Posted on 08/02/2018 12:46:43 PM PDT by sockmonkey
The Middle East is like flypaper, it grips you and doesn’t let gooooooo!
I agree with every word you said here.
You know the US used to be like that. Lots of people doing all sorts of levels of skills jobs.
Add Chinese military to any scenario you like in the region, and see if it gets better.
How would you like to see us have to confront Iran to stop it’s nuclear program?
How would you like to see Chinese military in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Libya? How would you like to see it in Iraq and Iran too?
Do you think the Chinese would shy away from training and arming terrorists? I don’t.
China wants to be a global player, and this is exactly how that starts.
We cannot create a vacuum in the Middle East region, and surrender the region to China.
Correction:
How would you like to see us have to confront China to stop Iran’s nuclear program?
Yes, I agree. I also think China is underestimated by many in the US. I know someone via marriage whose wife is Chinese. She is a CPA, and has travelled all over the world in that capacity and had lucrative offers from firms from the US to Europe to Asia. I fielded her phone calls one month, and companies from New York to Zurich wanted to hire her.
*** Assad is a puppet of Iran and Alawites their canon fodder for war on Israel
Legit government? Give me a break ***
I have seen your opinion, but not facts on this thread.
*** We cannot create a vacuum in the Middle East region, and surrender the region to China. ***
We already created a vacuum in the Middle East. The US needs to get the heck out, and cut the failed regime change crap. I am sick of seeing people I know come back from our wars of adventurism permanently damaged mentally and physically.
I am also sick of the “fight them over there, or fight them here” mantra. It is propaganda.
We cannot create a vacuum in the Middle East region, and surrender the region to China.
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Sure we can. China and Russia want those countries and they can have them.
How would you like to see us have to confront China to stop Iran’s nuclear program?
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China can deal with Iran. China and Russia can have them. Pipelines and all.
Tired of having our soldiers fight wars as proxies for Saudi Arabia and the other oil producing countries.
We have enough to deal with in this hemisphere to make it rich and productive.
I’m not sure how old you are, but if you lived through the 60s, you’ll remember aircraft hijackings and other terrorist activity.
The region had been made more complex by Russian presence there.
This may seem like a simple decision with no down side.
It isn’t.
We do not want Chinese military bases in the region. We do not want Chinese Navy ports in the Mediterranean.
If can’t handle our men dying on foreign soil, it’s going to be a tough next fifty years for you.
We will be engaged around the world for as long as you live.
So in your estimation, there’s no downside to China developing strong relationships in the Mediterranean region. There’s no down side with them opening military bases and naval bases there.
This would be a forward position that would lead to U. S. vs China confrontations in and around Israel.
Look folks, if this is too hard on you, quite watching.
These types of dynamics are going to remain active around the world.
And if you think the Saudis are the only ones who lose if China opens a military or naval base in the region, you’re not thinking clearly.
Italy and Spain are nearby. Europe is a hop skip and a jump from there.
Now that most of the bsttle is won the Chinese decide to put boots on the ground
As the US withdraws from the oilfields - guess who moves in
China wants to defeat us economically, not militarily. The military is to support their economic presence. We have ignored their economic strength, as well as intentionally depleting ours, and I am afraid we are going to end up paying big-time for that.
If the U. S. pulls out of China economically, China would collapse in weeks.
It needs foreign money to be pumped in, via purchases.
I don’t think Europe could/would jump in fast enough to save the Chinese cash flow problems that would result.
I’m not convinced China doesn’t want to take us on militarily.
They’re not building their military might as fast as possible to let it sit around and not confront us.
Further, they are reaching out in Africa, the Middle-East, and South America.
In what way do you see anyone confronting China’s trade, if it simply kept to trade as their outreach?
China didn’t develop a military base on the islands in the South China Sea, to lead a simple defensive existence.
“They are both tactics (infrastructure building vs. destroying stuff and toppling Governments), but the Chinese one (infrastructure) will work better in the long run”
Let’s not forget that the USA was big infrastructure builder/gifter of the 20th Century; with the Marshall Plan, the Panama Canal, USAID, the Peace Corps and the World Bank, in addition to a foreign aid budget bigger than the rest of the world combined at times. It’s not a new thing.
Also, if you look at what China actually does with their foreign infrastructure projects, they are mostly not friendly at all - they serve Chinese interests, and often (mostly) screw the locals hard.
The classic Chinese foreign infrastructure project, is what they call a debt trap. The Chinese fund the project as a loan, control every aspect of the execution, and then crash the business, foreclose, and take ownership of the asset. More than a hundred major mines, 35 port facilities around the world, Venezuelan oil reserves to Zimbabwean farmland; China has taken ownership of assets at fire sale prices, largely by bribing local officials to sign their countries up for rigged deals.
Just as the “anti-corruption” drive in China is simply a cover story for the purging of President Xi’s political opponents (or just those in his way), their foreign investment is overwhelmingly geared at taking control of assets for their own power and profit.
They also tend to do very shoddy work, with roads and bridges often coming apart in only 2-3 years. The locals still owe on the higher than average interest loans nonetheless.
Yep, and it will have more of them if we don’t keep strong relationships in the region.
I wasn’t aware of that BTW.
It’s still undeniably what they plan on doing.
They’ll be doing it in South America too IMO.
*** Now that most of the battle is won the Chinese decide to put boots on the ground
As the US withdraws from the oilfields - guess who moves in ***
From 2009:
https://jamestown.org/program/syria-in-chinas-new-silk-road-strategy/
Actually, China has not done much razing of anything outside of their borders, since their one month conflict with the Vietnamese in the 1970's.
They are real tough against their unarmed citizens though.
Maybe you are thinking of the Russians.
Grozny, Chechnya:
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