Deterrence is never guaranteed, especially when facing an irrational and desperate declining superpower. The risk of losing one’s existing prestige and status is much greater incentives to fight than trying to gain something one never had. It is for this reason why conservatives whites in America fought against every attempt to pass civil rights laws guaranteeing racial equality for a 100 years from the Civil War until 1965. And it is for the same reason why it is so hard to tax the rich in liberal democracies with institutions that tend to protect existing elites and power bases. Apply such logics to international politics, it is why Britain would fight so hard to prevent the rise of Germany through a national strategic gamble (joining WWI) whilst overlooking the US. In sum, status quo powers (both domestically and international politics) tend to fight to the last tooth and nails to preserve their privileges even when their realistic material power could no longer support their desires. Compromise would mean losing everything bit by bit and fade into the flood of history.
PLA Strategy in a Taiwan Contingency
- Thread starter pugachev_diver
- Start date
Fine, China should just give up then.
Do you know under what circumstances a nuclear war would break out?
The answer is that a nuclear war would only break out if one is assured of protection from a nuclear attack. Therefore, the "Golden Dome Project" was created for this very reason.
Trump is trying to convey to Americans the idea that they are immune to the threat of nuclear war, a belief that will lead some warmongers to take risky actions, using this radical approach to pressure China. China simply displayed a large number of hypersonic missiles and ballistic missiles with global reach to easily shatter Trump's illusions.
When facing death, many things can be given up. Power, status, money, and wealth are fleeting. Living a decent life is what most people choose.
There are never any guarantees. If people are suicidal, then they are suicidal, and we will all die together. That's the way it's always been since the Cold War days, and the way it will always be. Such is MAD.
there is only escalation. and i fear nuclear weapons will be the least of the evils. i think its likely we will see chemical and biological devilry unleashed but also additionally novel horrors like nanotechnology weapons. all the extant codes, conventions, agreements, and assumptions will go right out the window, because they only exist to serve the interests of the incumbent powers, and the moment they stop serving their interests, they will be discarded. there will be no sympathy given to the inheritors of the carnage when the prospect for the west is inheriting an inferior position. i think a superpower fight is going to be a very serious matter and anyone preparing for it needs to think seriously big.
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I think it would be a huge sign of incompetence if Zhongnanhai didn't consider the possibility of American insanity.
Obviously there should be an emphasis on breaking nuclear MAD...and to do it quickly and quietly. But failing that, China should guarantee in a nuclear exchange that North America and Europe are uninhabitable, and that there are not enough breeding pairs to sustain a viable genetic base to rebuild civilization there. At the same time, Zhongnanhai needs to make sure that it will be the Chinese that will rise from the ashes first.
Obviously, bioengineering and large scale infrastructure production will be key. Critically, there also needs to exist the will to end the Anglos, and I'm not talking metaphorically.
Obviously there should be an emphasis on breaking nuclear MAD...and to do it quickly and quietly. But failing that, China should guarantee in a nuclear exchange that North America and Europe are uninhabitable, and that there are not enough breeding pairs to sustain a viable genetic base to rebuild civilization there. At the same time, Zhongnanhai needs to make sure that it will be the Chinese that will rise from the ashes first.
Obviously, bioengineering and large scale infrastructure production will be key. Critically, there also needs to exist the will to end the Anglos, and I'm not talking metaphorically.
So do you think Covid-19 is a drill or a real war?
i have no idea, it could be a warning shot, a test shot, or a real shot. novel warfare is going to be hard to recognize in the darkness of limited information. but the future always has a way of surprising us. the japanese imagined 1942 going down like it did in 1905... how many could have imagined the weapon of 1945?