I love it, let's see how a few thousand Dan Balzarians tackle a tribal country that has stood up and survived the British, Russian and US empires. It would seriously become more of a black hole for corruption and scandal as its more likely Eric Prince is trying to take over the heroin trade and compensate for his little cock and stupid haircut, all on the tax payers dime. This country really is fecking dumb as shit when it comes to armed conflict.
The Trump Presidency | Biden Inaugurated
- Thread starter Raoul
- Start date
- Status
Yeah, it's been mentioned mate, just got lost in all the Presidential history (that despite my sarcasm, I actually found interesting) and the talk of thermonuclear war.
Hyper Power is actually the correct term - Military, Technological, and Economic supremacy.
Yet as others have pointed out - only thing out of military, cultural and economic dominance, that rings true today is military.
Manafort raid is great optics...but, he's probably way to smart to still have anything remotely incriminating in his possession.
Anybody with any diplomatic experience of North Korea is saying otherwise.
The USA has a bigger Air Force than anyone by at least 3 times, but China has a bigger Navy and it has more military personnel too, including around 800,000 more soldiers. None of that matters though as if the Super Powers, (sorry Hyper Powers
) came to blows then it wouldn't come down to numbers or strength and it would just more than likely mean the end of us all.I don't think it's helpful to put them all in the same bucket. There's some fundamental differences between North Korea and any others. The imagined history of North Korea is built upon the central idea of an evil enemy out to get them, and their glorious leader - a descendent of divine ancestors - is the only one that can save them. Given the American occupation of South Korea is less than a century old, it makes sense for them to take on the role of the cartoonish villain.
While imaginary evil villains have been a pivotal part of most conflicts and become almost a feature of national identity, with the other example now being the Russians and the Americans, there is no other country in the world that places that story as one of the pillars of their society. Then you throw in the divine nature of the struggle and it becomes pretty clear that this is a very different kind of conflict.
Kim Jong-un needs to fight this war to keep alive the very story that binds the country together, however weakly that is, and allows this regime to continue. The fact that America are the ideal villain to take on that role and that the current president encourages conflict and responds to threats with bullying only exacerbates that issue.
@2cents posted a good article about it here.
Who said anything about cultural ? Its military, economic, and technology.
I don't doubt it mate. Its just coming from these guys they make it sound like a dick swinging contest.
The USA has a bigger Air Force than anyone by at least 3 times, but China has a bigger Navy and it has more military personnel too, including around 800,000 more soldiers. None of that matters though as if the Super Powers, (sorry Hyper Powers
Number of sailors wouldn't really make a difference in terms of power. Its all about air craft carriers, battleships, and the surrounding technology that supports the weapons systems and air power. China of course isn't an issue here, its all about how the US navy would fare against the DPRK.
He says it's inevitable sooner or later, better Trump does it sooner on his terms.
Yes, obviously but people were talking about size of military etc. You and I both know if war breaks out here then nothing good can come of it, and due to the players involved and the proximity of other countries, chances are it would lead to WWIII.
Look at the scenarios and tell me of a way out if war does start. Or explain a scenario where South Korea doesn't end up destroyed. I doubt you can to be honest. I doubt anyone can. Yes the USA does need to be firm, but controlled and rational. Acting the big bully will not work, not when you are confronting another big bully.
Trump's hypocrisy and unpredictability is not helping here at all. On one hand he says the UN is weak and feckless and cannot help with North Korea, yet on the other he praises them for the sanctions placed on Russia. Surprisingly I read a great article earlier about Tillerson using all the back channels he has to try to calm things down and reassure everyone. Saner heads need to prevail and in my opinion everyone needs to get on the same page. The US, China, Russia, Japan and Europe need to tackle this together with a show of strength BUT with diplomacy too. If everyone is United (ugh) then Kim has no room and only one play and I bet he wouldn't use it as he knows it would mean his destruction.
All the time Trump is calling China out on Twitter and arguing daily with Russia whilst being strongly connected to them at the same time, and whilst he has upset Europe, then Kim just carries on laughing. Unity is required, sensible heads are required and more importantly, experience and diplomacy is needed.
I'll take a bet that he thinks stuff he deletes off his computer, tablet and phone are actually gone, and is about to find out he is incorrect.
This is lengthy but I found it a solid read to get clarity on the Trump, Manafort, Putin et al money trail
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...is-money-the-old-fashioned-way-he-launders-it
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...is-money-the-old-fashioned-way-he-launders-it
I'd pray that doesn't happen. All we need is more mercenaries committing human rights violations that'll be the trigger for one more anti-American war. At least with military there's some semblance of responsibility and oversight, but the 'plausible deniability' that comes with these mercs is more dangerous.
Compared to others, North Korea is probably the least worrisome threat imo. The Kim's don't want an open all out war. He just keeps rattling the cage at regular intervals to keep his rule intact. I met with a couple of South Korean clients the other day. Most of them take this as part of the day and politics aside, there's no big fear factor amongst South Korean population. The whole "OMG, North Korea is scary" is due to people not directly related to that region. They don't have religious philosophy to propagate or a holy war to wage. The human rights violations are despicable, but they still are a standalone problem. They are doing nothing right now that they have not done during George Bush or Obama era's. China plays an important role in keeping the status quo. With no long terms solution available, the best we can do is maintain status quo and Trump seems to be dead set in disrupting that and triggering a war so he can swing his dick.
Last edited:
Always happy to be corrected, just seen 2 places define it as such -
hyper-power
n. A nation that has vastly greater economic, political, or military power than any other nation.
Hyperpower
A hyperpower is a state that dominates all other states in every sphere of activity (i.e. military, culture, economy) and is considered to be a step higher than a superpower.
Yeah I'm not anticipating a war...
But I do think the North Koreans selling nuclear and missile tech 'know how' is a huge threat.
Spot on.
That works, although a better way to put it would be to say its the same as a hegemon - a state that dominates in all key areas. Technology has since replaced culture which is increasingly archaic.
Related: is there any reason to believe Hillary or any GOP candidate would be reacting any differently to the threat from Kim? I think even Bernie would make some aggressive noises (not about nuclear war but in general).
He is our destroyer, tbh.Who saw this coming? God annointing Trump to be our saviour?
On CNN right this minute they are giving Hawaiian residents and tourists advice on what to do in the event of a missile launch from North Korea. They are giving directions to bunkers etc and saying they only have 20 minutes from launch to impact but saying they can survive if they get to safety in time. For fecks sake. There is so much wrong with all this, I don't know where to start.
Edit! (updating post) Trump has gone too far even for Fox News. FML! What a day. They are slamming Trump and saying his hyperbolic rhetoric is over the top, unhelpful and dangerous. Even that fruitbat Judge Nepolitano said the same thing.
They are also talking sense saying China, Russia and the rest of the world all need to step in here. They are also talking a load of shit too, but some sense has been discussed.
Meanwhile North Korea continues to WUM the entire world.
Edit! (updating post) Trump has gone too far even for Fox News. FML! What a day. They are slamming Trump and saying his hyperbolic rhetoric is over the top, unhelpful and dangerous. Even that fruitbat Judge Nepolitano said the same thing.
They are also talking sense saying China, Russia and the rest of the world all need to step in here. They are also talking a load of shit too, but some sense has been discussed.
Meanwhile North Korea continues to WUM the entire world.
Last edited:
It seems Mueller may already have looked in to much of Trump's real estate business. I wish he'd just hurry up about it, although the idea of a religious nutjob in Pence dealing with North Korea doesn't give me much faith either.
With Pence I get the impression that he's more interested in pushing his bible down gay throats than anything else. His foreign policy would probably look a lot like W's, so he'll be picking fights in the middle east.
It's all rather sad isn't it? The entire worlds wars being decided by a handful of people. It's never been any different really, but never before has any of those "Kings" had the power to completely destroy the world, and never before have those weapons been in the hands of such unstable people. I really think Kim and Donald should have a cage fight and leave the rest of us the feck alone.
This won't go down well.....Drumpf's social media stooge attacking McConnell. Donesn't happen without Trump's tacit approval, in which case there could be trouble ahead.
NK is the most worrisome geopolitical threat for the US. Moreso than Daesh, AQ, backwards Trumpers with semi-automatic weapons...
Cyberwarfare, including influence on elections, is probably next in line.
Trumpers with semi-autos. They generally wear flannel, drink shit beer, and can be heard yelling 'Get'er done!'
I have to disagree with this regarding aircraft carriers and battleships. Does the US even field battleships anymore? All of the Iowa class are decommissioned and in mothballs.
Aircraft carriers are also more or less obsolete in terms of two first rate modern military powers fighting. Aircraft carriers are fantastic against backwards military nations that have no possible way to counter them. However, against any first rate military power, the carriers are going to be located quickly, and flat-lined in the opening salvo of any war, nuclear or otherwise. It's a question of numbers. How many anti-ship missiles can you afford to throw at a carrier group, to overwhelm its defense systems to take that ship off the board.
Could North Korea on its own threaten a US carrier group? Doubtful. However, if the Chinese have given them any sort of high quality anti-ship missile systems, the US would probably have its own falklands scenario. In contrast, arab air power doctrine throughout the last 60-70 years has mostly been the idea of the airforce in being. They don't actually use their airforce because it is too valuable to risk, but the perceived threat of their airforce deters attacks or aggression from their neighbors. As a result, the Iraqi airforce in two wars more or less ran for the hills the moment war began. The North Koreans would throw all kinds of shit into the air, that is for absolute certain.
Are you talking about Trumpers, or your average Canadian!?
I meant destroyers not battle ships. Carrier strike groups have several of them.
Lack of ability to dominate the airspace, which is critical to any modern warfare but especially the Americans, is probably one of the biggest factors inhibiting a first-strike on NK by the US.
We have some weapons in development that would be game-changers at least in terms of the Navy, but they're not ready for action just yet.
Ok, yes, we have destroyers, so do they.
The problem with Carriers though, is its putting a lot of eggs in one basket, and the basic premise is based on technology from the 40's. Where the enemy cannot reliably engage you without aircraft from beyond visual range. This simply isn't the case anymore. The Chinese, Russians, Iranians and who knows who else all have anti-ship cruise missiles that at least on paper, are more than capable of overwhelming or simply beating our anti-air defenses and CIWS. In addition to cruise missiles that boost to hypersonic speeds at the last few seconds before engagement, the Chinese are developing intercontinental ballistic anti-ship missiles, that can be dropped onto ships from directly above. The biggest issue they have had is targeting accuracy, but with the era of drone warfare on us, how long do you think it will be, if it isn't happening already, until the Chinese and Russians have drones sitting in high altitude shadowing our carrier groups everywhere they go? With the ability for these drones to relay pin point accurate GPS coordinates, the Chinese will have just solved their ballistic anti-ship problem.
Battleships are part of Carrier Support Group. You rarely see a battleship operating alone unless it's part of a goodwill tour.
The sheer amount of force with a aircraft carrier is formidable. They can destroy pretty much anything short of an ICBM thrown at them. The Aegis systems protect against ballistic missiles and the support defence aircraft cah shoot everything else out of sky. Couple of submarines, minesweepers, missile frigates, destroyers...it has nearly every imaginable defence systems.
And the US owns nearly twice as many carriers as any other country.
The USN has no active battleships.
- Status