Atrocious Joe posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyE55eB9Afc

stephenthinkpad posted:

So DEM passed the stimulus package without any help from GOP, I guess they want to pass a bill on literally the only topic the 2 parties can agree on, China.


On the subject of that first island chain mid range defense system, that's actually something the Japanese want. That's why the article only came out of Nikkei and nothing else. However the Koreans already said they don't want it; the Taiwanese will no way let US install an offensive weapon on the island, plus there is no US Army station on Taiwan island to control it. Taiwan will only be on the sensor duty, which they are already doing. So this news is Japanese work out an angle to move the US weapon installations around, possible further away from the Okinawa city center.

quote:

But placing U.S. missiles on Japanese soil would be fraught with difficulty. Because such a move would affect the division of roles between the American military and Japan's Self-Defense Forces, Tokyo and Washington would need to discuss the details of any proposed deployment, including the locations and range of the missiles.

An opportunity is likely to come during negotiations on host-nation support for fiscal 2022 onward. Missile deployment "could be discussed as we talk about the course of the Japan-U.S. alliance," a senior Foreign Ministry official said.

A decision by Japan to host American missiles would be certain to anger China, complicating diplomacy between the two economically intertwined neighbors. And Tokyo is likely to encounter local opposition around potential deployment sites, including in Okinawa, where around 70% of American forces in the country are concentrated.

Budget concerns may arise as well. Washington "could ask us to shoulder maintenance and other costs associated with missiles deployed in Japan," a Defense Ministry official said.

quote:

House Armed Services Committee chairman Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., railed against the vast expenses of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the stealthy fifth-generation fighter jet.

Smith said he wants to "stop throwing money down that particular rathole" for the F-35, which currently costs $36,000 per hour and has a projected lifetime cost of $1.7 trillion. It’s believed to be the world’s most expensive weapons platform.

Smith added that Congress should "seriously scrub" the Pentagon's big-ticket weapons programs.

"We have wasted a spectacular amount of money on weapons systems that either haven’t worked at all or who have not lived up to their promise," Smith said. "The failure we wind up tolerating is failure on a massive freaking scale. Think F-35."

The F-35 program is literally too big to fail and must succeed. The fighter jet replaces too many older planes, many of which have no credible alternative. The Pentagon would need to design and build multiple alternative jets, which would cost too much money at a time when the defense budget will likely remain flat—or very close to it—for the next decade.

lollontee posted:

lol americas gonna start another world war, this is so loving cool. the war nerd community is gonna be raking it in

lollontee posted:

lol americas gonna start another world war, this is so loving cool. the war nerd community is gonna be raking it in

Stairmaster posted:

if I was the united states I'd simply come to a mutual understanding with china and focus on my atlantic commitments and loving over south america and africa.

BrutalistMcDonalds posted:

joe rogan should invite carl zha. he'd be perfect for that show because he's a big, lovable surfer dude from california

THS posted:

that would unironically be a great listen

Stairmaster posted:

if I was the united states I'd simply come to a mutual understanding with china and focus on my atlantic commitments and loving over south america and africa.

Rutibex posted:

Throatwarbler posted:

I love the nonsense details in maps like these, like how here China has forced Russia to return Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands to Japan for some reason?

Atrocious Joe posted:

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1370125470084239363?s=20

Grapplejack posted:

Here's a mental exercise

Let's say that there's a charter that wants to reform the UN by dissolving the security council. The United States has elected Trump a second time, and he instituted a full isolationist policy and has fully left the UN. the UK is crippled with BoJo still in charge, and has essentially abandoned their UN seat to handle domestic affairs. France has been preoccupied with European Unification and has specified their willingness to vote for it for full recognition of the EU as a state. That leaves you and Russia. You are the Chinese ambassador, and you are asked to finalize this vote.

Do you vote to dissolve the security council?

Lostconfused posted:

Appreciate how one of them is speaking Russian and one is speaking Ukrainian.

stephenthinkpad posted:

I am not trying to rush in to defend any billionaire, but at least drinking water scam is healthier than sugared water scam. Legal drinking age for soda should be 21 just like alcohol.

coathat posted:

Guys we found Bloomberg’s account

Rutibex posted:

Eox posted:

so eurasia and oceania take all the adjacent land no question, but eastasia stays in a sea of disputed land?

Rutibex posted:

gradenko_2000 posted:

let's be real Joe Rogan having on an Atlantic Council guest is worse than anything else the liberals pearl-clutched over with Rogan allegedly being "alt-right" or whatever the gently caress

THS posted:

we should get the f-35 designers to make the next generation of american ICBMs, that way if we try to nuke china they all blow up in their silos