re: If the Muslims want holy war then let's give it to them.

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Right now, they're embarking on a rapid expansion and modernization of their military to transform it from a defensive force to one capable of global power projection.

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Lol, China would take just ruling their sphere in Asia. They have no aspirations to be a global police force.

I mean your theory is good on paper, but it doesn't match reality. In reality the American military is better than the rest of the world put together. In reality our military might and our currency forms the stability on which the world is built. In reality we are a superpower unlike the earth has ever seen, and that plus the bomb has lead to a world where destabilization by major actors is unheard of (unless it's Russia).

China is the soft power king, that is its goal. It dumps a FRACTION of the resources into the military that we do. Even at five aircraft carriers that isn't half of our fleet. Instead it spends it massive trade surpluses on building up African nations and Asian nations in trade for access to cheap resources and political favors. China isn't gearing up for a traditional war with us, they are gearing up to be a force of influence in the world via a network of allies.

We'll just disagree and I most certainly hope the situation that would prove which one of us is right never arises. I just want to address one more thing.

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Lol, China would take just ruling their sphere in Asia. They have no aspirations to be a global police force.

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You just gave a perfect description of middle 1930s Japan.

China has a demographic nightmare to deal with before becoming America 2.0 anyway. They can't be expansionist right now. They've got to keep growing the economy domestically and with more trading partners. Being a big warring nation is expensive and you're about to see a huge chunk of your population become elderly.

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You just gave a perfect description of middle 1930s Japan.

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The difference is that Japan wanted political control of its part of Asia AND control over the resources. China sees that political control is more important (if it even hopes to say dominate the South China Sea or take back Taiwan) and it doesn't mind getting its resources from an Africa, a Russia, or a Middle East. A 1930's Japan was much more aggressive, and wasn't that far removed from their own war with Russia. They thought they had to emulate the European military industrial complex to compete on the world stage. China has a different plan for success.

I have been to China, and I have worked with some of their key people in their top petroleum company (which also controls a lot of other natural resources). It is very obvious that they aren't like the 1930's Japanese with a chip on their shoulder, or even a modern American who forces our philosophy at the end of a gun. They care about keeping the dragon running, and making sure that they are in a position to control many of the Earth's most important resources in the next 100 years. They will let those Africans kill themselves for the payment check, no need to try to pick a winner or get involved in a humanitarian crisis. As long as the Africans don't mess with the pipelines or the highways the Chinese have built to pull out all those natural resources that a consumeristic society needs to have rapid product cycles then the Chinese are happy. Who is in charge in those nations, how many tanks they have, and if they are a democracy or capitalism or whatever doesn't matter to the Chinese. All that matters is keeping the factories running, and they are happy to let America take the burden of being the global police force that keeps shipping lanes intact.

This century is a whole different ballgame than the last one.

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It's why I'm glad we are taking our current tactic in the Middle East: we don't care who is in power anymore as long as the oil flows.

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Too bad it cost us trillions to learn that lesson.

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People go to war because it's profitable. Unless you own a plant that's going to mass produce a ship,tank,plane,helicopter, or missle to shoot at someone I suggest not going to war with the Middle East. I don't own any of those things to sell to the military. Nor will I get any of the oil money. Many of you ppl watch too much TV. The politicians that peddle all the nonsense on Fox News, cnn, or msnbc couldn't care less about the ppl on the east side. They just want to get there pockets lined by the lobbyist and war profiteers for brainwashing the sheep.

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/thread

We blew a chance to end this right after 9 -11. We should have nuked Tora Bora and the camps in Afghanistan, and let it be known that anyone supporting jihad covertly or openly will be considered an enemy combatant and will be dealt with in a similar manner, whether it be a smoking ruin of a country or just some financier with a hole in his head.

No matter who you are or where you are..now what is it going to be? They would have gotten the message.

And when the inevitable whining started about the poor bastards hurt by the fallout or the warmongering US being at fault, I think at that time it falls on deaf ears. Most of the country was highly pissed and the liberals were afraid to spew their usual garbage.

They'd be butthurt for a couple of weeks and then like most Americans they'd forget it even happened.

Right after 9-11 no one would have dared say a word..we could have used any method of retaliation and been justified in doing it. Our homeland had been directly attacked, the American people would have cheered such a move and the rest of the world would have kept their mouths shut fearing they could be next. They would know we mean business and those behind these attacks would either disappear or quietly withdraw their support for jihad, knowing if they don't they are dead.

Those people that really make jihad possible with financial and material support are the ones that would get the message. We know who you are and the gloves are now off, we will take you out. No matter if you are an entire nation or some shadowy background figures, you stop or you're all dead. Total unrestricted war, you DO NOT attack the United States homeland EVER.

These kinds of people do not wish to commit suicide like their gullible pawns do.