TDepressionEarl posted:

peperony and chang

TDepressionEarl posted:

peperony and chang

crepeface posted:

lmao why did this made me chuckle so hard idk even know what it means

Mantis42 posted:

They call him Brace bc that's what he'll have to do against the wall when the time comes

Mantis42 posted:

They call him Brace bc that's what he'll have to do against the wall when the time comes

Mantis42 posted:

They call him Brace bc that's what he'll have to do against the wall when the time comes

The Washington Post posted:

China could be at war with the United States two years from now, a top Air Force general predicted in a bombastic and unusual memo to troops under his command, asserting a shorter timeline before potential conflict than other senior U.S. defense officials.

Gen. Michael A. Minihan, who as head of Air Mobility Command oversees the service’s fleet of transport and refueling aircraft, warned personnel to speed their preparations for a potential conflict, citing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s aspirations and the possibility that Americans will not be paying attention until it is too late.

“I hope I am wrong,” Minihan wrote. “My gut tells me we will fight in 2025. Xi secured his third term and set his war council in October 2022. Taiwan’s presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a reason. United States’ presidential elections are in 2024 and will offer Xi a distracted America. Xi’s team, reason, and opportunity are all aligned for 2025.”

Minihan then directs airmen who are qualified to use a weapon to “fire a clip into a 7-meter target with the full understanding that unrepentant lethality matters most” sometime in February.

“Aim for the head,” he said.

Minihan’s memo encourages the thousands of troops under his command to prepare for war in several other regards. All personnel reporting to him should “consider their personal affairs” and be more aggressive about training, he instructs.

“Run deliberately, not recklessly,” he writes. “If you are comfortable in your approach to training, then you are not taking enough risk.”

The memo, first reported Friday by NBC News, is dated Feb. 1 — which is still days away — and was distributed to Minihan’s subordinate commanders. An Air Force spokeswoman, Maj. Hope Cronin, verified its authenticity, writing in a statement shared with media after the memo began circulating on social media that Minihan’s order “builds on last year’s foundational efforts by Air Mobility Command to ready the Air Mobility Forces for future conflict, should deterrence fail.”

A Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, said Friday that the U.S. national defense strategy makes clear “that China is the pacing challenge of the Department of Defense” and that U.S. officials are working with allies and partners to “preserve a peaceful, free and open Indo-Pacific.”

A U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that Minihan’s comments “are not representative of the department’s view on China.”

Before taking over at Air Mobility Command in 2021, Minihan served in a variety of influential roles in the Pacific beginning in 2013. They include a stint as the deputy commander of Indo-Pacific Command, with purview of China and Taiwan, from September 2019 to August 2021.

The general’s memo coincides with an effort by the Pentagon to reset 20 years of counterinsurgency wars in the Middle East and as the Biden administration continues to equip Ukraine with billions of dollars in security assistance as it strives to fight off a Russian invasion.

Senior U.S. officials have warned for some time that an ascendant China may launch an assault on Taiwan, which is governed independently. The Defense Department under President Biden and his predecessor, President Donald Trump, has declared China its primary long-term concern, citing Beijing’s rapid military expansion and assertive behavior in recent years.

But U.S. officials have offered mixed messages on whether and when China might attempt to take Taiwan. In 2021, Adm. Phil Davidson, then the chief of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, predicted Beijing could make such an attempt by 2027. That timeline has since been dubbed “the Davidson window” by some national security scholars.

The Navy’s top officer, Adm. Mike Gilday, said in October that his service needs to prepare for “a 2022 window or potentially a 2023 window. I can’t rule that out. I don’t mean at all to be alarmist by saying that, it’s just that we can’t wish that away.”

In light of its concerns about China, the Pentagon has sought to expand military partnerships with willing partners throughout the Pacific. This month, the U.S. and Japanese governments disclosed that a Marine Corps unit on the Japanese island of Okinawa will be refashioned into a force capable of hopping islands in the region and directing long-range missiles at adversaries.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, speaking Jan. 11 during a news conference alongside Japanese officials, said that the United States had observed some “very provocative behavior” from Chinese forces in an attempt to push international norms. But he also downplayed concerns that China may launch an assault on Taiwan any time soon.

“We’ve seen increased activity in aerial activity,” Austin said. “ … We’ve seen increased surface vessel activity around Taiwan. And again, we believe that they endeavor to establish a new normal, but whether or not that means that an invasion is imminent, I seriously doubt that.”

Minihan, who entered the Air Force as a C-130 pilot, has previously captured attention for his strident, colorful language.

In September, he said at a military conference outside Washington that the Air Force had caused the largest “pile of our nation’s enemy dead” within the U.S. military.

“Lethality matters most,” he added, according to Task & Purpose, a military publication. “When you can kill your enemy, every part of your life is better. Your food tastes better. Your marriage is stronger.”

Maximo Roboto posted:

https://twitter.com/hezbolsonaro/status/1619134417838178312

Red and Black posted:

U.S. general warns troops that war with China is possible in two years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/27/us-general-minihan-china-war-2025/

Red and Black posted:

U.S. general warns troops that war with China is possible in two years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/27/us-general-minihan-china-war-2025/

Red and Black posted:

U.S. general warns troops that war with China is possible in two years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/27/us-general-minihan-china-war-2025/

KomradeX posted:

Maybe pumping the airforce full of psychotic Evangelical Christians was a bad idea

KomradeX posted:

Maybe pumping the America full of psychotic Evangelical Christians was a bad idea

KomradeX posted:

Maybe pumping the airforce full of psychotic Evangelical Christians was a bad idea

Red and Black posted:

U.S. general warns troops that war with China is possible in two years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/27/us-general-minihan-china-war-2025/

Lord of Pie posted:

Raskolnikov38 posted:

Gen. Michael A. Minihan, who as head of Air Mobility Command oversees the service’s fleet of transport and refueling aircraft,


lmao dude is a glorified taxi dispatcher

Maximo Roboto posted:

https://twitter.com/hezbolsonaro/status/1619134417838178312

quote:

“Lethality matters most,” he added, according to Task & Purpose, a military publication. “When you can kill your enemy, every part of your life is better. Your food tastes better. Your marriage is stronger.”

Mister Bates posted:

lmao he’s a cargo aircraft pilot who got promoted to boss of cargo aircraft, if this loving loser has ever killed anyone it was one of his fellow airmen back at base and they’re going to find the skeleton in his backyard in a few years

stephenthinkpad posted:

We know for sure they killed a few Afghan civilians.

Raskolnikov38 posted:

Gen. Michael A. Minihan, who as head of Air Mobility Command oversees the service’s fleet of transport and refueling aircraft,


lmao dude is a glorified taxi dispatcher

Red and Black posted:

U.S. general warns troops that war with China is possible in two years

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/01/27/us-general-minihan-china-war-2025/

Lord of Pie posted:

seems like a great idea considering we can't even supply a proxy war properly

quote:

The Biden administration has reportedly reached an agreement with the Netherlands and Japan to restrict China’s access to advanced chipmaking machinery. According to Bloomberg, officials from the two countries agreed on Friday to adopt some of the same export controls the US has used over the last year to prevent companies like NVIDIA from selling their latest technologies in China. The agreement would reportedly see export controls imposed on companies that produce lithography systems, including ASML and Nikon.

Maximo Roboto posted:

https://twitter.com/hezbolsonaro/status/1619134417838178312

quote:

Others, however, said most people who remain in Tibet just want to feed their families.

“China has jobs; you can start a business without a lot of bureaucracy. You don’t get Delhi belly [dysentery] all the time,” said Golma, who makes $60 a month as a Dharamsala shopkeeper, compared with $300 to $400 a month in Lhasa.

If you make a political ruckus in China you’re likely to get in trouble, added Golma, who was dressed in a traditional Tibetan chupa robe, knockoff Crocs and worn green socks. “But there’s also freedom in enjoying your life.”

Several exiles paraphrased the Dalai Lama, noting that it’s important to distinguish between the Chinese people and their government’s policies. “Both societies have good and bad,” Rabsel said.

Though China is better organized and has lifted far more people out of poverty, he said, the communist government is often extremely repressive toward the Tibetan minority. India may be bureaucratic and slow-moving, other exiles said, but its people are more tolerant.

“Superficially, everything’s better in China,” said Dawa. “But mentally, there’s also lots of pressure there. You have to think before you talk.”

He paused for a minute. “But I really miss my family. I’d like to go back if I ever get the chance.”

Hedenius posted:

I was actually shocked to find out that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is no longer advocating for Tibetan independence. Turns out that's the reason I never hear anything about him in the mainstream press these days.

Danann posted:

yeah let's go to war with basically nothing in the tank that'll work out

SuperKlaus posted:

Reported for great replacement theory

Cerebral Bore posted:

more like tankie lama, amirite?

Danann posted:

yeah let's go to war with basically nothing in the tank that'll work out