessel blasted water at the coast guard ship in reply during an incident near the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, as they are known respectively in Japan and China/Taiwan.

The Taiwanese vessels – 40 fishing boats and 10 coast guard ships – entered the waters to protest the recent Japanese government's purchase of the islands from a private owner.

Meanwhile, Japan is starting to rethink their military and looks at enhancing their capabilities.

http://www.armyrecognition.com/august_2 ... 08125.html

Japan has announced a series of initiatives to bolster the Self Defense Forces’ ability to respond to new and potential threats. The initiatives span from cyber to amphibious warfare and fill gaps in existing capability. TV Asahi has broken the news that the Self Defense Forces plan on buying four U.S.-made AAV-7 or LVTP-7 amphibious assault vehicles for the Ground Self Defense Forces.

[themadscientist]

There have been unintended victims of this strife. Japanese p0rn stars are being protested!
http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2012/09/21 ... nkaku-row/

At 10:00 a.m. the march reconvened, this time with more placards, one of which read, “Boycott Japanese goods, including AV actress Sola Aoi!”

Aoi, who made her name in such classic AV pics as “Big Tits Zombie” and “Revenge: A Love Story,” is a popular figure in entertainment in China. The 28-year-old’s account on Sina Weibo (similar to Twitter) has attracted over 13 million followers.

The anti-Sola sentiment is contrary to a slogan that spread through China starting in April, when Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara announced his plan to purchase the controversial outcroppings: “The Senkaku Islands belong to us; Sola Aoi belongs to the world!”

Chinese hookers are having to discount their prices!
http://www.tokyoreporter.com/2012/09/21 ... ku-strife/

“Before a deri heru (out-call sex) service might have charged an additional 8,000 yen for honban (the “real thing,” i.e., intercourse), but now they’ve knocked as much as 5,000 yen off the total price,” Ebina adds.

When red on red hurts pink we have gone to far!

[bigbadberry3]

Air force? Obsolete.

Space force.

[themadscientist]

It's the ultimate high ground.

[bigbadberry3]

It's the ultimate high ground.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

TLDR; China invades Japan?
In other news, China launches their first Aircraft Carrier, it's cute.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/world ... .html?_r=0

[themadscientist]

The only real Chinese naval threat is their submarines and antiship missile capability. The carrier is a scrap ship they picked up from the Ukraine for tree-fitty