History following a common theme?

First of all, remember that Taiwan has a standing army of 400,000, and they are better armed than the Chinese. The Chinese would have to build up for months, we sould see it coming.

Hmmmm… and yet we didn’t in the Korean “War?”

i’m guessing the Americans would have fairly effective artillery as well, relative to the Chinese, particularly given GPS guidence systems . . . .

I am guessing that the Americans have the best artillery in the world, though Russia could be if your can correct me that I am wrong.

“History never repeats itself, humans always do.”

First off, China is rapidly growing in both it’s economy and it’s military. Their Air Force is the largest in the world in terms of aircraft, and not entirely in disrepair.

If the Chineese were going to instigate war, the first thing they would do is find a way to knock out our few Pacific carriers. See book Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy.

You beat China entirely by Air, without using Nuclear weapons, and I’ll crown you King.

Tawain will be easily cut off from foreign help, its a small island. The Chineese Navy will promptly destroy the Tawainneese navy, though I don’t doubt there will be a large body count for the Chineese. Being a small island, it will be easy to bomb out all air force installations. Then its just a matter of attrition.

We did not win in Afganistan entirely by Air. We won by the North and Eastern alliances doing a massive ground operation, assisted by our bombs.

@Jazz:

STOP USING TOM CLANCEY FICTION BOOKS AS A REFERENCE!

The man is smart, no argument there. It doesn’t every thing he writes will come true. If everything he writes does come true, i am going to ask him to add a character named “Jazz” who becomes a weathly in his next book.

I reference him as simply a person who puts an interesting spin on situations. There’s a book called “What if?” referring to historical scenarios written by historians. He writes the “What if?” from a (apparently accurate) military perspective. He also appears to research things well, and appears to fear the “call of bulls**t”. I would not take him seriously as a predictor of the future, however he seems to have an Asimov quality to his predictions - eerily possible - i think.

Intriguing yes, though unlikely.

One knocks out Pacific carriers by taking advantage of their low alert status and firing a torpedo at it’s rudder.

Tom Clancy’s books all could happen, they probably won’t, but its all realistic.

Dont much much about politics, but I like to think that most of the world might be against them should they fire on a U.S. ship without being provoked.

The Chinese aren’t that dumb. And I seriously doubt (if war between the countries is impending), that our carriers would be on such a low alert status or that it would take only one torpedo to knock out a modern, US carrier. If the Chinese want to beat us, then it will be through their economy.

@TG:

The Chinese aren’t that dumb. And I seriously doubt (if war between the countries is impending), that our carriers would be on such a low alert status or that it would take only one torpedo to knock out a modern, US carrier. If the Chinese want to beat us, then it will be through their economy.

You’re probably correct about the economy thing. But about the one-torpedo thing…does anyone remember the attack on the USS Cole? That was only a dingy.

So China wouldnt piss anyone off before it’s attacks. If there is no war impending, the Carriers wouldn’t be at Alert.

But about the one-torpedo thing…does anyone remember the attack on the USS Cole? That was only a dingy.

Sure, that was the inability of our ship to “shoot first and ask questions” later. (I’m not sure the level of danger at the time)

So China wouldnt piss anyone off before it’s attacks. If there is no war impending, the Carriers wouldn’t be at Alert.

Then why attack in the first place - just for the hell of it?

Well AFTER that you go invade some small country or something )

Yes, but there should have been armed gaurds protecting that ship at all times.

Al-Qaeda realized that we were vulnerable, and thanks to the Clinton administration’s lack of enthuisiasm for combatting terrorism, it was very much a successful hit-and-run for the bad guys.

Never really did like that Clinton character. Draft dodger

Is ANYONE fond of the former president?

The uneducated people who believed that Clinton “magically” made our economy grow better. Stop acrediting everything to the president and put the blame/praise where it’s rightfully due.