Just heard about the India-China standoff. Your thoughts?

@GoodoldBob Hmmm? India is in a bad place, because they are the only large nation that China could actually take on. China's military machine is muscle bound. It is too heavy to carry for the land of bullet trains, empty cities, and wooden plows.

@puck61 Not long ago, the Chinese army was huge and ponderous and at a level of sophistication equal to any western power in the 1800's. China has modernized in the last 15 years and now is still huge but no longer antiquated. They are a force to be reckoned with

@GoodoldBob They can't afford themselves. However, they have such numbers, that by the time an enemy dispatched their army, another equally large army would have grown to fighting age to replace them; even with the 'two child' rule in place.

Another thing to consider is how much of the Chinese military is actually outward focused. Not every part of China is utterly serene, military forces are often deployed to troubled areas to keep peace, stifle insurgents, or keep tabs on elements that the CCP deems subversive. While they do in general outmatch India, not all forces can be brought to bear, and the fact that both nations are nuclear armed complicates things further.

@puck61 That was true in 1980. It is not 1980 anymore

@Xuan12 That was true in 1980. It is not 1980 anymore

@GoodoldBob Well, there are plenty of arguments for both the strength and fragility of China and it's military. Some even say, China could collapse within twenty years as a 'superpower'.

@puck61 True. There are indeed some who know very little about the subject.

Anyway, I don't think India has to back down immediately. Neither side can count on, or capitalize on a quick victory.

@Xuan12 Not immediately. Just before the shooting starts and it is too late

@GoodoldBob I don't think China is as powerful as people generally tend to think, but India 'is' in jeopardy because of it's proximity. Fortunately, Chinese leadership, although short on ethics, is long on wisdom, and they know that peace is more comfortable for everyone. They also know, that conflicts must remain conventional. I 'am' worried because of their lack of environmental foresight kind of contradicts my 'gut feeling' that they will remain conventional as much as any nation would.

@GoodoldBob India is modernizing and has the advantage of terrain.

@Booyeah They do not have the wealth that China has accumulated in recent years.

@GoodoldBob China has spent a lot of money on their man made islands. I don't think they are as rich as people generally think either.

@GoodoldBob India has the largest volunteer military in the world. China uses conscription.

@Booyeah A conscript American army and a conscript Soviet army crushed the Wheremacht.

@GoodoldBob A volunteer American army and a conscript Soviet army, and a volunteer British army, crushed a conscript Wehrmacht.

Fixed that for you.

@Booyeah Nope. The U.S. army was almost all conscripts. The Germans actually had way more volunteers than we did.

"Almost all conscripts"

False. 38% were volunteers, the highest rate ever achieved before the draft was abolished.@GoodoldBob

@Booyeah 62% sounds like an awful lot to me. Who were the Brandenbergers? How about the Waffen SS? No, I do believe that you are barking up the wrong tree. Conscript armies can do just fine against volunteers

@GoodoldBob That's because you don't know any better.

@Booyeah 🤣

@GoodoldBob But I'm glad that we've established you have no facts to back up your position.