War Drums

[TGHusker]

Thought I'd create one thread on the threat of war breaking out.  

 

While the USA has been debating 'canceled culture' & other 'soft issues' other countries are debating how to cut us down to size.  It seems we have a growing number of hot spots with a number of capable foes

who are not fearful of us or our military or our will to fight a war.  The below doesn't include the on going Afgan war and the 'war on terror'. 

 

The question is  - will these conflicts escalate into a hot war, a prolonged new cold war, or a damaging cyper war?  Is the Biden team up to the task as FDR and Ronald Reagan were in facing the crisis of their times?

 

It seems to me that we made China an adversary by financing its military growth through our unsatisfied desire for cheap consumer goods.  We have given them the rope, if not to hang us with, but to at least tie our hands and the options we have to work with.  In Russia, the old Soviet Union never really went away - as they have poked their head into our elections and have sought to undermine NATO (using the 'former guy' to do so).

NK and Iran are old pesky foes that have gotten stronger over the years.  North Korea has a failing economy that is facing a new famine and economic disaster similar to what they faced in the 1990s. They are a text book example of the failures of communism - yet they are a nuke threat to our friends in the area as well as to our own territories.  Iran - the spark plug to most terrorism in the middle east. 

 

 

With Russia over Ukraine

https://www.yahoo.com/news/top-kremlin-mouthpiece-warns-inevitable-105301739.html

https://news.trust.org/item/20210413103817-sjzzo

Quote

 

All-out cyberwarfare, nation-wide forced blackouts, and the targeted disruption of internet services—for one of the Kremlin’s top propagandists, all of those tactics are fair game in what she describes as a fated war-to-come against the U.S.

“War [with the U.S.] is inevitable,” declared Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of the state-funded Russian media outlets RT and Sputnik, who believes the conflict will break out when, not if, Vladimir Putin moves to seize more territory from Ukraine.

 

 

With China over Taiwan

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-china-policy-biden-xi-11617896117

https://news.trust.org/item/20210413080529-eyqts

 

Quote

 

It quickly became obvious in Anchorage, Alaska, last month that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s diplomatic envoys hadn’t come carrying olive branches. Instead they brought a new world view.

As Biden administration officials expected in their first meeting with Chinese counterparts, Yang Jiechi, Mr. Xi’s top foreign-policy aide, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi asked them to roll back Trump-era policies targeting China. Beijing wanted to restore the kind of recurring “dialogue” Washington sees as a waste of time, say U.S. and Chinese officials briefed on the Alaska meeting.

Mr. Yang also delivered a surprise: a 16-minute lecture about America’s racial problems and democratic failings. The objective, say Chinese officials, was to make clear that Beijing sees itself as an equal of the U.S. He also warned Washington against challenging China over a mission Beijing views as sacred—the eventual reunification with Taiwan.

 

 

 

With Iran over nuclear ambitions and Middle East conflicts

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/natanz-attack-destroyed-facility-50-meters-underground-664979

Quote

 

The alleged Israeli attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility targeted an electrical substation located 40 to 50 meters underground and damaged “thousands of centrifuges,” Iranian officials revealed in recent days.

 

Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told Iranian media on Monday that the attack hit an electrical substation located deep underground and managed to damage both the power distribution system and the cable leading to the centrifuges in order to cut power to them.

 

 

 

With N. Korea over nuclear ambitions

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-makes-splash-biden-ballistic-missile-salvo-n1262130

Quote

 

If North Korea wanted to get America's attention, it seems to have worked.

This week Kim Jong Un's regime fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, describing them early Friday as a new type of tactical guided weapon.

 

Having brushed off two smaller missile tests less than a week ago, this time President Joe Biden condemned the ballistic missile launches, which were in violation of a United Nations resolution.

"We're consulting with our allies and partners, and there will be responses," Biden said during his first news conference as president Thursday. "If they choose to escalate, we will respond accordingly."

 

 

[Ratt Mhule]

Seriously?

[TGHusker]

To add to my OP , Biden inherited a mess from Trump. While Trump was cozying up to dictators and talking down to our friends and also consumed by the bogus election fraud, those dictators were plotting their actions   My hope Is that Biden has the wisdom to negotiate through all of these issues and avoid both military and cyber conflict. The last thing we need is more military entanglements and the spending to support it. We got to find peaceful ways to resolve these issues 

[TGHusker]

More on China

https://news.trust.org/item/20210414133410-05x38
 

Quote

 

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. spy agency leaders warned on Wednesday of the "unparalleled threat" posted by China, citing Beijing's regional aggression, cyber capabilities and economic clout as they testified at a public congressional "Worldwide Threats" hearing for the first time in more than two years.

"China increasingly is a near-peer competitor challenging the United States in multiple arenas, while pushing to revise global norms in ways that favor the authoritarian Chinese system," Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"(China) also has substantial cyber capabilities that if deployed, at a minimum, can cause localized, temporary disruptions to critical infrastructure inside the United States," Haines said.

Haines' opening statement also cited Russian efforts to undermine U.S. influence, Iran's contribution to instability in the Middle East, global terrorism and potential North Korean efforts to "drive wedges" between Washington and its allies as significant threats.

The appearance by Haines and the other intelligence agency directors was the first public "Worldwide Threats" hearing on global threats to the United States since January 2019. They were not held during the last two years of the administration of former President Donald Trump, who often clashed with the nation's security agencies.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the committee's chairman, said he had been "dismayed" that there had been no hearing last year. The panel's top Republican, Senator Marco Rubio, also cited the importance of the hearing.

Warner noted the effort Beijing had put into making the Chinese technology firm Huawei a leader of advanced 5G systems, and said he was concerned it might make similar efforts in other emerging technologies.

Noting the dangers of international computer hacking like the recent SolarWinds attack, Warner said: "We may also want to develop new international norms where certain types of attacks are prohibited, just as the use of chemical or bio-weapons is banned."

"Today's technology environment allows adversaries to wreak havoc,' Rubio said.

 

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14642716/china-militarizing-space-building-destructive-missiles-lasers-blind/

Quote

 

The Global Risk Assessment report, released by the director's office, states that China's military, the People’s Liberation Army, is expanding its ambitious space goals and reaping major economic benefits in the meantime.

Beijing "has counterspaceweapons capabilities" that will allow the country "to gain the military, economic, and prestige benefits that Washington has accrued from space leadership."

“Beijing continues to train its military space elements and field new destructive and nondestructive ground- and space-based anti-satellite weapons," the report continues.

China, which already has ground-based anti-satellite missiles and lasers, "probably intended to blind or damage sensitive space-based optical sensors," the report hypothesized.

 

 

[knapplc]

I feel like Biden is more likely to keep us out of wars than get into any wars. His stance on Afghanistan is pretty indicative of his hawkishness, I'd say.

[Redux]

2 hours ago, knapplc said:

I feel like Biden is more likely to keep us out of wars than get into any wars. His stance on Afghanistan is pretty indicative of his hawkishness, I'd say.

 

Do tell

[knapplc]

1 minute ago, Redux said:

 

Do tell

 

Biden announces troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11: 'It's time to end America's longest war'

 

 

[Redux]

So what was the reasoning for delaying the withdraw?  It was originally slated for May 1st.  I see no logical reason to postpone it any longer.

[ZRod]

45 minutes ago, Redux said:

So what was the reasoning for delaying the withdraw?  It was originally slated for May 1st.  I see no logical reason to postpone it any longer.

The initial withdrawal was conditioned on the Taliban meeting certain conditions (disavowing AQ , not attacking the US, not attacking international forces or Afghan cities), which they don't seem to have done. Also the Biden administration is blaming the lack of communication from the Trump team during the transition for delays.

[DevoHusker]

 

 

[Redux]

11 minutes ago, ZRod said:

The initial withdrawal was conditioned on the Taliban meeting certain conditions (disavowing AQ , not attacking the US, not attacking international forces or Afghan cities), which they don't seem to have done. Also the Biden administration is blaming the lack of communication from the Trump team during the transition for delays.

 

And after Biden took office it was on him to maintain the withdrawal.  Extending the withdrawal is just delaying it in hopes they can justify a reason to stay.  They can Blame Trump all they want, just get it done.

 

20yrs and nothing go show for it.

[ZRod]

19 minutes ago, Redux said:

 

And after Biden took office it was on him to maintain the withdrawal.  Extending the withdrawal is just delaying it in hopes they can justify a reason to stay.  They can Blame Trump all they want, just get it done.

 

20yrs and nothing go show for it.

Did you ignore the first half?

 

This latest mandate from Biden is a full withdrawal no strings attached this time. Come September we'll be gone.

[Redux]

22 minutes ago, ZRod said:

Did you ignore the first half?

 

This latest mandate from Biden is a full withdrawal no strings attached this time. Come September we'll be gone.

 

He was in the White House for 8yrs,  forgive my skepticism.

 

Again, zero reason to wait until September.  Any casualties between May 1 and September will be that much more pointless.

[ZRod]

10 minutes ago, Redux said:

 

He was in the White House for 8yrs,  forgive my skepticism.

 

Again, zero reason to wait until September.  Any casualties between May 1 and September will be that much more pointless.

Just read the article. It's good and quite in depth.

[NUance]

 

Bush2:  2001-2008

Obama: 2009-2016

Trump: 2017-2020 

 

There's a lot of misinformation in the media about which POTUS was in office during the Afghanistan troop build-ups.  The chart above might be helpful.