"Hatred is a failure of imagination" - Graham Greene, "The Power and the Glory"
Good point, I have considered this but Taiwan also considers much of it as theirs......
Neither has any valid claims what so ever......
Although I don't agree how Russia did it, that has historically been part of Russia...... Nikita gave it to Ukraine as a gift........ Hopefully the two brothers can kiss & make up someday.......
"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
They have done joint military exercises as well....
About a week and a half ago- US, Vietnam rip China for military drills in disputed waters
By Bob Fredericks
July 3, 2020 | 1:45pm | Updated
Looks like no more soft pretend power propaganda.. The cheap silk gloves are coming off for some hardball....
Xi is feeling his oats, as they say......
The US, Vietnam and the Philippines have ripped China for provocative military drills in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.
China is in the midst of five days of drills that began Wednesday near the Paracel Islands, a disputed archipelago that is also claimed by Vietnam, the South China Morning Post reported Friday.
China calls the Paracels the Xisha Islands, while Vietnam refers to them as the Hoang Sa Islands, and the two sides engaged in a naval battle in 1974 over the islands that resulted in China claiming ownership.
“The military exercises are the latest in a long string of PRC [People’s Republic of China] actions to assert unlawful maritime claims and disadvantage its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea,” the US Defense Department said in a statement.
“The PRC’s actions stand in contrast to its pledge to not militarize the South China Sea and the United States’ vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, in which all nations, large and small, are secure in their sovereignty, free from coercion, and able to pursue economic growth consistent with accepted international rules and norms,” the statement continued.
The US called on China to “reduce its militarization and coercion of its neighbors in the South China Sea.”
The US criticisms came as Beijing and Washington were trading barbs over a wide range of issues relating to Taiwan and new, Beijing-imposed national security legislation in Hong Kong.
Zhao Lijian, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, claimed Friday that the Paracel Islands were undisputed Chinese territory and that the People’s Liberation Army drills in the waters were within its sovereignty.
“Some country outside the region often comes all the way to hold massive military activities to flex its muscles, and that is the rooted reason that affects the stability in the South China Sea,” said Zhao, apparently referring to the US, which conducts drills in the region with South Korea and other allies.
On Thursday, the US Pacific Fleet said the littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords was conducting routine operations in the South China Sea.
Vietnam and the Philippines also slammed China’s military drill, the outlet reported.
Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said China’s exercises near the Paracel Islands were “highly provocative,” while Vietnam’s foreign ministry called them a violation of sovereignty that could harm Beijing’s relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The Vietnamese ministry sent a diplomatic note to China to oppose the exercises that “seriously violate Vietnam’s sovereignty,” spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said.
The drills “further complicate the situation, and are detrimental to the relationship between China and [the association],” she said.
The South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, a think tank linked to Peking University, said Friday that 692 Vietnamese fishing vessels had “intruded” into China’s waters in the South China Sea, up from 569 in May.
"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)
https://www.naval-technology.com/projects/littoral/
The littoral combat ship (LCS) is a new family of surface ships for the US Navy. The LCS is a fast, highly manoeuvrable, networked surface combat ship, which is a specialised variant of the family of US future surface combat ships known as DD(X).
LCS is designed to meet the urgent requirement for shallow-draft vessels to operate in the littoral (coastal waters) to counter growing potential ‘asymmetric’ threats of coastal mines, quiet diesel submarines and the potential to carry explosives and terrorists on small, fast, armed boats.
10ft full load displacement draft allows the ships to access very shallow waters. Ships will have a top speed of 50k and the range at sprint speed is 1,500nm. At an economical speed of 20k, the range is 4,300nm
cancel2 2022 (07-14-2020)
"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
There are things the US can do to rein in China here. Whether they do it or not, is another question.
I'm working on an article for the US Naval Institute Proceedings arguing that the US should bring back coast defense. Most of the nations of SE Asia could implement these as a deterrent to Chinese expansion by using existing territory to project power to seaward up to roughly 200 NM, possibly more from shore using extant technologies in sensors and missiles that would pose a serious threat to China trying to oppose them.
Advantages to the US: The nations in the region can implement them at reasonably low costs. China can't make any legal objection to them. They can object, but it won't fly in some international court. The US can provide the technology and it is "defensive" in nature. For example, Japan could close the Sea of Japan in the event of a war to transit to any and all enemy shipping from land bases within their territory.
cancel2 2022 (07-14-2020)
You know china has already attacked ships & even small fishing boats in the waters they falsely claim?
IMHO that is a good idea but china would see it as provocation & act accordingly-so they would need to prepared for that & economic blackmail as well........
Some of that 200nl limit is already claimed/encroached upon by china I believe.....
One other aspect to consider is if the surrounding nations do this, up to that line~ the imaginary undefined dashes, are they not doing a de-facto establishment/acknowledgement the Chinese claims? I think China would attempt to claim as much.. They could possibly claim this as validating their claimed bullshit dots & dashes??
Last edited by Bill; 07-14-2020 at 09:59 PM.
"There is no question former President Trump bears moral responsibility. His supporters stormed the Capitol because of the unhinged falsehoods he shouted into the world’s largest megaphone," McConnell wrote. "His behavior during and after the chaos was also unconscionable, from attacking Vice President Mike Pence during the riot to praising the criminals after it ended."
A red line needs to be drawn and not like an Obama red line either. China wants to take back Taiwan, that's their big prize. Here is one of the biggest reasons, control of TSMC would give them a stranglehold over the West!
https://www.techpowerup.com/265798/h...m-tsmc-to-smic
And looks like China is getting ready to dig a canal right across Thailand
The Thai Canal – The proposed canal across the Isthmus of Kra in Southern Thailand
The canal has been given serious reconsideration by China, which considers the route as part of the 21st century maritime Silk Road.
Having access to this shortcut between the Indian and Pacific oceans fits in with the String of Pearls strategy, where China is establishing civilian maritime infrastructure around the Indian Ocean rim.
The Kra Canal would be comparable in size with the Suez and Panama canals. The Suez Canal is 192 km and the Panama Canal is 77 km, and the preferred route of the Kra Canal is 128 km.
https://livinginasia.co/thai-canal/
“If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”
— Golda Meir
Zionism is the movement for the self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, the land of Israel.
“If Hamas put down their weapons, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons, there would be no Israel."
ברוך השם
Bookmarks