How would an invasion of Taiwan affect China's economic standing in the world? it would give them absolute dominance in economic terms that can´t be overcome in less than a decade. best regards Thomas If your cities are flattened by nukes and your infrastructure is destroyed, how in the heck are yo...
Jump to postAbout halfway through the OP I started thinking about a person who started out dealing with old coins and then sent family folks out all over the place and ... well, that became a huge money dealing family. Actually they took huge up a couple of notches. You folks know who I am thinking of, don't you?
Jump to postI've been in this region for many decades in both an active duty capacity, Government Schedules capacity, and then as a straight civilian, but still working with a few governments as a civilian. There was a time I was absolutely sure that Aaron747 's opinion that the mainland Chinese were too intent...
Jump to postOkey-dokey, I have to confess at still being somewhat (or more) surprised at an opinion posted here that what was done in Japan after WW2 was not nation-building. That flies in the face of countless scholars and I could create a huge list, but as I am a member of JSTOR I should offer this for study ...
Jump to postMy goodness, I didn't realize this would focus so much attention on Japan, but I do have to ask, for a starter on that point about not reforming the society in Japan; the land reforms were not societal reforms? And then to broaden the scope of happenings after WW2, would any view post-war events in ...
Jump to postIt didn't take us 50 years in Japan. Excuse me, by "us" I am referring to the United States of America.
In addition, the constitution they still use was basically written by the GHQ staff.
I saw so many posts in another thread that seemed to indicate a very strong negativity toward the idea of nation building, so I am asking if nation building is now considered an unacceptable practice?
Thank you for helping me better understand this.
Truthfully, I do not remember what the source was, but it sure was some source that must have seemed reliable. But I am sort of happy you went to the trouble to post that, because maybe I can now claim to be just a tad less stupid than a short time ago. I might have to do some checking now. I wouldn...
Jump to postAaron747 , I will apologize upfront and state that I have the thinking style that when I have a thousand folks with weapons surrounding a piece of land that I am asking my own charges to guard with their own weapons and everyone, them and my people, are loading live ammo and - - - well, you can giv...
Jump to postTokyoImperialPa , I can assure you that I am missing more than a "few" things. But you have me thinking now about that fella who stated something about maybe some folks better head for a border to get out. You state there is a limit to how many the UK will allow to enter their lands. If I...
Jump to postYou know, that post about soap and water brings up something that caught my attention back when this Covid-19 trouble started, and I forget from whom I read this; but soap and water doesn't kill germs. It just washes them away. Now it seems that would be so logical and I am absolutely sure them medi...
Jump to postUK defense secretary advises Afghans to flee across borders rather than by air Ben Wallace briefs UK lawmakers on situation, admits not everyone will get out on rescue flights from Kabul airport https://www.timesofisrael.com/uk-defense-secretary-advises-afghans-to-flee-across-borders-rather-than-by...
Jump to postEdit : Answer to the 747 fella who named his bird 'Aaron' --- I think we dig into another old style of human interaction --- bribery. I'm surprised you didn't hit me for that huge sum of money I proposed. I think about half of that goes to some really clever bribery. Just have to be upfront from th...
Jump to postI best apologize up front on this post, because I have seen a whole bunch of folks posting about religion in one manner or another, as if that is a key issue. I don't think it is. I think it is simply a matter of tribal troubles. Very, very basic style brain workings --- ' My tribe is number one so ...
Jump to postBe careful what you wish for. Boring can be a problem, too. You sort of forget that Mother Nature has all sorts of surprises up there. By the way, C130 to chopper air-to-air is . . . well, - - - Kadena AB The Commando II flies clandestine, or low visibility, single or multiship, low-level air refuel...
Jump to postOh come on, folks; the first response gave us the proper answer - - - static electricity is stronger in New Jersey than in any other state or territory until Mother Nature ramped up static electricity charges in Oregon to add balance of that same strength of charge in one state on the coasts of the ...
Jump to postIf anyone sincerely wants to help any peoples anywhere on this planet by asking somebody to give money to some cause, there is a simple way to achieve some sense of confidence in your target money-donating group; give us an easy to read chart of EXACTLY what is done with the money from the moment it...
Jump to postI think some good news wouldn't be so bad to post here. Well, some might not view these births on our birds as good news, but this particular one shows an AC who either received quick advice over the voice comm or was a smart human and knew right away to get the bird down to a lower altitude. Well, ...
Jump to postIf China is going to negotiate the mass movement of Muslims between Afghanistan and China I think it’s very possible the arrow would be pointing west. Im not saying it would be humane but doing a deal with the Taliban to trade mining rights and downstream share of revenue if Afghanistan will take i...
Jump to postOh my, this is one tough, tough topic to offer opinions on and to even give full consideration to. Spotted this a bit back when wandering away from that other topic/thread that is really a bother in my life at present and have been keeping up with the posts in this thread and some really good though...
Jump to postOh my, what country do you think could do that? Maybe China? Mainland China, I mean. They have a very specific reason for doing so; not to let religious turmoil spill over the border into their areas of control. And I use that style of description --- "areas of control" --- because that is...
Jump to postThis is one heck of a post: - - - truncated - - - Overall, Sub-Saharan Africans migrating towards Europe, are not a surprise. If miracles of modern technology, as medicine, make it to Africa, and make people survive childhood better, and live longer -- you have population growth. If those same mirac...
Jump to postUsing Wikipedia for this information I have New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Italy, and Poland with armed forces personnel in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2021, along with the U.S. troops. I am not sure I fully grasp the idea of "some NATO support" as it seems to be presented in that po...
Jump to postJens Stoltenberg: NATO has 'some leverage' with Taliban DW dated this as 20.08.2021 The written text that is shown by Deutsche Welle clearly indicates that it was approved by NATO and when listening that seems also to be the case; Secretary General Stoltenberg is making the statement of a NATO appr...
Jump to postThe US has no further responsibility for random Americans in Afghanistan. - - - truncated - - - It does now. If the CIC states to the nation and all others on this planet that all means will be used to get the U.S. citizens out of harm's way, that places the U.S. government square into 'Responsibil...
Jump to postHaving to be in a bit of a hurry I am looking to Reuters for help right now on what the CIC stated as to intention and so let me offer that link: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/facing-sharp-criticism-afghanistan-biden-speak-evacuations-2021-08-20/ I suppose that military requirements to uphold the...
Jump to postTwo answers came to me for #1: A. Family member is very sick and cannot travel. // B. Wife is far into pregnancy and cannot travel. And I am assuming, Aaron747 , that your point about #2 is that even though the State Department advised folks to leave, if they didn't, the U.S. government is bound by ...
Jump to postAppreciate the assistance, Aaron747 , and I think this on May15th from the State Department folks sort of covers their butt on the question of warning folks to clear out: The May 15th alert has this: The Embassy reminds U.S. citizens that on April 27, 2021, the Department of State ordered the depart...
Jump to postThank you for the reference to alerts in May and June, but I wish to be seeing some actual facts so that guessing can be brought down to a rational level. Yes, this is a discussion platform, but I have now moved into a 'collect facts' stage and what the State Department sent out to our citizens that...
Jump to postIt seems there was one of our community citizens wondering about why there would be any U.S. citizens in Afghanistan and to give credit to the question I think we need to first ask what sort of information was passed to U.S. citizens in Afghanistan about 60 or so days ago? Let me show you a sample o...
Jump to postThe human species continues to amaze me, but sometimes not in a good way. I grew up during the Cold War. I witnessed the happenings of the Cuban Missile Crisis from the vantage point of my father's view as he was on duty in a SAC unit at Homestead AFB. Frankly, that we survived that was a fair bit o...
Jump to postI am hoping I am not going to break any rules here, but one source of information that seems can be useful is the defense folks themselves and so I am offering this latest that came to my account from the Stars&Stripes folks that are digging up information on this: US aircraft ready to evacuate ...
Jump to postThis is a very good time to show some appreciation to management for even allowing this thread to be active. This is a kind of topic that is a Mod's nightmare. Next, I am having a very hard time wrapping my head around what seemed from recent press conferences is chaos at the United States Defense D...
Jump to postAnd if you cannot recover them and you CAN shorten them you could be one really cool dude. I think you were indicating you had them as part of a suit, yes? Well, we would then be reading about some really cool dude going to someplace really cool in a super spiffy shorts suit. Of course, it would be ...
Jump to postOkay, I don't know about my style and I am too old to change it now. Sorry if I piss you off sometimes. I used to teach after I could no longer fly. In a cockpit you do not piss off the student. In the classroom, it sometimes helps. Very different environment. Maybe I let a teaching style sneak into...
Jump to postOkay, I see I made a bad mistake. I knew where my brain was going, but I didn't finish in my post. What will happen when the people living north of the DMZ get themselves free is ain't nobody but their brothers and sisters to the south going to be able to provide them with guidance. They will NOT li...
Jump to post"a giant prison" My goodness, where did you pick that one up? That is exactly what they said about the USSR and I do believe those folks running the USSR had a better system of control than does the Kim regime right now and it still fell apart. Now I am going to be impolite and I hope you ...
Jump to postNow I'm in trouble. I'm back. I had something trigger something in my brain but it took too long to really perk up the proper brain cells. I am going to ask any of you that might be able to answer, but maybe tommy1808 can answer, because you dug it up. I think. This: In the 1980s, however, the fortu...
Jump to postWell, wings have to be attached to bodies or they are useless. Us in the body --- the center --- appreciate the lessons and the warnings, but we know how to keep this creature going forward. Remember, there really is a creature with wings that doesn't have to actually fly. The body does all the eati...
Jump to postI think, scbriml , you might want to be careful with that use of the word "never" if I may say so without offending you. You see, here is when I think the "never" would not apply. Some reason the Kim regime collapses. Anarchy develops in the DPRK areas. Koreans from north of the ...
Jump to postDutchy , you are gonna get me in hot water with Bob. I just informed him I was getting into my shell and here you got me poking my fins ends at this human typing piece of equipment again. Anyway, I don't remember asserting that the mainland Chinese would help the UN in any actions on the Korean pen...
Jump to postIf you view that post as being evasive then I probably have some studying to do to improve my thinking. If you view that post as unworthy, I suspect that I should do an equal amount of studying to answer that. Unfortunately, I am, right now, upset that I was too slow in catching a stupid punctuation...
Jump to postWell, you sure don't let a turtle rest, do you? But I'm still glad down in Key West they don't let you humans eat us, anymore. Okay, now for that human stuff. Why? The big question. Well, the answer has many, many pieces. But the simple answer is that the war is not over. Very, very basic. We got in...
Jump to postI don't know how to write this without coming across as an old man preaching. I'm afraid that might, though, be exactly what this is. EXCEPT I have personal involvement here that goes over a number of decades and the loss of life of a friend. Yes, on the other side of that DMZ, so it won't be too ha...
Jump to postCBC has a recent story that indicates 25 "close calls" in 5 years and that certainly deserves special attention, which apparently the CBC feels it got. I'll put the link below, but first this paragraph should be placed here: In a "safety bulletin" issued Wednesday, the Internatio...
Jump to postMaybe that isn't such a polite title for a very, very serious problem for a country, but . . . - - - I guess I should apologize to you folks from Kenya. I do. I apologize. Just I have an odd brain and my fingers type weird stuff sometimes. Anyway, the subject is a very serious matter for a nation's ...
Jump to postThis thread is supposed to be a discussion of one police officer's mistake. Yes, a very bad mistake, as I have already posted. Yes, a kind of mistake that society as a whole will deeply frown upon. - - - Is deeply frowning upon. But I don't think I have seen anyone here post anything about wishing t...
Jump to postDarwin Peng wrote an interesting piece related to this topic some months ago for the Harvard Political Review and it might be that I should share a link to that with y'all.
Understanding Aung San Suu Kyi’s Silence on the Rohingya
We have a recent story on the BBC site related to this: Air Transat probed after flights delayed for hours on Ottawa runway I hope that all do understand that there is, in fact, a "collective responsibility" that deserves a place on the Who-Did-Wrong scale. Allow me to quote the end of the...
Jump to postWe all have so much to learn. And the learning never stops.
Jump to post