Well my friends, it would seem that Musharaff has actually found his cahones, and is launching a full attack on the Waziristan and tribal Regions in the Pashti Mountains. Well Mr. Musharaff, it is about time.

We have had evidence of Taliban and Al-Qaeda presences in these areas for years, and they have strongly entrenched themselves in that area.

Good luck Mr. Musharaff, and my you be successful in this endeavor.

Hezbollah and Venezuela, the scare of my life.

Imagine, living in a country with an open border across which anyone can walk. Imagine that this border is being kept open for political reasons. Now, imagine that some where south of that border, one of your biggest enemies are training on how to look and act like your neighbors, so that they can sneak across that border.

Now, imagine that that very organization is already the most widespread terror organization within you nation.

Now you know why I have nightmares. Currently, Hezbollah is being trained in Venezuela to look, act, and dress like Mexicans. That scares the go-se out of me.

For those of you who do not know what Hezbollah is, they are the Lebanese Terrorist arm of the Syrian Army. they are the organization with which Israel went to war earlier in the year.

And they hate the United States. Now, Syria has the bomb, and several people are wanting to make it easier to transport goods from Mexico to the United States.

Well, I say no. We already have enough problems with drug use, I don't need a nightmare to fill this warped head of mine.

Time for a shift

Well, my friends, it would seem that North Korea's soldiers are getting relgion. This is a major first, and on top of that, the religion is highly critical of Socialism and Communisim. To make matters worse for the "Dear Leader," his army has been getting secret information about South Korea.

This is what you get Kim Jong Il, when you have a nation that is indoctrinated, I should say brainwashed, from birth to worship you.

You get guards along the border with S Korea whose sole job is to prevent your fellow guards from crossing over, and a major city with eight lanes on many of its streets, but no people with the ability to own their own car.

Guess that Nuclear Test didn't work out so well for them.

Syria, Iran, and the coming of the Middle East War

Well guys, it would seem that in the Middle East, we are facing the imminent shift from a Proxy War and a full fledged one.

Currently, Syria and Israel are on the edge of war. Al this due to Israel's attempts to either confirm or deny what turkey has sent them in terms of Syria's Nuclear program.

Now, personally, I agree with the Turks, after all, they have shown that peace and stability are important, and at the same time, are not willing to betray their Muslim Brothers unless there is a major threat to the stability of the Middle East.

Also, at the same time, the UK is massing its forces along the Iran-Iraq border, ostensibly for border patrol, but possibly also to force the Iranians into a situation similar to that where they captured the Royal Navy Vessel that was operating in Iraqi waters.

We are facing the very real possibility of war in the Middle East, one unlike any other. And, as the battle Lines are drawn, I foresee the following alliances.

Israel-US-UK-Kuwait-U.A.E.-Saudi Arabia-Turkey-Lebanon-Eu vs. Iran-Syria-Arabians-Egypt-Terrorist Forces-Gaza

The very real possibility is that China and Kazakhstan could get involved, Kazakhstan on the side of the US, and the Chinese on their own side.


Guys, I have been saying this for years. WWIII is coming, and it shall be a three-way war. Here is hoping that Einstein was as wrong about WWIII's outcome as he was about his High School Algebra Tests.

The Bomb in my Garden

Recently, the online newsmagazine, Slate, wrote about a new book coming out, written by Saddam Hussein's former Chief Nuclear Physicist that dealt with this subject. This is a very interesting find.

It's a good coincidence that the Duelfer report appears in the same week as The Bomb In My Garden, a memoir by Saddam Hussein's chief nuclear physicist. Between them, or taken together, the two bodies of evidence enable two quite different yet quite compatible conclusions. The first is that the Saddam regime was more disarmed than perhaps even its leadership knew. The second is that it would have been very unwise to proceed on any assumption except that of its latent danger.

Continuing

Few felt this need more strongly than Dr. Mahdi Obeidi, whose crucial evidence we would never have acquired without the invasion. His book is one of the three or four accounts that anyone remotely interested in the Iraq debate will simply have to read. Apart from its insight into the workings of the Saddam nuclear project, it provides a haunting account of the atmosphere of sheer evil that permeated every crevice of Iraqi life under the old regime. It is morally impossible to read it and not rejoice at that system's ignominious and long-overdue removal.

Having been forcibly recruited, with his family as hostage, into the Saddam nuclear program, Obeidi describes the hysterical pressure exerted by the crime family that ran Iraq. Almost weeping with fear, scientists were lashed into prostituting their skills in the rush for a usable nuke. In the meantime, their country's deepest veins were being drained to finance the enterprise. It's alarming to read how easy it was for Obeidi, backed by an open checkbook, to acquire blueprints and components on the open market: Saddam was in this business in much the same way as A.Q. Khan, the former sales director of Pakistan's nuclear bazaar. Only now can we know how close he came, and we came. Having starved and bled his people, Saddam sought to revive them by invading Kuwait: a mistake we must all be very glad he made. He might have got the nuclear capacity before he invaded, in which case we would be living in a rather different world. As it was, his insane bluff was called—and as the coalition struck back, Iraqi scientists were taken to offices run by illiterate brutes who screamed at them to produce just one "dirty" bomb on short notice. Providentially, this was not quite possible.

The subsequent arrival of the inspectors meant that Saddam, despite elaborate deceptions and dummyings (very well-described by Obeidi) was never able to get back up to speed again. His regime also began to suffer from interclan warfare with the defection of the Kamel brothers to Jordan and the further exposure of the Baathist arms racket. However, there was a secret that the Kamel brothers were not able to betray. Under the orders of Qusai Hussein, Dr. Obeidi had buried a huge barrel in his back garden. The barrel contained Iraq's crowning achievement in perverted physics: the components of an actual centrifuge for the enrichment of uranium. It also contained all the hard-won printed instructions and expertise on the subject. Dr. Obeidi was "interviewed" by many inspectors in the run-up to last year's war under the same conditions of open blackmail that Saddam had imposed on all his other scientists, and they got no nearer finding out the truth than one would have expected.

His conclusion is that, given an improvement in the economic and political climate, Saddam could and would have done one of two things: reconstitute the program or share it with others. Had it not been for 9/11, it is sobering to reflect, there would have been senior members of even this administration arguing that sanctions on Iraq should be eased. And, through the open scandal of the oil-for-food program, there were many states or clienteles within states who were happy to help Saddam enrich himself. Moreover, within the "box" that supposedly "contained" him were also living Kim Jong-il, A.Q. Khan, and Col. Qaddafi. We know from the Kay report that, as late as March of last year, Saddam's envoys were meeting North Korea's team in Damascus and trying to buy missiles off the shelf. It would never have stopped: this ceaseless ambition to acquire the means of genocide. If anything, we underestimated that aspect of it.

The supposed overestimate was, in reality, part of a wider underestimate. Libya and Iran turned out to be even more dangerous than we had thought, and the A.Q. Khan network of "Nukes 'R' Us" even more widespread. But now Iraq can be certified as disarmed, instead of wishfully assumed to be so, Libya's fissile materials are all under lock and key in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and the traces "walked back" from Qaddafi's capitulation helped expose A.Q. Khan. Of course, we could always have left Iraq alone, and brought nearer the day when the charming Qusai could have called for Dr. Obeidi and said: "That barrel of yours. It's time to dig it up."

This is a vital piece of the puzzle Sir Knightly, one of the most important ones if you ask me.

And, in the Washington Post back in July of 2004, they reported that

over the past 10 days two major official reports, by the Senate intelligence committee and a special British commission, have concluded that the claim in the "sixteen words" may, after all, have been justified. Britain's Butler report called it "well-founded"; the bipartisan Senate investigation said the conclusion was a reasonable one at least until October 2002 -- and that Mr. Wilson's report to the CIA had not changed its analysts' assessment.

For those of you who have forgotten what the "Sixteen Words" contained, they can be read in their entirety here:

"the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,"

We need to realize as well, that despite what Sir Knightly has said, the chemical weapons since discovered, or detonated by terrorists, are part of the weapons stockpile. While Bush may have been using hyperbole about the nuclear weapon, he was right in the warning about the dangers of Iraq with Nuclear weapons.

The 9/11 Commission Report themselves said that Saddam had provided funds and supplies to various Terrorist factions, including Al-Qaeda, for use against American Targets, and Saddam had a slush fund to pay off families of Terrorists.

Now, while it may not have been a very steady alliance, it could best be described as the one between the USSR and the Allies during WWII, in which they where more interested in wiping out a common enemy than worrying about each other.

In fact, there is evidence that Saddam had directly supported Islamic Jihad, these Intel Reports have yet to be refuted by any source that I have seen.

Personally, I doubt that Saddam had any direct involvement beyond possibly providing funds for the families of the terrorists who killed thousands that day, and I doubt that even happened.
However, the links between Saddam and Terrorism are very real, and once more, I turn to the 9/11 Commission Report for the evidence.

Bin Ladin was also willing to explore possibilities for cooperation with Iraq, even though Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, had never had an Islamist agenda—save for his opportunistic pose as a defender of the faithful against "Crusaders" during the Gulf War of 1991. Moreover, Bin Ladin had in fact been sponsoring anti-Saddam Islamists in Iraqi Kurdistan, and sought to attract them into his Islamic army. To protect his own ties with Iraq, Turabi reportedly brokered an agreement that Bin Ladin would stop supporting activities against Saddam. Bin Ladin apparently honored this pledge, at least for a time, although he continued to aid a group of Islamist extremists operating in part of Iraq (Kurdistan) outside of Baghdad’s control. In the late 1990s, these extremist groups suffered major defeats by Kurdish forces. In 2001, with Bin Ladin’s help they re-formed into an organization called Ansar al Islam. There are indications that by then the Iraqi regime tolerated and may even have helped Ansar al Islam against the common Kurdish enemy.

With the Sudanese regime acting as intermediary, Bin Ladin himself met with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer in Khartoum in late 1994 or early 1995. Bin Ladin is said to have asked for space to establish training camps, as well as assistance in procuring weapons, but there is no evidence that Iraq responded to this request. As described below, the ensuing years saw additional efforts to establish connections. There is also evidence that around this time Bin Ladin sent out a number of feelers to the Iraqi regime, offering some cooperation. None are reported to have received a significant response. According to one report, Saddam Hussein’s efforts at this time to rebuild relations with the Saudis and other Middle Eastern regimes led him to stay clear of Bin Ladin. In mid-1998, the situation reversed; it was Iraq that reportedly took the initiative. In March 1998, after Bin Ladin’s public fatwa against the United States, two al Qaeda members reportedly went to Iraq to meet with Iraqi intelligence. In July, an Iraqi delegation traveled to Afghanistan to meet first with the Taliban and then with Bin Ladin. Sources reported that one, or perhaps both, of these meetings was apparently arranged through Bin Ladin’s Egyptian deputy, Zawahiri, who had ties of his own to the Iraqis. In 1998, Iraq was under intensifying U.S. pressure, which culminated in a series of large air attacks in December. Similar meetings between Iraqi officials and Bin Ladin or his aides may have occurred in 1999 during a period of some reported strains with the Taliban. According to the reporting, Iraqi officials offered Bin Ladin a safe haven in Iraq. Bin Ladin declined, apparently judging that his circumstances in Afghanistan remained more favorable than the Iraqi alternative. The reports describe friendly contacts and indicate some common themes in both sides’ hatred of the United States. But to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States.

Interesting what a little time spent digging will find you, isn't it?

Calling out Sir Knightly

Sorry buddy, but you are wrong in this issue. Saddam Hussein DID have WMD's, and had the capabilities to use them.

Examples

1. We found Mobile Weapons Labs in Iraq that had been used for the sole purpose of continuing the manufacture of Chemical Weapons

2. The United States gave, GAVE, Saddam Hussein a large amount of WMD's, mainly chemical weapons, but a few biological ones as well.

3. Based on the amounts that we gave him, the amounts that he used in his various atrocities, and the Mustard and Sarin gas shells discovered back in 2004, the tally comes up short. Way too short to be qualified as coming from corroded shells and payloads.

4. Earlier this year, terrorists blew themselves up in Iraq and used Chlorine Gas that some have claimed came from the United States, stockpiles that we gave to Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.

5. In his infamous Nerve Gas Atrocity, Saddam used VX Nerve gas to massacre 5,000 Kurds. As far as I can tell so far, we didn't give him VX Nerve Gas.

6. Saddam had sent people to Niger to open up under-the-table talks to open up trade. Niger exports 3 things, Uranium (79.6%), Live Animals (11.1%), and Beverages and Tobacco (4.7%).

Iraq, during Saddam's Time, had no problems with raising the last two.

7. In fact, several generals have claimed that in 2002, worried that we were going to invade over the, transported the materials to Syria for safekeeping. Interesting that it is a FORMER IRAQI GENERAL.

8. Now, while I agree that the Liberal style spending sickens me, and I feel that Bush should have used his veto power to slow it down, from what I have seen, Greenspan has not provided evidence for this claim. I will have to look at this later, but right now, I am going to take Bush at face value on this issue.

9. Saddam actually had extensive terrorist ties. In fact, he was a major financier of Terror Organizations, and while they might not have agreed on most things in this war, Saddam recognized that he needed a foreign enemy to continue to support his Fear Society, so he payed to compensate the families of Suicide Bombers who died attacking American Targets.

The War, and Why we must Stay Part II

Well, My friend over at Where's th Humanity has posted the next part in his response, and seeing as you are either reading my Foreign Policy or my Military/Defense Blog, then this is the place where you can find my response.

19. I could not agree with you more on this point. Under the theory of Free Trade, every nation in the marketplace deserves to receive equal treatment in the market place unless they are being sanctioned for the purpose of reversing some heinous crime. Therefore, the United States should be bidding for that oil alongside everyone else, and should NOT be receiving any added benefits of this war.

We entered there to remove a genocidal despot who had used VX nerve gas on his own people, and who was hiding his Chemical Weapons Laboratories in trucks that where roaming Baghdad's streets. We went into Iraq for the purpose of creating a democracy in the Middle East, and creating stability in the region. We have partially succeeded, but this discount oil thing is a scheme from Hell and should be stopped.

20. Then lets try and put this into the hands of the marketplace. If a government is failing to do something this vital, then we should try to find someone else who will be able to do it, and the only place to look right now is the marketplace.

21. Apologize to the people we have hurt, yes. But not everybody is so innocent. Many, if not most, of the people we have captured in Iraq are foreign terrorists who came into Iraq because some sheik said it was the new battleground of the "Holy Jihad." Most of the people we are fighting against are members of a brainwashing cult that has been raising them since birth to believe that America is the "Great Satan" and the they should "Martyr themselves" to deal us a blow.

As for the world, I have to answers to that. 1. We have been flipping the world the bird since our birth in 1776, and 2. when we went in, we were very vocal about the fact that we were enforcing the UN resolution 1441, which stated un-equivocally that if the UN did not see real step toward Disarmament, then the members of the Security Council had the full rights to go in, disarm the nation, and remove Saddam Hussein from Power. We where within our full and legal rights goign into this war.

More on the Mobile Weapons labs, WMD's, and the Nerve Gas Atrocity on Arming Liberty tomorrow.

And, in relation to what Sir Knightly said about Bush's address, lets look at what he was saying from the beginning of the Surge.

1. This was going to be a large, short-term surge in troop levels that would result in higher amounts of troops in the long term than pre-surge levels

2. The Surge was designed to show the forces of Fear and Tyranny in Iraq that we have the ability to swamp them with our forces

3. The Surge is meant to be the first step to fully ensuring the democracy and freedom of the region.

Right now, the terrorists are flooding into Iraq because their Sheiks recognize one very important thing. IF Iraq "Falls" into the hands of Freedom, then the control of the current Islamo-Fascist governments across the Middle East will also collapse, and the major source of instability, the very governments of the Middle East themselves, will be no more, replaced with Democracies, where the people can come and petition the governments about their grievances, and do have to resort to indiscriminant bombings to make their voices heard.

While the "Occupation" may cause a short term spike in the number of deaths around the Middle East, a precipitous withdrawal would create a large slope of casualties as first Iraq, and then its neighbors fell into Anarchy.

Please, give long term peace a chance.

The War, and Why we must stay (Re-posted from Climate Heretic)

Recently, a friend and fellow Boy Scout posted a four part story about withdrawing from the Iraq War over at http://hopeforhumanity.blogspot.com/. However, as I disagree with him about the withdrawal, I will explain why we CAN NOT leave, and the ramifications of doing so. Sorry man, but these things need to be said.

I will say that I agree with him on one major point. That it is the right of the Iraqi people to govern themselves. However, at the same time, we have to understand that for them to maintain that right, the United States MUST stay in Iraq.

My colleague has argued that the concept of Democracy is an Alien one to the people of the Middle East outside of Israel. To this I must disagree.

Currently, Saudi Arabia is one of the largest sources of Terrorists and fighters in Iraq. Why is this? Why is it that a Dictatorial Regime that we are propping up is responsible for the most rouge fighters in the central battleground of the War on Terror?

Oh wait, I answered my own question. The reason that most of these people come from Saudi Arabia is because it is one of a very small number of Fear Societies that the US is propping up. The more we do so, the more of an enemy we seem to the people of that nation. The best thing we can do in that situation is to begin to press for freedom and democracy within the nation. Though we are dependent on Saudi Oil, Saudi Arabia is dependent on American Gasoline. And all we have to do is begin to put pressure on them economically, and the terrorists begin to lose.

Now, onto his points.
1: Staying in Iraq is, sadly, the only option: This is because as of right this moment, the Iraqi people are not ready to take over all of their defense priorities themselves. While the British have had some successes in and around their areas, the US is a major player, and a higher priority in this war. Also, currently, the fact that American Soldiers are there is one of the few things that have gotten the Sheiks of Al-Anbar province to turn on Al-Qaeda, who have been acting out of Al-Anbar since they first moved in. If we leave, then Iraq will descend into a level of anarchy not seen since Mogadishu. While we might not be a Stabilizing Presence, we have at least consolidated Iraq into two main camps. Those who support freedom, and those who are seeking political power.

Also, contrary to what Sir Knightly would have you believe, there have always been Terrorists in Iraq. Many Terrorists have used the nation as a staging and training ground. Also, while Saddam might not have had a direct role in the attacks six years ago Tuesday, the 9/11 Commission did find evidence of Saddam funneling money into terrorist groups and hiring terrorists to go and try to assassinate three different presidents. In fact, when Clinton bombed Baghdad, he did so with intel that said that bin Laden was in the city. Sadly, he failed in so very many ways over the years when it comes to Terrorism.

And no, the Terrorists are not on the side of the Iraqi's. Many claims have been made otherwise, but it is not true. If the Terrorists win, we will see a massive death toll as the civilization collapses in a way that would make Post-War Vietnam look like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Once we are gone, the Mahdi Army, Al-Qaeda, the Northern Alliance, every single faction will fight against each other to gain dominance, and we will see either a second Afghanistan or a second Somalia. Neither of which bodes well for the United States, as both have been used by Al-Qaeda forces, and bodes even worse for the people as they are subjected to either the deathly restrictive Shariah Law or Institutionalized Anarchy. This is the lesson of History.

2: Currently, the United States is acting ONLY in conjunction with Iraqi Forces or at the request/permission of its government. Ever since the Iraqi Government has been set up, the United States Army and United States Marine Corps have moved into a support role, and only acting with the express permission of the government. In the rare occasions where independent action is necessary, the Iraqi Government has given them the go ahead and not done anything.

Only Logistics Missions, such as delivering blankets and food, or Engineering Missions, mainly building soccer fields for the kids and adults, are done independently, and that is because they are not Combat Missions. Even Convoy Duty is being done in Conjunction with Iraqi Forces.

3: He mentions the ethnic and cultural divides in the nation, ones created by Great Britain following WWI, when they carved up the Middle East. Thus proving that there is nothing more dangerous than a Bureaucrat or a Politician with a Pencil and a Map.

As for the Police Force, we are, as we speak, building just such a force. However, these are popular targets by the Terrorists as the uniforms allow them to move around without hassle. And the problem is not the ethnic divide, but rather the lack of outreach by the government to the minority Shi'ite and Kurd populations.

4: NO! the people caught in arms in Iraq and sent to Club Gitmo where caught in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions, and have been housed in the Island because if released, they would attack the United States and seek to replace the Government in Iraq with a Fear Society.

5: Portal Iraq is a little known website that serves as the English-Language Newswire for Iraq. It is mainly the economic side of the situation, but sometimes speaks on security.

Reading the website and its stories, I have come to a different conclusion. One of the main reasons that the ambitious, though accessible plans for reconstruction have not been met is because of Terrorists.

One water plant in Baghdad has been the source of seven bombings because the Terrorists realize that the more of the necessities that the people get, the worse that they will do in Iraq.

Therefore, an Iraqi Army is desperately needed to assist in the defense of major Utilities, especially power.

6: All of the bases being worked on in Iraq are going to be handed over to Iraqi Forces once Democracy and Freedom are firmly established. Why should we condemn some other nation to a base that we wouldn't use?

7: Leave the Green Zone? The Green Zone is the equivalent of the Washington Mall. The main difference being that and the Washington Mall is that all of the major utilities, defense, and law enforcement facilities in Baghdad are located there.

8: Why would we build an embassy outside of the Green Zone? That would be the equivalent of building an embassy in Arlington, VA. The Green Zone is the center of Government for the Republic of Iraq.

As for building a "Normal Embassy," only Canada has an American Embassy that looks like an ordinary office building. Even the Embassy in France is heavily defended. Hell, the Embassy to Israel looks like a Medieval Castle.

9: Stop paying Blackwater, and who knows what will happen. Currently, most Private Security Forces are hired by Contractors to defend utility sites and convoys of trucks going from one place to another. remove them, and the Infrastructure of Iraq is gone.

10: No real problem here, Land Mines totally suck in my opinion. Just don't get the UN involved. Then we will never get them out of the ground. Oh, and buy lots of Mine Sniffing Rats, they are more capable then dogs, and won't set off the mines.

11: Set up NGO's to do this. No argument that we have some things we need to pay for that have not been paid for yet, but a Government Organization will not get the funds to the people. Instead it will be Bookmarked to death. If you want to get them funds and such, rely on the Conservatives to pay for it. After all, Conservatives across the board give more money to charities than liberals do. I will explain more about that on Monday.

12: We are investing in Iraqi right now. Millions of dollars are being sent to Iraq, being invested in the Dinar and Infrastructure, not to mention that Iraqi Goods are starting to be sold in American Stores. Go to Portal Iraq for more details on the economic boom going on in Iraq.

Just like with number 11, this should be done in the Private Sector because it will be free of the Red Tape that will bog it down in the Governmental Sector. Plus, it won't be earmarked to death this way.

13: The "Ugly" Blast Walls have defended Markets, Infrastructure, Governmental Buildings, and so on. All of which are targets of the Butchers of Iraq.

14: Of course we tried to defend the Oil Wells, they are the corner stones of the Iraqi Economy. Crude Oil makes up 84% of the exports from Iraq.

Now, with time on our side, we can see that maybe we should have taken better care of these sites, but at the time, we were more interested in setting up a stable Democracy in Iraq.

And again, this shoudl be done through the private sector.

15: Once again, I have no arguments, except that it should be privately run.

16: Hey, makes since here, after all, we need to help keep Democracy in Iraq

17: No, no, a thousand times NO! International Organization is nothing but a euphemism for Embezzlement Ring. If we are going to do this, we need to do it through small charity organizations, and through scholarships from the organizations to train these vital peoples.

18: These efforts are already being made. The reason that they are not succeeding is because the people who left are afraid of returning to a Fear Society, and do not wish to leave a free one.

Also, tonight I will be blogging on the major expose that Sean Hannity is going to make regarding a major Prior in the Church of Global Warming. Tune in then.

Taiwan

I must say, that I love Taiwan. It is one of the most bad-ass nations in the world. Here they are, with a massive world power off of their coast, which claims that it will start a war should Taiwan try to gain independence.

And, after all those threats, what do they do? They go and hold rallies over this next week to try and get themselves recognized by the UN as either the Republic of China, their official name, or Taiwan.


For those of you not versed in International Political History, Taiwan was the official representative to the UN for years, until the Soviet Union managed to force a vote to strip them of their recognition in favor of the "People's Republic."

Since the 1940's, the two nations have been staring down the other. And now, it looks like someone might finally flinch.

Now, let's look at the current state of things in this soon to be conflict.

1. China will be fighting a People's War. They have 7 Million troops, we have 2.5 Million

2. China's current increasing economy will allow them to modernize their military

3. US and China have major Alliance Pacts
A. NATO vs Shanghai Co-operation Organization
B. Organization of American States vs Association of SE Asian Nations +3

4. Both are Superpowers, and WILL Clash

5. US has over 10,000 Nuclear, China has 200
A. US leads in Precision and Dumb Bomb Nukes
B. US has the Nuclear Tri-ad (ICBM, SLBM, Nuke Bombs)
C. US has a Missile Defense Shield
D. China has None
E. China has hidden silos
F. All Chinese missile are in Manchuria
G. US has instant Retaliation
H. China has a Two Hour retaliation
I. Nuclear Warheads and Missiles must be stored seperately
II. Fuel corodes the warhead

6. Airforce
A. PLAAF has the edge in numbers of Aircraft
I. China has 3,000 Combat Aircraft
II. US has 2,500 COmbat Aircraft
B. US has the edge in training
I. US get 300 hours/pilot/year of training
II. Chinese get 100 hours/pilot/year of training
C. US has more Combat Experience
D. US has more Comprehensive Training
E. USAF have better Air Force
F. China has no Logistical Aircraft
E. China is very innovative, and converts old planes into UAV's
F. China trains officers overseas
G. China is developing Anti-Satellite Weapons
F. China is going to mine the moon by 2010, they hope

7. PLAN
A. US has the edge in terms of Carriers
I. Main ships of the fleet
II. Carriers tell a lot about the nation's fleet
B. China has 3, US has 24
I. 2 of China's Carriers are Permanent Theme Parks
II. Other one is permanently Inactive
C. US has 12 Carrier Battle Groups
D. US has 1,000 of the world's 1,250 carrier based aircraft
E. Average Chinese Ship displaces 9x less tons
F. China has more Defensive One-Man boats

8. Combat Commands
A. US has 5 World Regional Commands
B. China has Seven National Command Regions
I. China is going to adopt our system

9. Marines
A. US has 180,000 Marines
B. China has 7,000 Marines

10. Mallaca
A. 80% of fuel comes through this straight
B. US could blockade the straight and starve the nation

11. PLA
A. Cinese 7 Million Soldiers
I. Each one worth $50,000
B. US 2.5 Million Soldiers
I. Each one worth $200,00
C. Chinese soldiers only now being equipped with mess kits for each soldier
I. Three years ago had to share a single mess kit
D. Chinese Soldier Standard of Living is worse than before Korea
E. 2025 Chinese soldier will be worth more than US soldier
F. Not very maneuverable, too many of them

3 Possible Attacks

Indirect: Influence the middle east against the United States via a Proxy War
Invade Kazakhstan for their oil
China has Massed troops on Kazakhstan Border to engage in quick overland thrusts into Kazakhstan
Could act in N. Korea, and has massed some forces on the border with Korea
Could invade India, though unlikely due to Himalayas and Friendship
War in SE Asia to secure the Straights, though unlikely due to Military Alliance
And, of course, Taiwan

Taiwan
Considered a part of the PRC by the PRC
Could blockade or attack the small Island Nation
Is currently massing
Would be very costly in time and personnel
Would remove soldiers needed to keep the peace in China

China has Massed
50 % of Army Groups
45 % of Army Divisions
60% of Mechanized Divisions
60% of Artillery
100% of Marines
40% of Sailors

All above information comes from Military History Podcast, from Episode 66, the Chinese PLA Threat

Peace Through Firepower

There is a picture posted upon my Foreign Policy Blog that is well worth paying attention to. In it, Theodore Roosevelt, dressed as a Police Officer, swings his "Big Stick" in a circle, as the world comes to him with their complaints.

That is how it should be. And that is what I suggest.

During Teddy's Administration, only one group dared to attack the United States, and after a company of Marines marched in and turned our Embassy in Turkey into an Armed Camp, they backed down, and came to us with their complaints on bended knee.

Other nations, learning from this, came to the United States with heir complaints. And, so long as they where valid, Roosevelt paid attention to what the people said and did what he could to fix the problem.

That is the definition of Peace Through Firepower. You rise to the state of Superpower, and you use that power only when necessary to defend yourself and the sovereignty of other nations. And, at the same time, listening to the complaints that people bring you, and judge them fairly. Those who come to you with true complaints, you do what you can to fix them.

After all, a giant man makes giant mistakes.