Thursday, April 12, 2012

We spoke softly. Now its time for the big stick!

via Military.com
China deployed a third ship Thursday in an area of the disputed South China Sea where a tense standoff with Philippine vessels has dragged on, sparking alarm in Manila.
Chinese and Filipino diplomats have been scrambling to resolve the dangerous impasse at the Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines that erupted Tuesday. A Philippine warship attempted to arrest several Chinese fishermen accused of illegal entry and poaching, but was prevented by the arrival of two Chinese surveillance ships.
One of the Chinese ships blocked the entrance to a lagoon at the shoal, where at least eight Chinese fishing vessels were anchored. The Chinese ships also ordered the Philippine warship to leave Scarborough, claiming Chinese sovereignty over the rich fishing ground.
OK.

We've tried nice.

Our own State Dept keeps trying nice.

But now its time to bring out the big stick.  And in 2012, the big stick is the USS Teddy Rosevelt along with its task force.

China needs to be taught the limits of its powers.  The Teddy would go a long way in giving that lesson.

13 comments :

  1. if i was china i would just raise our intrest rate....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's not how it works. The market's perception of demand, risk, and opportunity cost dictate the price of debt (interest rates), and if you look at the balance of who is buying US Debt (t-bills) it's mostly Americans... so really, American's are setting their own interest rates with only mild input from China.

      Delete
  2. which would you rather be. the bank that you owe money to or the person that owes money to the bank?

    assume for a moment that you dont' care about your credit rating and if you default on the loan the worst that will happen is that you'll have trouble getting future loans....

    i guess what i'm saying is that China is as vulnerable as we are to the economic dance that we're doing. besides, if the US and Europe stop buying there stuff then they'll have riots in the streets because of all the laid off people.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When you own the bank a thousand dollars, the bank owns you. When you owe the bank $10 million dollars you own the bank.

      Delete
  3. Oh don't get me wrong, I'm all for showing whose top dog, no problem there, just saying the public doesn't get that, they are just sheep who are to busy worring about how shootings in Florida

    ReplyDelete
  4. I foresee a war with these people, once their military capability catches up with their bluster.

    ReplyDelete
  5. its inevitable Drake.

    i don't know if you ever read Information Dessimination but they have a guy there named FENG, he's suppose to be either a US or Canadian citizen but the arrogance and fawning over improving Chinese capabilities is just a sight to behold.

    our saving grace is that they are culturally incapable of being innovative. they copy great but can't invent to save their lives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then what was "The Art of War" copied from? China used to be a great innovator until a few hundred years ago. Only in the last 65 years or so have they really started to copy other countries gear.

      Delete
  6. it could easily be said that the art of war simply gleaned concepts of battle from the greeks and romans...heck even the bible.

    besides general concepts of warfare have been passed among warrior classes for years. Zu simply encapsulated those teachings and made it a written instead of oral history. that might explain why its so sought after in the west but is seen as ho hum in the east.

    i'm more a fan of machiavelli and his teachings to the prince.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well said Sol. This ridiculous practice of just claiming dibs on other peoples territory has gone on long enough. Their behavior now is a direct result of inaction in earlier incidents. If we dont put a stop to it now, especially with their clear statements of "undisputed territorial sovereignty" it would set a dangerous precedent for the future.

    Dont forget that their internal politics is in all kinds of shit right now. Something like this is a clever ruse to distract the populace. But its also a wonderful opportunity to the US to put its foot down and show these idiots who's the boss.

    Nothing sparks revolutions faster than blatant shows of ineptitude.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Actually "The Art of War" is comparable to "On War" on many levels. There's a comparative textual analysis of the two that is extremely interesting, naval war college professor, but it's a rather dense read. The text also includes examines various other works including Machiavelli, Mao, etc.

    A grand summary would be both are rather similar after analysis though they are aimed at different levels and one often goes into things the other ignores. That said both works are often misunderstood to one degree or another.

    As far as US debt is concerned while it's certainly an issue for the US it's a larger issue for China. A financial melt down means we stop buying things from China which given their dependance on exports means they're economy ends up in far worse shape than ours.

    Moreover, the classic method to deal with too much debt is to inflate the currency which both lowers debt and the value of the dollar. So again Chinese exports decrease, the debt they hold decreases in value, and long term our exports increase. This classic method to deal with debt is exactly why the Euro zone can't last as individual nations have no ability to manage debt held in the Euro instead of a national currency. It's why Greece, as an example, must eventually leave or Germany can continue to foot the bill for everyone. Indications are they're a bit sick and tired of doing so.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Sol. I'm bombproof from Manila. Is the CVN-71 really coming this way? The bullying has to stop. They've pushed our borders right to our shorelines. Not only ours but our other Asian neighbors as well making this region unstable.

    ReplyDelete
  10. i'm sorry my friend.

    it is not. and that is a shame. i've watched the conflict between your country and China. China is trying to take over the Pacific.

    i only wish that we responded more strongly but attention here is focused on the always crazy middle east instead of the real threat that China represents.

    hopefully though the treaty between the US and the Philippines will see US ships once again stationed at Subic Bay.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.