The Next War?

[Guy Profumo]

The Next War?

What?

In what way were a volunteer unit of the SS not neo-Nazis?

[Muukalainen]

The Next War?

Guy Profumo wrote: More to do with "The Winter War" and the Finnish battalion of the Waffen SS

This gets more obscure. The Winter War was between the Soviet Union and Finland and, as far as I'm aware, didn't involve the SS. The Finnish battalion came into being later on. The Finns that served in it definitely were Nazis.

[Muukalainen]

The Next War?

Guy Profumo wrote: What?

In what way were a volunteer unit of the SS not neo-Nazis?

I've edited after you replied, but my post was in response to ursus, not you. In any case, you've misinterpreted what I wrote.

[ursus arctos]

The Next War?

I would tend to doubt that any surviving members of that battalion are in much shape to influence events at this point.

[Guy Profumo]

The Next War?

Yes. Apologies.

I should have emphasised they were at different stages in the war.

But my first two posts were in reference to WWII and the dual invasion of Poland.

[Guy Profumo]

The Next War?

Yes. Apologies.

I should have emphasised they were at different stages in the war.

But my first two posts were in reference to WWII and the dual invasion of Poland.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Next War?

You don't have to be a conspiranoid to see the USA and Russia handwrestling in any international conflict - they do it in the open. It is Cold War 2.0. The USA are still doing what they've been programmed to do by Monroe doctrine, ie being the hegemonic superpower, while Russia tries to cling to past glories under a new flag led by a Cold War cyborg.

I think you mean the Roosevelt Corallary to the Monroe Doctrine.

I feel like we talked about this before.

[ooh aah]

The Next War?

I disagree about China. The only reason the regime still survives is because for two generations in a row life has got a lot better for the vast majority of the population. This is absolutely central to Chinese policy, and trumps all else.The government would have to get very, very desperate indeed to jeopardise that on a war (especially given that China has been involved in one conflict since The Korean war), their military has absolutely no battlefield experience whatsoever, and the sole reason any of their soldiers signed up was so they could drive around in black Audi's. Nationalistic and Anti-Japanese protests have been going on since the days of Deng Xiao Ping, it doesn't mean anything.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

The Next War?

(especially given that China has been involved in one conflict since The Korean war

Is this when they showed that they hadn't been paying close attention to what had happened to the French and Americans in Vietnam? They chose a better opponent when they took on tibet.

But what you are saying is what I was trying to get at with my point about not wanting to collapse their economy when it looks like that might be about to happen anyway. It's the underpinning of their social order. I can't imagine that most chinese people give a fuck about the spratley islands, or would be particularly aroused if they beat up the phillipines over it. China is a relatively conventional govt in that it reckons that the best way to gain geopolitical power, is to gain economic power, and economic growth will lead to improvements in the standard of living so people will be relatively content, compared with literally every other period of chinese history.

One of the big drivers behind the creation of the European union, and the drive for freer trade in general is that once trade between two countries becomes so great, it becomes too ruinously expensive to go to war. If America got into a serious dispute with china, the americans could destroy china's export economy putting hundreds of millions out of work, and the chinese could destroy the american dollar and economy. This is great news if you don't want to die. Germany hasn't invaded france even once since the creation of the EU. And I think we can all be heartily grateful for that.

Russia doesn't seem to be interested in that at all. It simply couldn't give a fuck about becoming a rich, prosperous and successful country, where things get better for the population. It's a security state, where all of the proceeds of the raw material exports industry accrue to the security state, who spend fortunes on nuclear weapons, and cock waving activities, while siphoning off huge sums of money for prostitutes, and houses aping trump's penthouse.

Instead of being successful, they want to be seen as strong, yet if they want to be seen as strong, they're going to have to cut everyone else down to size, because at the moment, their GDP is only four times the size of the republic of Ireland, and they look like a chronically underdeveloped, dreadfully run, backwards fascist shithole.

That's why you have putin invading the Ukraine and running out of ammunition. That's why you have him unleashing millions of refugees from syria into europe. That's why you have him fucking around in elections. Russia doesn't seem to believe in having nice things (really gaudy things for their leaders) and it doesn't seem to want anyone else to have them.

[Vulgarian Visigoth]

The Next War?

China never really had any intention of becoming a military superpower, not in the Mao years, not now. They have no interest whatsoever in foreign politics. In fact, unlike the World Bank, when they lend money to a country they don't impose any economic policy. Unlike the USA they're not interested in exporting any political or economic model - they only want you to buy their mobile phones. Russia, on the other hand, is like a hooligan on the dole who spends all day in the gym and offers you out because he thinks you looked at him the wrong way.

[Hot Pepsi]

The Next War?

That sounds pretty much dead on.

But then who in China continues to push for it to be such an asshole over Tibet or Taiwan? If they don't care about nationalism, then why not just let it go?

[ad hoc]

The Next War?

Because they deeply believe that Tibet and Taiwan (and those various archipelagos in the South China Sea) are part of China. They don;t see those as foreign policy questions at all. I know a fair number of Chinese people, most of whom are very liberal and progressive on pretty much any subject...except when you start talking about Tibet

[ad hoc]

The Next War?

In essence Chinese foreign policy is that in nearly all cases it's none of their business, and they treat it as such. In return they believe that the rest of the world should treat Tibet and Taiwan in the exact same way.

[Ginger Yellow]

The Next War?

China never really had any intention of becoming a military superpower, not in the Mao years, not now. They have no interest whatsoever in foreign politics.

That might have been true 10 years ago. It seems a lot less true now, and it certainly will be less true if their overseas investments are threatened by foreign politics.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

The Next War?

I would recommend anyone with an interest in the current Sino-American tensions to watch the John Pilger documentary "The Coming War on China", which was on ITV early last December. It's partisan and selective, and longer on emotional than on detailed analysis, but it makes a very powerful case against the US approach. Essentially, the US is colossally imilitarily dominant over the entire Pacific and beyond, with bases (of different types - acknowleged, obfuscated and secret) practically everywhere, and is seeking to maintain total dominance over China such that it can shut down Chinese trade by blockade whenever it feels like it. To that end it maintains an unacknowledged imperial foreign policy grip over Japan, South Korea and other Pacific rim countries. The Chinese sin is to have the temerity to challenge the absolute nature of US hegemony.

[Patrick Thistle]

The Next War?

Reckon the next big war might be the second American civil war.

Or at least an American coup.