https://apnews.com/e8b45f49d3d29851210983d0a399ccba

AP article and some photos recording the PRC's use of civilian ships for military purposes. Good article. The photo file system is messed up. If you wish to check out the photos at the top, you'll have to go to photo two first, then back to photo one to have the comments keep up correctly with the matching photo.

Obligatory quote:

SO harshly worded speech that everyone ignores?

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-targets-singapore-marshall-islands-based-firms-new-north-korea-sanctions-2022-10-07/

Thanks, Carmel!!

You guys will live this story!
Obligatory quotes:
The Leade
Sounds like the "boys" in DC have been working overtime to figure out how something as complex as smuggling the raw components of rockets fuels into the DPRK and by whom (is doing the smuggling in violation of certain UN resolutions.)

Various Blocks:
Clear and precise messaging.

But, wait! What's this? a Fly in the ointment?
And this accusation leads to this very specific and precise conclusion by the US:
Well, if this doesn't stop the rockets from flying, then they don't know what will.

And the "All Show, No Go" extravaganza continues.

Figured would be a good way to show how interconnected Pacific islands are to Taiwan-China-North Korea and also highlights impotent US measures and policy has been for decades.

Ain't going to do jack shit!

Yeah and that clown press secretary is getting tired of walking it back each time he threatens anyone other than MAGA Republicans. We have have a toolbag of the highest order at the helm. The whole world sees it except for Zelensky who we pay to sing his praises.

Threaten to borrow trillions of dollars from someone else?

Okey dokey! Another step closer to "fo time!"

Some of you probably already read the story about Hu escorted out of the 20th Party Congress AFTER being seated: Hu Jintao escorted out of China party congress
Two threads on that already!

The ever efficient @CarmelBytheSea already has threads about these three subjects:
Xi Says China Will Not Rule Out Use of Force on Taiwan
China's Xi says full control over Hong Kong achieved, determined on Taiwan
China will accelerate building of world-class military, strong strategic deterrent, Xi says

That leaves us with a couple of stories about Xi solidifying power by removing others. Not the first time he's done this since the last Party Congress, but the boldest in that it's been allowed to be filmed (albeit not for internal consumption, but to make certain the international set see it), and it's the quickest "get that information about "who's in, who's out" right now. That means the decisions of the Party Congress are not as important as compared to who are the top communist party members are. (If they waited until after the Congress, then Party decisions made were more important than party members who made them.)
China's Premier Li Keqiang left off new party Central Committee
China's Communist Party amends its charter, strengthens Xi's power

The Upshot is this: none of this bodes well for anyone's retirement plans.

The day may come when I post, "Wish you all the best; see you on the other side." We're not there yet, but we're getting there sooner rather than later.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/water-wars-us-unveils-first-pacific-islands-partnership-strategy

lawfare! do you hate me now?? LOL

Here's what I think of Lawfare always defending the Democrats:
Attached File

This is representative of the Editorial room!!!!

I figured you’d get a kick out of their version of how Biden and crew have got this. But sorry, I misjudged the hilarity of it.                                                                                                                                                                          

Obama let them go unchallenged in the Cows Tongue, a little late for any action now.

Let's skip Lawfare and go to the relevant source material.

1  The National Security Statement:
Pacific Partnership Strategy as sourced from Politico
Bear in mind that a "Strategy" document is a series of statements on what needs to be accomplished. Almost never does or has one contained information or statements on how things are to be accomplished.

2  PR Fact Sheet number 1
FACT SHEET: President Biden Unveils First-Ever Pacific Partnership Strategy
This title is actually true. The United States has never ever had a strategy plan called, "Pacific Partnership Strategy." The US had created organizations  like SEATO though, but those don't count because President Biden didn't think of those and nobody else knows about a thing called History.

3  PR Fact Sheet number 2
FACT SHEET: The Biden- Harris Administration's National Security Strategy
Oh Wow! (That's how you can tell I'm from CA. I use the word "wow" a lot!!!) I just saw that I could've gotten the NSS statement without having to go through Politico. No worries, I washed my hands afterwards.

4  PR Call to Reporters
On-the-Record Press Call by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Previewing the Biden- Harris Administration's National Security Strategy
We can safely assume that this has been sanitized for our protection.

So what are the interesting things of note?
First, the US is not for, nor in any sort of confrontation with the PRC. It's a "competition."
That word, Competition, is used multiple times in all of the documents, so they must be serious about it being a competition. The actual competing is not explained, though. Nor, is the "winning" explained. Not even the promises of US interaction are really that much explained except for the fact that this NSS is for a period of 10 years, and that two of Biden's Four years are already gone, and that the total of 1.1 Billion that they are asking to be spent will happen over a 10 year period etc.

Apparently, The Biden-Harris Admin doesn't know that Pacific Islanders can do math. 1.1 Billion over 10 years is a little over 100 million. Sure, it's more than what has spoken of in the last few years outside of natural disasters, plus no one ever counts how much is spent by the US Navy or US Coast Guard on their patrols about chasing off Chinese "over-fishing fleets" etc. I'm sure a lot of people in that part of the Pacific get Sky News out of Australia. They have heard about how much is spent on the Ukraine.

Also, please don't worry, there are US social programs to help certain types of people fell empowered. It's the same program the Biden-Harris Admin did in Afghanistan about equality for sexual-practice based groups. Always a big winner in sort of "competition."

The one thing I found odd as that the few times the word "security" was used, was in titles. There seems to be nothing about security to help locals fend off Chinese interference when locals go fishing. The Chinese do interfere with them, so there's more fish for the Chinese.

There's also suggestions in the documents that there will be help with aqua culture, but again, no mention about security in regards to stopping certain types of people helping the fish escape their servitude!!!

I do recommend reading the documents, though. If you ever wondered what it was like to read government sponsored news articles in totalitarian societies, here it is!!!
Thanks Carmel for posting the original!!!!

Biden’s response would be to sell one of Hunter’s paintings to the Chinese for $4.2 billion dollars and the US would no longer object to the innocent Chinese humantarian outreach office in the Solomon Island’s.

Ukraine gov was touting womyn power this month, likely to pander to the feminists in Congress after McCarthy’s blank check talk. Maybe the Pacific islands should go retard level and fly pride flags and woman power etc. to try and scare up a Congressional delegation but in the meantime https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202211/1279076.shtml China remains engaged.

The PRC has an action plan. They are after a result. The US doesn't, nor does it have a defensive plan.

I don't know if the PRC will succeed. China has a long History of self-imploding at the wrong time. I see no reason to suspect that for this current time frame, they will ultimately succeed. They just never have in the past. That doesn't mean they can't rain down death and destruction. They're always quite capable of that. They're just not winners in the sense of how we used to be (up to WW2.)

To your point about the sexual minorities, again the US is barking up the wrong tree just like In Afghanistan, but this time for the wrong reason. Polynesian culture is quite tolerant of "such kind of" people. But the US is going to "remind" these people that they aren't really tolerant and in fact are soft bigots. That's not going to work out for anybody, and we've already lost before we began.

On the other hand, there a lot of non-Asians who are going to be upset when the PRC closes off the sexual playground to the non-Asians!!! Maybe that will make people take things seriously.

? Are these not needed for the Pacific? Not my area of knowledge so I figure you would know with your background in USAF https://breakingdefense.com/2022/03/air-force-ending-procurement-of-hh-60w-combat-rescue-helicopter-in-fy23/

Honestly, who knows!! Air Force procurement is a game of inches versus the other Services and vs Congress. Also, the results make no one happy. Everybody loved the old HH-43s! But, no one would give up a chance to replace it with some version of an H-60.

When the AF wanted to get rid of the big Sikorskys and replace them with some version of a H-60, there was crying and wailing! But, the air frames get old!!! The Navy did the same for the same reasons.

I do remember that the Army had paid for a couple of prototypes of an ass-kicking helicopter. I think it was designed by Lockheed at the time. It was technologically ahead of probably everything in the inventory at the time. But, Viet Nam started winding down in 1970, it was looking like not too many new things were going to be bought for that War.

Has there been any talk in the open about an Osprey version that can float on a calm ocean surface like the old Sikorsky could?

Attached File

Am I gonna have to come back there?

Not that I’m aware of. Distance and speed appear to be the Air Force Pacific parameters for plans and acquisitions but simultaneously there’s complaints about not being enough money to keep let alone expand inventory of current inventories. The Army dropped the ball on watercraft and merchant marine is short. Navy doesnt even have enough transport to the point the USMC is bitching. My guess is we’re stuck playing hurry up and wait while F-15EXs and F-18s and subs try to deal with China in the first ring which in my mind gives China the time to move in on Solomon Islands and even the Philippines keeps flip flopping on US vs China. I don’t have faith in Japan, South Korea will self impose limit itself to the Korean Peninsula imo and Australia is small and far away. India Navy is a joke imo so things appear to be favoring Beijing. If a war with Iran over nukes developes between 2023 - 2025 my guess is China goes for Taiwan then the Pacific after August 2025 but before summer of 2027. That doesn’t leave the Air Force or Navy much time to R&D and or acquire and place into squadrons and fleets and incorporate into planning.

okay, got the story of the week for us after VP Harris left the Philippines.

It took a while to find a good version of the written story by the same guy what with all the editing that goes on with stories. But, here's the Stars and Stripes version:

US seeks expansion of military presence in Philippines

The report outlines the history of US military operations since the closure of both Subic Bay and Clark AB back after the...well, everything from muslim guerrilla assassinations, to labor strikes, to typhoons, earthquakes and then finally the Volcano.

Years ago and for the Great War On Terror, Attached File
the US entered into an agreement with the Philippines about using Filipino existing infrastructure or building new infrastructure jointly. This is a continuance of that, I think it was (a), Treaty. Obviously, nothing was going to be done while Duterte was President. That guy was politically bi-polar. He's gone now!! So, here we are. The Future is here, old man. No idea what it means for the Future, though. This was something that was being worked on during the Trump Admin time, and it looks like it is now agreed to politically, protests not with standing.

As we learned from the previous article about the Biden Admin "spending" money on the Southern Pacific Islands, the Admin really didn't do much other than publicized what current expenditures were now.

You may be correct about South Korea, but Japan does have cultural ties to Taiwan.

Taiwan was Formosa before the KMT took it over in 1949. The Formosan thought themselves tied to Japan culturally. They did not, and still do not, appreciate being dominated by Chinese Nationals at all.

From what I can see politically they’re backing Taiwan but militarily they seem focused on Japanese islands that China claims are Chinese territory so I’m skeptical Japan will militarily intervene in Taiwan. My guess is they give weapons, $ and economic and political support. That being said they are exploring long range strike options now.

Heh,  building an island hopping network.

Again, you are correct. I would say this: the PRC sees "Taiwan" as a breakaway Chinese  island similar to Hong Kong, and from their perspective, they have every right to return "Taiwan" back to the PRC's sovereignty.

However, there is no basis for this PRC pronouncement in either Historical fact or International Law. No proof in the pudding, only pudding. The Japanese at this point in time won't antagonize the PRC. But, simple logic and historical precedence with Hong Kong tell the Japanese that they are certainly on the Menu.

My best guess for any of this, is 1) The PRC is going to fuck it all up. I still see Taiwan as what they want the World to focus on while they grab what they need/want further South of them. BUT, the PRC will wait too long before they make a move. Their looking for the "best" time in (the Marxist understanding of) History before they make a  military move.

The Best time for the USSR to have attacked NATO was probably 1978. The US was entirely weakened domestically as well as Internationally. When the Dems in Congress cut off all funding for the Vietnamese in 1975, the US took a huge hit in credibility.

But, instead of doing what they had been planning on for decades, the USSR went into Afghanistan. They really fucked themselves with that move even if they had been successful. The PRC will find a way to do the same thing. Same mentality, same arrogance.

The one thing I noticed about actual communists, not the tin-horn Leninist shit heads that we meet all the time, but the real McCoys, is that they believe/exalt in Executions. For a good Execution, you have to have not just total control of whomever you wish to execute, but you must also have total compliance. It's weird. Almost a fetish.

Look at the 1930s show trials in the Soviet Union, people were found guilty all the time! But, they weren't executed until they confessed which wasn't needed to have a legal proceeding. Trotsky wasn't assassinated until he surrendered or turned his back or gave up on his ideals about the supremacy of Democratic Socialism. Then he was murdered when he could've been murdered anytime between 1927 and 1940.

The point is, the PRC probably won't make a move until an actual invasion anywhere is anti-climatic. By that, I mean all the moves and counter-moves have been made, and the only thing left to do is move the piece on the board and yell, "Pong."

Although, I'm unwilling to bet any of your lives on it, I'm pretty certain, I'm correct.

Stop or we will be forced to say Stop again!

Xi Xingping’s age, Chinese birth rates since 2018 and the bizarre nationalism within China are the only fire I can see motivating China not to go typically slow. If Iran and or North Korea get embroiled either by chance or because Russia and or China provoke them to confront the west, I think China will make a move somewhere - India, Vietnam, Taiwan etc. but Xi Jingping can’t afford to wait until 2049. The only thing saving China is other countries drawing USA attention, Democrats and anti war sentiment and Pentagon malfeasance and arrogance which offsets the Chinese level of arrogance. Basically disunity of allies, the ability to last long enough for a longer war with high US casualties and the small capacity of the US military hoping technology will offset for few numbers will be the only things that might mitigate communist central planning. A Desert Storm scenario is China’s worst situation but I don’t see Pacific Ocean Desert Storm happening judging from what I see today and assuming a 2024-2034 timeline. After 2030 China will start losing its window of opportunity

Yeah...I needed a good laugh, I think the Chinese are laughing their asses off too.....!!!!!!!

Yep and agreed upon strategy...play up the tough talk act...graft into an account...do nothing...

I’ve come to the suspicion that the civilian general public in China has severe mental health issues so my perspective on the Chinese is that society is not a rational actor. They’ve got a screw loose. The quds guys - I had an interaction with one of their officers are fucking lunatics. Straight up psychotic so the whole North Korea-China-Iran .mil types are fucked in the head as far as I’m concerned. Genuine psychopaths / sociopaths

But what about the people behind the scenes who are actually running the show?  FBHO, VJ, Ron Klain, Susan rice?

China had it's surrogates rule in their place with minor supervision just keep the taxes flowing...the elites just had to squeeze their own people satisfy Rome and got to live in style...we got plenty of those types in office right now.

The Bolsheviks had friends in America in influential financial estates...

The establishment especially Democrats are so busy doing “business” that they aren’t grasping the secondary effects of what they think is a manageable affair. They have their heads in the trough so deep they’re too blinded by getting theirs to see the ramifications and long term consequences. Same as open borders, they think it can’t impact them. It’s other people’s problem and all beneficial for their interest with no negatives for them personally.

I'm sure he will have someone write some very harsh words for China.

This is an important fact that is always conveniently overlooked.

We always think of Stalin as a paranoid psychotic thug. But the truth is, he simply "out played" people who were probably smarter than his was, and he did this consistently. He was probably much smarter than I'm willing to give him credit for because how can someone like him be smart? But, yet, he did as he pleased and would win in the End. Only the heart attack stopped him.

Isn’t it similar to a mad scientist or narcissistic personality disorder. One can be insane and yet very ambitious or smart. In the case of a sociopath, the lack of empathy or understanding human emotion they’re still very effective as hit men, serial killers, etc. the crazy isn’t if the kind that impedes or handicaps ability or determination. A lot of narcissists see others as weak for having emotions or they ha e difficulty mimicking the emotions yet can be otherwise able.

Will the next black sheep squadron be flying F35s, F18s, or will it just be made up of drones?

I don't want to derail the thread, and I only ever had the elective Gen Psych class, so I couldn't even accurately parrot a real psychiatrist or psychologist. I'm just saying Stalin outplayed people that were allegedly smarter than him, Trotsky, for example! Arguably the smartest of the original Bolsheviks, Trotsky was easily pushed out on a schedule! Easily! Smoothly!

Orwell, blames the failure of the Socialists and Communists in Spain on Stalin via the 1937 purge. Orwell wrote a book, Homage to Catalonia, about it. Here's the thing!! What if there was a 1937 purge as a way for Stalin to get out the involvement in Spain before the Leftists lost the Civil War? The Left was not losing until Franco entered the War and just started kicking everyone's ass.

Franco only entered the War because the Left threatened his Family with torture and death. He was living on a Island out in the Atlantic not involved. He ran Spanish Morocco. He's thinking is he'll run Spanish Morocco after the Civil War is done. Who's going to stop him? But, then the Left brought him into the War. It was just a matter of time before the Left lost at that point.

China's puppet is threatening the puppet master?  Pure political theatre.

DoItFaggot.jpg

Between this and the part you mentioned earlier about how psychotic and generally insane the Asians are, the future looks very grim.

https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-military-spending-time-learning-forcefully-capture-an-island-pentagon-2022-11?amp

This is what happens when there's a war and only one side shows up.

That's a long ways to drive an EV tank

Clark Air Base reopening?