@Eye_c_u: Agree the nuclear option will cancel out any aggression but the US army dwarfs Russia/China/EU combined. It is HUGE. China are no threat to the US.

China is not threatening to attack the US. However the US is making threatening comments towards China. Threats don’t help anyone when both countries posess nuclear arms.

@Burke John: China couldn’t win away from home, but the U.S. would never conquer China, it would cost too much. If they couldn’t properly defeat Afghanistan how would they take on a country 20 times bigger with a billion inhabitants?

@Burke John: Yes, but they fail to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan and the insurgents in Iraq. War is a funny old business as Napoleon and Hitler found out to their cost.

@Burke John: Also, China has almost 1 million more active servicemen than the divided states of america, they can build machines several times faster than anyone else. It would not take them long to build a bigger airforce if they wanted to.

@Phil Magee: China have been bullying their neighbours in the South China Sea for years since Obama took office. China saw Americas weakness as their opportunity. I think them days are over.

In this case the US would not be facing China alone. Vietnam Indonesia and the Philippines are also in dispute with China. And logistics would not be a big a problem for the US as it would seem. They have naval bases in the Philippines and Japan right in the disputed zone.

As ever the U.S is the primary aggressor. John Pilger explains:

“Today, more than 400 American military bases encircle China with missiles, bombers, warships and, above all, nuclear weapons. From Australia north through the Pacific to Japan, Korea and across Eurasia to Afghanistan and India, the bases form, says one US strategist, ‘the perfect noose’…….
In 2015, in high secrecy, the US staged its biggest single military exercise since the Cold War. This was Talisman Sabre; an armada of ships and long-range bombers rehearsed an ‘Air-Sea Battle Concept for China’ – ASB – blocking sea lanes in the Straits of Malacca and cutting off China’s access to oil, gas and other raw materials from the Middle East and Africa.
It is such a provocation, and the fear of a US Navy blockade, that has seen China feverishly building strategic airstrips on disputed reefs and islets in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Last July, the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled against China’s claim of sovereignty over these islands. Although the action was brought by the Philippines, it was presented by leading American and British lawyers and can be traced to then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

https://newint.org/features/2016/12/01/the-coming-war-on-china/

@Burke John: I’m not sure you understand the scale here. Sure, Americas military might is greater, but they would not be able to pit all their might against China. Remember when China shot down the spy plane? G.W.Bush, who went to war because his daddy went to war, demanded the plane back, he got it back, or at least the shell of it, 6 weeks later. China does not fear America, they may not be as powerful but are powerful enough to face them down.

Patches: So China is not being aggressive laying claim to vast areas of both international and other nations territorial waters. Is that your claim?

@Mick Jordan: Naval bases in any country mean very little without the ability to protect themselves, I doubt very much that the Philippines is much more than a utility. Considering that the Australian navy is probably the biggest naval force in the West Pacific region I don’t see them getting overly concerned wirh the Chinese at present. If America is just looking for a fight they couldn’t have picked a stronger opponent than China. Trump is a fool if he thinks he can get them to back down over the South China Sea.

@Mick Jordan:
The article is by John Pilger. If you believe you know better you should contact him.

Chris. The Indonesians have the Second biggest Military in the region followed by the Vietnamese. Look at the areas that China are laying claim to. Air cover alone would be a major problem for the Chinese. Where both the US and the other nations in dispute with China are slap bang in the centre. And the US have two Carrier Battle groups in the Pacific and could move even more in from the Indian Ocean if needed. China knows if it came down to a shooting war their naval forces would get severely mauled. What they are currently doing is simple bullying it’s smaller neighbours. And like any bully if a bigger kid puts it up to them they back down

Patches. Pilger is well noted for his anti US ramblings. But it was you who posted his remarks so that would suggest you agree with them. So my question to you still stands.

@Mick Jordan:

Your question can stand and wait. There’s a good lad.

Meanwhile here’s some more context from the great war corespondent Pilger:

“Seldom a day passes when China is not elevated to the status of a “threat”. According to Admiral Harry Harris, the US Pacific commander, China is “building a great wall of sand in the South China Sea”.
What he is referring to is China building airstrips in the Spratly Islands, which are the subject of a dispute with the Philippines – a dispute without priority until Washington pressured and bribed the government in Manila and the Pentagon launched a propaganda campaign called “freedom of navigation”.
What does this really mean? It means freedom for American warships to patrol and dominate the coastal waters of China. Try to imagine the American reaction if Chinese warships did the same off the coast of California.”

http://johnpilger.com/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-

Patches. You seem to be a fan of Pilger. And such agree with his Anti US stance. As such you answer my question. You don’t think China is the Aggressor in this case even though the International Maritime Court and the UN disagree.

@Mick Jordan:

As you seem to believe this is a Q&A session. Tell us who you think is easily the most aggressive imperial power on the planet since WWII?

Here’s a clue for you:

“The disquieting reality of the world we live in is that American efforts to destroy democracy, even as it pretends to champion it, have left the world less peaceful, less just and less hopeful……………..
To place the coup in Ukraine in historical context, this is at least the 80th time the United States has organized a coup or a failed coup in a foreign country since 1953……………….
Noam Chomsky calls William Blum’s classic, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since World War II, “Far and away the best book on the topic.” If you’re looking for historical context for what you are reading or watching on TV about the coup in Ukraine, Killing Hope will provide it. The title has never been more apt as we watch the hopes of people from all regions of Ukraine being sacrificed on the same altar as those of people in Iran (1953); Guatemala(1954); Thailand (1957); Laos (1958-60); the Congo (1960); Turkey (1960, 1971 & 1980); Ecuador (1961 & 1963); South Vietnam (1963); Brazil (1964); the Dominican Republic (1963); Argentina (1963); Honduras (1963 & 2009); Iraq (1963 & 2003); Bolivia (1964, 1971 & 1980); Indonesia (1965); Ghana (1966); Greece (1967); Panama (1968 & 1989); Cambodia (1970); Chile (1973); Bangladesh (1975); Pakistan (1977); Grenada (1983); Mauritania (1984); Guinea (1984); Burkina Faso (1987); Paraguay (1989); Haiti (1991 & 2004); Russia (1993); Uganda (1996);and Libya (2011). This list does not include a roughly equal number of failed coups, nor coups in Africa and elsewhere in which a U.S. role is suspected but unproven.”

http://www.alternet.org/world/americas-coup-machine-destroying-democracy-1953

Patches. Have the US laid claim to territory since WWII? China is and so has Russia.

@Mick Jordan:
Did you always cheer for the heroic cowbows against those damn Injuns?

No. I cheer for democratic nations standing up to dictatorships that threaten or endanger other smaller nations.

@Burke John: During the Vietnam war the US lost a lot of men. The supply lines were just too long. Nothing has changed in my opinion.

@Mick Jordan: The bigger kid didn’t do so well in Vietnam. The Chinese will not back down and if anything they will break America on land and sea. Mark my words it isn’t worth the effort for Trump to send in the navy unless he is prepared to keep them there perminently. The countries are not at war with each other so best to learn to live with each other with mutual respect.

Hallelujah. That’s where you are wrong. Vietnam was a land based conflict where the North Vietnamese could depend on Southern Support. This would be a Naval conflict where the US and those other countries involved hold all the cards. The majority of the region claimed by China borders those countries and makes China’s logistics much more difficult especially the further South they go.

@hallelujah: Exactly, the Americans made a big political deal about their war dead returning home in body bags from Vietnam. While the Vietnamese just went quietly about burying theirs. A war against China would be too big a cost for America to contemplate.

Chris. Vietnam was a totally different scenario as I have outlined above.

@Mick Jordan: Actually Mick, the Vietnam war started after Vietnamese gunboats attacked a provoking American warship. The Americans just couldn’t stop themselves from getting involved thinking that it would be easy against the communist regime. Surely they must have learned some lessons from that war.

@Mick Jordan: So has Isreal….

But you are ignoring the simple fact that Vietnam was a land based war where the North had logictical support from supporters in the South. China doesn’t have that support in the disputed region, quite the opposite in fact. And as it would entail no ground forces but would be a Naval/Air war China is at a distinct disadvantage.

@Phil Magee:total BS. The US has 400 bases in that region already and money is absolutely 100% not a problem. The looting and future dominance of any of America’s targets pays dividends in the long run.

Phil the us have ring fenced China with military bases. They are not the military juggernaut a lot of people think they are.

Bless. Mick thinks the U.S is a “democratic nation”. That’s sweet:)

@Patches O Houlihan:

I saw the documentary “The Coming War on China” on ITV just before Christmas.

I disagree with John Pilger on some issues but I have a lot of respect for him. I’m aware that he exposed the US government’s policy of supporting the Khmer Rouge after it had been removed from power by the Vietnamese military.

How would you describe it the Patches?

@Mick Jordan:

An imperialistic tyrant stuck in 18th century thinking.

China has this and America has that, you lot on here expecting to get a ticket to watch the show, don’t bother you will be in it, it will effect every nation on the planet, so ye can cancel the popcorn, and take up the nuclear attack position, find a room in your house that has a good level floor, lie flat on the floor, pull both feet in until your knees is at an angle of 45% then put your your arms under your legs between the thigh muscle and calf muscle gripping both shin bones firmly, pushing as far forward as you can, and you should be able to kiss your a**e goodbye….

@Mick Jordan: That are against a hegemonic tyrant raging war across the planet. Let me know when you have even one of the credentials of Pilger and maybe your ‘opinion’ might be worth one of his words.

@cryptoskitzo: Reminds me of before Japan attacked the U.S. http://www.globalresearch.ca/fall-1941-pearl-harbor-and-the-wars-of-corporate-america/28159