> I dont get why americans are scared of us: we're just as scared of them. It's not going well here.
Because your government keep threatening to start a war in the Pacific over Taiwan and no one is taking those threats lightly.
Because your government keep threatening to start a war in the Pacific over Taiwan and no one is taking those threats lightly.
Of far greater concern is their increasing belligerence in their "sphere of influence" including the south china sea and surrounding island chains.
It seems missiles don’t solve all the things else there would be an “invasion” on going for 600+ days.
I guess war is harder than Internet comments.
There's more than 100km of sea between Taiwan and China. Not China (nor anyone else) has anything close to the blue water amphibious assault fleet it would take for an effective invasion force to cross it. It would take multiple years to build such a fleet, impossible to hide, and while they built it Taiwan and her allies would assemble the world's largest anti-shipping missile arsenal. During the hours it would take to sail across, every single one of those huge, slow-moving, landing ships filled with thousands of men and megatons of materiél would be targeted with dozens, maybe hundreds, of missiles apiece. I doubt a single ship would make it even halfway.
Or forget amphibious assault, say China tries to go airborne. An even longer period unmistakably building an unprecedented heavy cargo aircraft fleet. An even longer period for Taiwan and her allies to build her already impressive air defences into an impregnable shield. Again, not a single aircraft makes it even over Taiwan's territorial waters. In fact, once war is declared and it's game on, it's a valid question if any of these large, unstealthy, slow cargo aircraft even survive long enough to be shot down over water.
The Russian experience has indeed been eye-opening, but not in the direction you assumed. Developments in missile technology have totally changed the game. Even today, the vastly superior Russian air force cannot fly over ukrainian territory. The Black Sea Fleet has been driven away - and Ukraine does not even have a navy! And even given their massive advantages in size and military strength, and the 100x easier task of invading and resupplying over land, it's far from clear that Russia will prevail.
No, you can't really compare the two. Russia could always have invaded any of their neighbours if they decided to. China literally can't invade Taiwan, not if you assume even the most basic preparation and competence of herself and her allies. The best they could do is perhaps a blockade, and hope for capitulation. There are pretty much no options for a traditional invasion that do not, with rather high confidence, lead to the fastest, most deadly, most expensive, and most total military defeat in history.
All of this in my own non-professional opinion of course, but I'm not completely uneducated on the topic. There's more - far more - information laying things out much better than I ever could, I encourage anyone overly concerned about an imminent conventional war over Taiwan to seek it out.
The crosshairs are up because China has made threats and become a threat to world peace.
Edit-If I could send one message to China it'd be this:
If you feel so threatened by the US and extension the West, then focus on fixing your own internal problems. “Just walk away.” Stop saber rallying towards war. You can already purchase all the resources you could ever need or want over the global markets. For example, you just built up enough residential housing and areas to house all of your citizens. The globe would surely continue that trade even today if you just worked along as an economic superpower. If you're confused what will make your citizens happy, ask them. The world isn’t to blame for it’s existence.
The United States turns the weak into allies, and it's allies into enemies. We gave Russia $180 billion in today's currency after WWII. After the collapse of the USSR, the US was the one to welcome Russia into the World bank and IMF. After 2001, Russia was widely considered our closest strategic partner in the war on terror. [1] Now our reckless expansion of NATO has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Russians.
We practically created the Taliban and ISIS, or at least gave them the tools and circumstance to be lethally effective. We created the circumstance for the Iranian revolution, the Cuban revolution, countless others that have hurt us since.
Of course we embraced China, we're a python looking to smother them.
Ukraine couldn't have joined NATO as long as it was in a civil war anyway. I'm pretty sure most non Ex-Varsovie-pact NATO nations would've voted against anyway (sweet Russian gas).
This was a war decided by Putin because he could do it.
See Washington Post 2004 [2], and leaks of the Nuland transcript in 2014 [3]. They tell the same story. The U.S. has potentially always intended to renege on our stance at the end (pause?) of the Cold War.[4] Even if agree that the U.S. never promised to enlarge NATO, Putin's repeated warnings that he views U.S. adventurism in Ukraine as a provocation were clear. Personally I see the rationality of his stance. [5]
Putin is reacting the the same way Biden would if China moved nukes to Cuba. Those are the stakes our interference in Ukraine threatens in his view. No wonder Russia is spending hundreds of thousands of lives to forestall it.
This statement from Yanukovych upon his resignation is telling:
On 14 February, Yanukovych had said: "I want to say that I was incited, and I'm incited to use various methods and ways how to settle the situation, but I want to say I don't want to be at war. I don't want any decisions made using such a radical way." He called on all politicians to refrain from radicalism and to understand that "there is a line that shouldn't be crossed, and this line is law".[6] A statement made in regard to his circumstances but I wonder if his government hadn't fallen, would Ukraine would be at war now.
Ultimately I do not justify or condone Putin's invasion. Neither do I justify or condone the U.S.'s involvement in Ukraine post USSR. Insofar as we are arguing about root causes to the war, the 2021 international environment seems to rival the national entanglements that precipitated WWI. Blaming Putin or NATO totally is both too much and too little.
[1] https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/russia-s-ukraine...
[2] https://www.americanprogress.org/article/meddling-in-ukraine...
[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26079957
[4] https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-shifrinson-russi...
[5] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/did-nato-promise-not-to-e...