War

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
i have absolutely no idea what happens after the physical body ceases to exist...and neither does anyone else. no one has ever come back from real, undeniable death after more than a few moments, and they've never been able to give a real coherent explanation of the experience, which is of little surprise.
the best estimates are that about 109 Billion homo sapiens have lived and died on earth so far, and there is not one reputable record of a single one communicating from the other side.
but, that does not mean that there is nothing beyond this existence, either. it just means that there hasn't been, and likely never will be, any information available about it on our side of the veil.
Up front, I say I don't believe there is a supernatural power or an afterlife or whatever. I believe when we die, we die. Our brain stops functioning and what makes us what we are ends with it.

That said, my mother hemorrhaged after giving birth to my older brother. As she was dying, she felt an overwhelming sense of light and peace. When she came to, she didn't want to come back.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
Up front, I say I don't believe there is a supernatural power or an afterlife or whatever. I believe when we die, we die. Our brain stops functioning and what makes us what we are ends with it.

That said, my mother hemorrhaged after giving birth to my older brother. As she was dying, she felt an overwhelming sense of light and peace. When she came to, she didn't want to come back.
I don't believe anything...In that regard. Any, and i mean any supposition on my part is wild guess work, same for anyone else.
you can explain your mother's reaction as a physical effect, a mental effect, both, or some vague touch of the sublime afterlife...and each explanation is exactly as valid and invalid as the one before and the one coming next.
 

abandonconflict

Well-Known Member
The Chinese are fixated on this,they practice assaulting the Taiwanese version of the "Whitehouse" on a identical mock up they have built, they also have a mock up of a US carrier on rail tracks that they have hit w/a ballistic missile while moving at identical knots, they ARE a very cagey adversary who have patiently played the long game to arrive at near peer status,that alone is a remarkable achievement considering 2 US carrier battle groups sailed thru the Taiwan strait a little more than 20 yrs. ago made them back down from threatening the Taiwanese,don't think a US pres. would do that now in a crisis.
Hittting a moving ship on the surface of the sea is a far cry from training sights on a rail-bound mockup. Actually scoring a hit with "carrier killers" is much more like throwing rocks at cats in a stadium from the parking lot. Currently, the notion is that they simply fire dozens or even scores of missiles per target in the hope of landing a hit. With conventional warheads, this is nothing more than a nuissance, giving the US military an excuse to destroy the entire PLA posture in mere hours with little more than SEAD sorties and tomahawks. Look it up, US ships can take direct hits.

The fact is, those weapons are designed to fall within nuclear blast radius. They can only sink US fleets if armed with nuclear warheads. Why do you think solo ships regularly traverse the West Philippine Sea and even the Taiwan Strait wishin a mofucka would? The PLA would be absolutely outclassed, probably by Japan alone.

They are not ready to get tactical. The PLA is purely a strategic military. The US military on the other hand is the most expeditionary in history. They have recently gone to the complete other side of the globe to fight the fourth largest military in the world and defeated them in under 3 weeks.
 
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DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Hittting a moving ship on the surface of the sea is a far cry from training sights on a rail-bound mockup. Actually scoring a hit with "carrier killers" is much more like throwing rocks at cats in a stadium from the parking lot. Currently, the notion is that they simply fire dozens or even scores of missiles per target in the hope of landing a hit. With conventional warheads, this is nothing more than a nuissance, giving the US military an excuse to destroy the entire PLA posture in mere hours with little more than SEAD sorties and tomahawks. Look it up, US ships can take direct hits.

The fact is, those weapons are designed to fall within nuclear blast radius. They can only sink US fleets if armed with nuclear warheads. Why do you think solo ships regularly traverse the West Philippine Sea and even the Taiwan Strait wishin a mofucka would? The PLA would be absolutely outclassed, probably by Japan alone.

They are not ready to get tactical. The PLA is purely a strategic military. The US military on the other hand is the most expeditionary in history. They have recently gone to the complete other side of the globe to fight the fourth largest military in the world and defeated them in under 3 weeks.
It's one of many reasons why I think China will focus on central Asia and it's resources, the stans to their east where they already have a railroad built. Russia's sudden demise as a global player has left a vacuum in central and eastern Asia and it appears the Russian empire/federation could dissolve. China can take advantage of this situation using soft power, following the British and American models. Buy the government and exploit the resources including cheap labor by owning the mines and factories. I think China's neighborhood to the east and north is gonna be a busy place in the next decade with political change and the dissolution of Russia as we know it. The war in Ukraine will be changing the map in east Asia too.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Hittting a moving ship on the surface of the sea is a far cry from training sights on a rail-bound mockup. Actually scoring a hit with "carrier killers" is much more like throwing rocks at cats in a stadium from the parking lot. Currently, the notion is that they simply fire dozens or even scores of missiles per target in the hope of landing a hit. With conventional warheads, this is nothing more than a nuissance, giving the US military an excuse to destroy the entire PLA posture in mere hours with little more than SEAD sorties and tomahawks. Look it up, US ships can take direct hits.

The fact is, those weapons are designed to fall within nuclear blast radius. They can only sink US fleets if armed with nuclear warheads. Why do you think solo ships regularly traverse the West Philippine Sea and even the Taiwan Strait wishin a mofucka would? The PLA would be absolutely outclassed, probably by Japan alone.

They are not ready to get tactical. The PLA is purely a strategic military. The US military on the other hand is the most expeditionary in history. They have recently gone to the complete other side of the globe to fight the fourth largest military in the world and defeated them in under 3 weeks.
This looks like work in the Philippines, good jobs perhaps.
 

CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
So far they have a total of one flat-top for fixed wing aircraft.

I'll be 1st. to admit that carrier aviation is a area where the US has huge advantage's in numbers and experience. I believe China can deploy 3 aircraft carriers w/the caveat that 2 of them are Soviet era conversions that the Chinese completely overhauled and only carry 28 jets I think. The Fujian you mentioned is their 1st domestically produced carrier and is about the size of our pre-Nimitz class of carriers. China's doctrine is not to have a carrier vs. carrier engagement. They are into "area denial", in which their ever improving missile fleet threatens our carriers to the extent of a 1200 mile buffer at this moment w/their current capability and they are working hard to push that area out even more in the future. One of the areas the Chinese excel in is missile developement,remember they invented gun powder and all those fireworks we enjoy. At this moment they have the pl-15 air to air missile which outranges anything in the west,their anti-ship version of our subsonic harpoon missile goes supersonic in its terminal phase making it extremely difficult to engage,these are just a few examples. It's no ones fault that our armed forces spent over 15 yrs, reconfiguring itself for the war on terror and the end of the Cold war also took away our focus on peer to peer conflict causing some of our weapon systems to atrophy over time and delay developement of their replacements. China kept their heads down and used this time wisely and are now a formidable adversary.
 

CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
Hittting a moving ship on the surface of the sea is a far cry from training sights on a rail-bound mockup. Actually scoring a hit with "carrier killers" is much more like throwing rocks at cats in a stadium from the parking lot. Currently, the notion is that they simply fire dozens or even scores of missiles per target in the hope of landing a hit. With conventional warheads, this is nothing more than a nuissance, giving the US military an excuse to destroy the entire PLA posture in mere hours with little more than SEAD sorties and tomahawks. Look it up, US ships can take direct hits.

The fact is, those weapons are designed to fall within nuclear blast radius. They can only sink US fleets if armed with nuclear warheads. Why do you think solo ships regularly traverse the West Philippine Sea and even the Taiwan Strait wishin a mofucka would? The PLA would be absolutely outclassed, probably by Japan alone.

They are not ready to get tactical. The PLA is purely a strategic military. The US military on the other hand is the most expeditionary in history. They have recently gone to the complete other side of the globe to fight the fourth largest military in the world and defeated them in under 3 weeks.
Hope you're right,I'd be more inclined to think we'd try to exploit our advantage with our SSN's to deal w/the Chinese navy,confidence is good,over confidence?
 

schuylaar

Well-Known Member
what makes your proposal different is asking him first. Makes all the difference. Dosing someone unaware is something about which I hold strong opinions.
When was the last time Putin got permission to poison from poinsonee or is that different? Maybe something will put a smile on that smug face. I'm not a proponent of drugging people without their knowledge.

So @abandonconflict you just left China?
 

abandonconflict

Well-Known Member
Hope you're right,I'd be more inclined to think we'd try to exploit our advantage with our SSN's to deal w/the Chinese navy,confidence is good,over confidence?
What are you talking about?

If by "we" you mean the US, then no, that has little consideration of US interests. It is in the interest of the US for the Chinese Communist Party to jump with both feet into a fool-hardy invasion of Taiwan and get their shit pushed in just like what Putin has done. Any notion of Chinese supremacy would die within months. The US would continue to be the only super-power and Xitler will have failed to achieve even the image of Chinese regional hegemony.

But I doubt he is nearly as stupid as the five foot seven inch tall ruler of Russia.
 

CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
Hope you're right,I'd be more inclined to think we'd try to exploit our advantage with our SSN's to deal w/the Chinese navy,confidence is good,over confidence?
Also,I haven't seen you comment on this thread before,glad your here, I enjoy your insightful input.
 

CCGNZ

Well-Known Member
What are you talking about?

If by "we" you mean the US, then no, that has little consideration of US interests. It is in the interest of the US for the Chinese Communist Party to jump with both feet into a fool-hardy invasion of Taiwan and get their shit pushed in just like what Putin has done. Any notion of Chinese supremacy would die within months. The US would continue to be the only super-power and Xitler will have failed to achieve even the image of Chinese regional hegemony.

But I doubt he is nearly as stupid as the 5 foot seven inch tall ruler of Russia.
What I'm talking about is I hope you're right about the inaccuracy of Chinese missiles,I hope your right that our ships can take hits,Ihope your right that we would annihilate the Chinese in a confrontation over Taiwan, and I think our biggest advantage is in submarine warfare presently as I think it would do the most damage with the least risk in lives and treasure,the over confidence thing refers to the fact that I respect my adversary and never underestimate them,hubris can kill.
 

injinji

Well-Known Member
It's one of many reasons why I think China will focus on central Asia and it's resources, the stans to their east where they already have a railroad built. Russia's sudden demise as a global player has left a vacuum in central and eastern Asia and it appears the Russian empire/federation could dissolve. China can take advantage of this situation using soft power, following the British and American models. Buy the government and exploit the resources including cheap labor by owning the mines and factories. I think China's neighborhood to the east and north is gonna be a busy place in the next decade with political change and the dissolution of Russia as we know it. The war in Ukraine will be changing the map in east Asia too.
I've been saying that 50-75 years from now, eastern Russia will be part of China proper or at the very least satellite countries. The folks who live their are ethnic Chinese anyway. Lots of Russians have been moved in to blunt that, but still most folks there are not European.
 

injinji

Well-Known Member
What I'm talking about is I hope you're right about the inaccuracy of Chinese missiles,I hope your right that our ships can take hits,Ihope your right that we would annihilate the Chinese in a confrontation over Taiwan, and I think our biggest advantage is in submarine warfare presently as I think it would do the most damage with the least risk in lives and treasure,the over confidence thing refers to the fact that I respect my adversary and never underestimate them,hubris can kill.
The US forces are modeled on the need to fight Russia, China and a smaller power at the same time. This is not talked about much because folks might start thinking we spend too much on defense. A popular saying among those of us who would like to see just a little of that money plowed back into America for the good of it's people. . . . .

The USAF is the largest air force in the world. The USN is the second largest air force in the world.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
I've been saying that 50-75 years from now, eastern Russia will be part of China proper or at the very least satellite countries. The folks who live their are ethnic Chinese anyway. Lots of Russians have been moved in to blunt that, but still most folks there are not European.
I don't think they will take over any former Russian territory in a political sense, such empires often break up along administrative lines and the autonomous republics and regions will end up as new countries economically tied to China. Before that though they will/are in central Asia and have already given security assurances to Kazakhstan which stretches from their eastern border and the Caspian sea, with it's oil and gas. Several Stans lie to the south of it and it cuts Russia off from access there. The US and EU are coming to the Caspian from the west, promoting peace and pipelines in Georgia now that the Russians are busy elsewhere.
 

injinji

Well-Known Member
Eh for some reason i don't see China and Taiwan going at it anytime soon.....to many variables imo.....in recent years of me watching i see china using the diplomatic approach with Taiwan, getting themselves involved within they're government and then slowly taking them over from the inside....
China is a lot like a sailor I served with on the Saipan. His name was Pace, but we all called him Bulkhead. He was a big fuck, and would use pain to bully those below him into doing his work, and suck up to anyone above him in rank.

An example from him trying it on me. . . . we used to be able to do assembly in the powershop when there was too much rain to do it on the flightdeck. [I was an electrician's mate, and the powershop was our biggest space] If you got there early you could sit on the counters. Otherwise you had to stand. I was sitting on a counter when Bulkhead came in late and wanted my spot. He grabbed me by both kneecaps and was pulling me off. I grabbed a wrench and tried to knock him in the head. I missed but it hit the oven we baked motors in with a pretty loud bang. The Electrical Officer {who was Filipino} said, "Lawwe, leave Bulkhead alone," but otherwise didn't miss a beat in his remarks.

China is doing the same thing. They will use the threat pain to make the weaker countries in their neighborhood do what they want. But they will keep sucking up to the west because we buy all their shit.
 
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