The US has been sucking at the diplomacy game for several years. It gets harder to play the game when you are a nation in decline.

https://www.thetrumpet.com/25957-china-to-buy-strategic-deep-water-port-in-solomon-islands

Kind of like Russia in Ukraine.  The help provided is token in comparison to what Ukraine actually needs to win.

See Russia.  Their standing in the world has increased, except in the West.

Another good find, Carmel!
Here's an edited quote before the reporter goes all biblical on us:
Gosh golly, it was just last month that the gov't of the Solomons told the Australians they weren't going to do this.

Oh well.

If it comes to pass, China will have the ability to blockade Australia from all directions except for ships straddling the Antarctican coast. That's getting harder to do these days because for the last 19 years, Antarctica has been shedding huge ice sheets which are now huge ice floes causing huge navigation dangers in the open waters surrounding it. Australia could then be isolated.

I sure hope those Australian politicians on the Chinese pay roll are prepared for that day.

Speaking of politicians on the Chinese pay roll, I wonder how ours are going to "threaten a response?" Send Milley down there on another pastry run and gun?

https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2022/08/19/washington-must-raise-its-focus-on-the-pacific-islands-to-curb-china/

Why did we not have a presence there to begin with?

Simplest, quickest answer is that the Clinton Admin cut a lot of things out of the budget because of their belief/fantasy in something called "The Peace Dividend."

ETA: Let me give you a better answer. The Clinton Admin cut budget items that pertained to Defense and with Countries that different offer the US any "political return on investments" I guess we could say. Before the midterm election, they were pursuing their "Third Way" agenda, and used monies from other purposes for this internationalist agenda.

from the article:
At least this op-ed was written by Senator Kennedy from Louisiana. So, at least somebody that's smart recognizes what's going on. No idea if that translates to any thing other than historical footnotes in books.

He's mad because he didn't get his cut!

Well if you want to talk historical it really wasn’t the US that dropped the ball on the Solomons. You can thank Britain for a big part, Australia for a little less and New Zealand for a bit.

The Brit’s walked away from the Solomons when decolonization happened in the late 70’s (not to mention but we also gave the Brits back everything our soldiers sailors and marines took in the islands in WW2). Just up an pulled up stakes. See you later old chaps here’s the keys don’t try and muck things up too much.

They even asked Australia to take the administration of the islands over and they said get bent you Limey bastards. So basically everyone walked away and then along came their version of the troubles in the Solomons in the late 90’s that went on till about 2008.

The Aussies and Kiwis sent in some peacekeeping forces that kind of worked but really didn’t and instead of actually keeping forces there on a permanent basis they pulled out in 2017. They only went back last year when called for when things on the islands got spicy. The Aussies should be taking great interest in the islands especially since it is a natural barrier between them and Chicom expansion and now it is within spitting distance of Australia for the Chicom “stabilizing influence”.  But like all western nations they are too short sighted to really invest in things long term.

https://news.sky.com/story/amp/us-vessel-barred-from-solomon-islands-as-china-extends-influence-12682616

Another great find, Carmel!!
Here's some excerpts from the linked article:
Damn ballsy move by the Solomon Island government. They must be feeling no pain these days.

The Coast Guard cutter was there as part of a fleet to interdict illegal fishing.

Who would fish illegally, you might ask? The PRC fishes illegally that's who.

They'll send 300 boats at a whack using nets that scoop up everything, then take off chumming the waters back to the Mainland as they process the fish on board. It's actually impressive. They've been doing this for years, and no one has even publicly asked them to stop the practice.

Japan Wants To Point 1,000 Cruise Missiles At China

The article's title is accurate to what the article relates. Japan is considering deploying that many long range cruise missiles on their outer islands. They have also announced that they (Japan) are studying removing their "1% Cap on defense spending."

Sleepy Joe ain’t doing shit.

Sure he is, but it's all about priorities!
Just last night he gave a speech reminiscent of the speeches Adolf Hitler used to perform before the Night of the Long Knives.
We'll have to wait and see if they send Kamalah to Scotland soon i.e. Rudolf Hess.

Just go ahead ,Jinping. Biden's been in a cross mood, it's those MAGAs again. And he probably needs his diaper changed.

Attached File

This feckless administration will do nothing, when what is needed is Operation Watchtower, and for exactly the same reason - loss of our lines of communication with Australia, but they are a lost cause so we need to cut fish or bait.

Lol, ok.

Ukraines been sent / promised over 100 billion in cash and arms,  in just the last 6 months alone, ( probably be $500 billion by January ) while russias entire defense budget for their entire country is only 44 billion in total.

Ukraines PLENTY well financed and equipped, the fighting is on them though, as it should be. Of course a HUGE % of that cash and arms will be embezzled, sent back to various governments via kick backs, spent buying over priced arms via connected politicians and their investments / buddies / wasted.

Which is a HUGE reason the USA loves Ukraine so much, it’s a get rich quick scheme / money laundering operation more than anything else, just the replacement for Iraq / Afghanistan military spending and endless contracts to defense industries.

I don’t support Russia at all, I grew up in the 80s, served in the Cold War, stationed in Germany in 1988, been interested in Vietnam, Afghanistan in the 80s, Russian history, WWII, etc, so Iv seen plenty of Russian evil, I hate them as much as anyone, but this ain’t our fight.

1. Ukraines fight first.
2. Europes problem second.

If they don’t care enough to finance it, send troops, the UN, nato, expand their military spending etc… then the USA needs to walk away, we’ve done plenty. We’re also fucking broke, living off credit cards we can never pay off.

This is definitely a "right click and save as" pic!!

Is he going to ask for 11%?

Excellent question!!!

We have two very popular models of political corruption in our Country. The first has been very popular since almost the beginning of the Founding. I call it the "Podesta Brothers" model because I don't like them even though I've never met them.

In this model, the Podesta Brothers act as middle men or brokers or very literally bookies. They take money from both sides, and show each side how to out maneuver the other.

They do this through "The Center for American Progress." Very nice name. They lobby Congress for changes in laws or to enact bills that the Podestas have already written. When these bills become laws, then they offer consultation services to those that are affected by the new laws to guide them through the loop holes the Podestas created. They do great business!!!! Not people to fuck with. This is the "major model."

The "minor model" works like this, and we'll be using the example of Leland Yee, CA Democrat in the CA Assembly. He would write bills outlawing little bits and pieces of firearms giving these bills grandiose names to increase the popularity with the weak minded, on the one hand.

On the other hand, he was also illegally importing arms from the East! (shhh China - mumms the word)
In effect, while the weapons he was bringing in didn't increase in cost, his legislative efforts would increase the price these same weapons were sold for because now these weapons are even more illegal. Very good business man until he didn't pay off someone he should've paid off, and then LAW ENFORCEMENT  to the rescue.

Now Biden and all those other people/politicos who are much better humans than you and I and most of the people on this board put together, are more of the Major Model, but work at every level of American society where they can extract money, plus they're also on the International scene.

There are no police for these people, so in one sense they have nothing to worry about there. However, they can't lose political power like Hillary Clinton did. What happens, you may ask? Just check out the drop in Donations to the Clinton Family Foundation before and after the 2016 Election. Not good for the Clintons. They had to write two books that no one will read and produce a TV show that no one will watch to get 10s of millions of dollars. How sad.

So, Biden and his people have to play a game, a very balanced game, between demanding payments for acting, or not acting, in a certain manner while putting up enough mild road blocks in the way of China, so the CCP will have to continue to deal with them. That works until the CCP finds other American politicians who will dance to their tune, and there are a number of them out there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/08/solomon-islands-elections-china-parliament/

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting

Biden has stated that in response he will NOT leave a tip at the Super Golden Dragon Buffet.
Xi has yet to respond.

Another great find, Carmel!!!!!  

Obligatory quote that sums it all up:
That last sentence in the quote is one step below announcing that the Solomon Islands have been attacked.

Now, we wait for the weak-tea Biden Admin response which will not be much in scope, impact or anything else. It'll announce US "hand-wringing," but not much else. Pretty sure the Biden Admin have been paid off to not do anything but put on a floor show.

There's also a link to another article with more in depth analysis: China's growing reach is transforming a Pacific island chain
It's a long read. I'll see if I can break it down in about 9 hours from now.

If I remember correctly, Solomon Islands are unique ecologically. It's one of few places I'd hoped to visit someday because of that.

I can't imagine China protecting or caring much with the environment there. I doubt we'll ever hear about it's destruction either.

We condemn your move “In the hardest terms possible”....

Synopsis time! It turns out that this article was kind of long winded: China's growing reach is transforming a Pacific island chain

The article is mainly a vehicle to give an historical account of the current Prime Minister's, Manasseh Sogavare, political leadership history.

We started this thread because of the suspicion the PRC was going to create military bases (Navel annex and expanded airport facilities) on the archipelagos of the South Pacific, and had some fun mocking the predictable weak response by the Biden Admin. In this article, reading between the lines, the PRC has construction engineers, management. construction equipment and construction teams there building a sports complex with a stadium for the Pacific Games in 2023. From there, they'll be building better maritime facilities as well as expanding both the airport and it's runway......all for the Games, of course. So, it's pretty much a done deal. The PRC won.

If you want to learn more about the recent history of how it all got to this point, it's a good read, easy to follow along. I can highly  recommend the article for that reason.

Otherwise, the upshot is this, the PRC construction teams are there and will be for the foreseeable future.

State Department - those 2 words I know piss you off                                                                                                                                                           https://www.state.gov/deputy-secretary-shermans-meeting-with-solomon-islands-foreign-minister-manele/

@zoinks China is ramping up in Cambodia too. Except for Indonesia/Brunei they appear to be successfully isolating potential opponents like Australia and Vietnam. China state news yesterday https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202209/1275285.shtml

One of the first lessons from the older NCOs was never trust the State Dept. ever. Then I had to learn that it wasn't actually an absolute. Some individuals could be trusted. LOL
McCarthy: The correct message; shitty messenger. That was probably the best chance to clean it up. Too late now.

The PRC are no doubt recreating the Imperial Japanese policy of some sort of "co-prosperity" sphere. That's why I keep thinking that military action in the near future is more "look HERE at what we're doing, not over there."
About 12 years ago, the PRC had a change of heart the "overseas Chinese." Now, they could be trusted. The PRC developed a lot of programs to recruit ethnic Chinese everywhere to get them to either outright spy or nominally report to the PRC about economic and technical topics. The Overseas Chinese are also a source of women which even the Biden Admin understands that those are birthing persons. China needs to avoid a depopulation which a lot of countries, including here, will be experiencing.
One thing announcing that you're going to be involved in military action is building up forces, training them and manufacturing war materiel is expected. So, you can say I'm attacking country X, but my real objective is country Y. I think that's what China is doing.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pacific-islands-key-us-military-buffer-chinas-ambitions-report-2022-09-20/

Thanks, Carmel! For a Reuters article, it's pretty damn good.
Obligatory quote:
A very good statement of the obvious.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-china-watcher/2022/09/22/bidens-pacific-island-summit-tests-u-s-regional-credibility-00058136

One of the clues that warfare is usually for making money is that a war fought to bring other people up has never worked.  Has it?

That awkward moment where letting the Japanese keep it might of been the best option………

China is praying that the U.S. goes “boots on ground” in Ukraine. They’ll be in Taiwan the next day because they know the US won’t be able to support military action in Ukraine and Taiwan simultaneously.

The US can, however, support logistical and Intel to both forever.

Thank you again, Carmel!!

Here's the article's rundown as it is long, but doesn't say much other than announce a Washington Conference next week. Also, it's from Politico, so you know it's friendly enough to include a hand job for the Biden Admin. Here is the only quote they had from an Administration official:
That's it from the Administration!!!

I don't think we're looking at Biden Admin weakness. I think it's more Biden Admin complicity.

My take is China is paying attention or thinking like Zeihan.  He always says our navy could just choke off china with a naval blockade and in 3-6 months the whole country is in the dark.

But now they're building bases everywhere to support a naval presence to protect those lanes and deny western access.  They're also building pipelines from Russia for energy.  They may be commies but they're not stupid.  

As long as our government is run by people employed at Blackrock and other people who see china as a way to put money in their pockets we're never going to take a strong stance.

There are glimmers though, Biden hasn't rolled back trump's tarriffs mostly and the new tech embargoes on china are a start to throttling their ambitions.  

Has the US forced China out of Solomon Islands yet?

The microchip denials was laudable I’ll give them that

Our politicians are literally in Jinping's pocket. It comes up every other day on the news.

We seem unable to comprehend how corruption works. It's funny this place says liberals are dumb but at least they knew how corruption works when they were being lied to and told Trump was Putin's puppet.

This place can't seem to wrap their heads around Joe and his handlers are all in china's pocket. His administration doesn't make mistakes, they're selling this country out to the highest bidder and the fucking public is too damn stupid to ever figure it out. A dementia patient is smarter than the average person in this damn country. Biden knows who owns him and his administration. It's the American public that's too stupid to ever figure it out.

Potato should STFU.  When he attended the Queen's funeral, he was seated among representatives from Turd World Nations.  So much respect.

Where is the Nadler shart gif with Biden's face superimposed when you need it?