Posted: Fri Dec 10, 2010 9:43 pm
what he said.
And an America with a weaker military will have a harder and harder time competing economically as well as nations jump ship to China for trade partnerships. Competition with China needn't be a zero sum game, and maintain military superiority is one of the best ways to ensure that trade between the two is on terms more favorable to America, while still benefiting both. I'm quite comfortable stating my preference for a world dominated by America over any other major power around right now.Skipjack wrote:On the amounts spent on weapons. I think that the US is the country that is fighting the most wars in the world right now, has been for a while actually.
Food for thought.
Also, I do wonder how long the US will be able to afford spending that much money on weapons. Meanwhile the country is falling behind in many areas of science. Education in the US is bad. All along the Chinese are winning economically without firing a single bullet.
Heck even arch enemy Taiwan signed a trade treatment with China just a few weeks ago. There is just no way around it anymore.
It is important to have a strong military, no question about it. But if you keep neglecting the other aspects of your country over it, you will ultimately decline economically and that means that you will loose anyway. In the long term an economically inferior US would not be able to keep up a strong military and the Chinese have lots of time.
That all depends on the nation. You could turn North Korea into a glass crater and still be morally superior to it's current leadership.Skipjack wrote: Of course you can always try to maintain your economic strenght by winning wars and thus resources and industry from occupied nations. A country that does that cant be called morally superior though, can it?
Well for once it does not work now, why would it work in a future where the US pockets are empty. You cant force people to do business with you. That sounds really bullyish and that wont make you any friends in the world.And an America with a weaker military will have a harder and harder time competing economically as well as nations jump ship to China for trade partnerships.
Not working now. People seem more eager to do business with China than ever.The stronger your military, the more eager nations are willing to trade with you on more favorable terms supporting economic growth of both.
You cant be serious. Most of the people there are poor and have no power, or influence on the political situation in their country. You would mass murder them and think that you are morally superior?!!That all depends on the nation. You could turn North Korea into a glass crater and still be morally superior to it's current leadership.
I'm suggesting something both less sinister and less naive. Simply that China and America will trade regardless. I'm just stating the obvious, that military superiority is an advantage in trade negotiations. One of America's most favourable trading partners is South Korea, and it's position is in no small part it's military influence in the country. Not as a threat against them, but as a protective benefit to them against aggression from the North.Skipjack wrote:Well for once it does not work now, why would it work in a future where the US pockets are empty. You cant force people to do business with you. That sounds really bullyish and that wont make you any friends in the world.And an America with a weaker military will have a harder and harder time competing economically as well as nations jump ship to China for trade partnerships.
The bigger issue facing both China and America is internal stability and unity. As long as China needs to exert tremendous effort in maintaining unity it can't exert that influence externally. China's spending on science and education aren't even remotely equitable, and will have a great many growing pains to go through along with the benefits.Skipjack wrote: China is among the nations with the strongest economic growth. They have better education than you and they are putting more money into science and economic growth than into military. They will soon overtake you and simply swallow you. The US is already doing a way to large chunk of the manufacturing in China, which means that your economy is more and more dependent on China.
Right, I was advocating that being even marginally superior to Kim Jong-Il was a good thing?Skipjack wrote:Not working now. People seem more eager to do business with China than ever.The stronger your military, the more eager nations are willing to trade with you on more favorable terms supporting economic growth of both.
You cant be serious. Most of the people there are poor and have no power, or influence on the political situation in their country. You would mass murder them and think that you are morally superior?!!That all depends on the nation. You could turn North Korea into a glass crater and still be morally superior to it's current leadership.
I dont have anything to say to that.In NK it's so bad that a quick death is more merciful than the current starvation, forced labor and even chemical weapons testing on you if your disabled.
Either you are in complete denial, or you have been living on another planet the last few years. China is now the second largest economy in the world. Despite the recession, their economy is the 4th fastest growing economy in the world.As long as China needs to exert tremendous effort in maintaining unity it can't exert that influence externally. China's spending on science and education aren't even remotely equitable, and will have a great many growing pains to go through along with the benefits.
nextbigfuture wrote:In the last 15 years, Chu said, China has gone from 15th place to 5th in international patents and from 14th place to 2nd place in published research articles. Of fifty or so nuclear reactors under construction around the world, thirty are in China. China just surpassed the U.S. with the world's fastest supercomputer, has a 220-mph rail line that is the fastest in the world, and has broken ground on a rail network almost four times larger than the next most developed rail country, France
Sorry, but things like that should make you think.nextbigfuture wrote:China is now second in the world in its publication of biomedical research articles, having recently surpassed Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Canada and Spain
bcglorf wrote:Interestingly enough the two things still most consistently "made in America" are food and armaments.
And there is more...nextbigfuture wrote:Of Wal-Mart’s 6,000 suppliers, 5,000 are in China.
China has now replaced the United States as the world’s number one high-technology exporter.
In 1998 China produced about 20,000 research articles, but by 2006 the output had reached 83,000 … overtaking Japan, Germany and the U.K.
Eight of the ten global companies with the largest R&D budgets have established R&D facilities in China, India or both.
During a recent period during which two high-rise buildings were constructed in Los Angeles, over 5,000 were built in Shanghai.
Death before dishonor.hanelyp wrote:Peace through superior firepower. No one in their right mind picks a fight they'll lose. And if someone not in their right mind picks a fight, best to have the means to put them in their place quickly.
Happyjack, you've made me laugh twice today. The first time I wrote about it in my reply (in another thread), then went back and changed it because I thought I was being mean. This time though, sorry, it's sticking.happyjack27 wrote:don't know much about carter, but obama has shown himself to be pretty good at that stuff. i hope you're not holding him responsible for the craziness of leaders of other countries. that would just be irrational.
Newsflash, the US has already the capability to turn half of the landmass into a radioactive wasteland. So really, a couple more weaponsystems are not going to make a difference in regards to being deterrents...Peace through superior firepower. No one in their right mind picks a fight they'll lose. And if someone not in their right mind picks a fight, best to have the means to put them in their place quickly.
These are not isolated events. Provocations like that have happened in the past. So dont put to much weight on that. The truth is that with actions like that NK is actually hurting itself. China is slowly getting annoyed with them too and sitting this one out and instead putting pressure on China through economic back channels might be the better choice.Just in recent events North Korea has SUNK a South Korean ship, and lobbed artillery shells at a South Korean city. Why? Because they know the man is no JFK, he doesn't have the balls to stand up to our enemies when threatened.
Oh please, there we go again!It reminds me of Adolf Hitler in the 1930's.
Railguns use rails and an armature, not coils. You are thinking Guass-gun I believe.Stoney3K wrote:It seems the Navy is pushing some radical new techs on their ships.
Not a bad thing, if you look at what's being developed, the new generation of warships is going to be completely electrified. Powered from a Polywell, free electron lasers for missile defense and close range capabilities, and railguns for long range assault.
Now if they just found something new for those torpedoes, we're in a whole new generation of warfare. Don't forget that the most ground-breaking techs have historically been made during wartimes, evolving in the years after.
I also wonder what they're using as electromagnets to drive these railguns. If they have a heat problem, it's possible they're using conventional copper for coils? Building a railgun with SC drive coils could make it even more powerful (and it could run on the same cryo system you would need for the on-board Polywell).
If they're already using SC coils, they may have a quenching issue that's causing the heat buildup. If not, there's plenty of opportunity for more powerful weapons or higher rates of fire.
Uhm, I believe that the US has already demonstrated its will to use nuclear weapons in a war, you know being the only country to ever make use of that kind of weapon and all...The world knows that the US is reluctant to inflict mass collateral damage as is unavoidable with a nuke.