FACT: More Than Twice As Many German Generals Were Executed for Opposing Hitler Than GOP Senators Voted for a January 6th Insurrection Commission.

@whowasthatmaskedman
There would be far less of them if not for Trump.

The United States is humankind's last best hope of earth.

And, as Lincoln said, we shall either nobly save, or meanly lose it.

@beckyromero "The United States is humankind's last best hope of earth."
Sorry. Thats a little egotistical on behalf of the nation. Each empire rises Makes its contribution and fails, usually rotting from within or failing to see a threat. We wouldnt be where we are without the America of the twentieth centry, thats most assuredly true. But the twenty first shows us a vastly different America and others are now looking to take its place at the head of the table. And America is too busy consuming itself to prevent it.

@whowasthatmaskedman


Yes. Were it not for the United States, what would the world be like today? Britain (along with the Commonwealth nations) basically stood alone against Nazi aggression for over a year. How long could she have held out without U.S. assistance? How long could the Ruskies have once we started shipping aid to them?

But now, China is threatening your country. As currently constituted, we will stand by your side and help defend you from Chinese aggression. China would pay severely for any attack on Australia.


And that's the problem. If the U.S. becomes a dictatorship, all bets are off.

If we go down a totalitarian road, what would become of Earth? The three most powerful nations on the planet, armed with massive amounts of nukes, potentially at odds with one another and run by dictators?

@beckyromero I'm more worried if/when the Biden administration goes chicken when China invades Taiwan. Aren't you?

@beckyromero I cant argue with a word of that. The real question is whether America has the might or will to do anything real about it. I fear not, they have fallen out of the race.

@LamontCranston
Taiwan's game-changer will be nuclear weapons.

That will be its only guarantor of freedom.

@beckyromero Taiwan CAN be defended. Will the gutless administration do it?

@LamontCranston
The gig is up. And the PRC knows it. Right now they're deciding whether the high price to them will be worth it (and that's only if they decided we're not bluffing). In another ten years, the price we will suffer would be too high, not without a fleet build-up and another leap in technological advancements.

We CANNOT defend Taiwan with only 11 active aircraft carriers and suffer losses (and of those 11, USS Ford still isn't ready for service and USS Washington is undergoing RCOH until May 2022). Not unless we want the Russians or Iran to stir up trouble elsewhere.

USS Enterprise should never have been decommissioned. Neither should have USS Constellation, USS Kitty Hawk or USS John F. Kennedy.

The decommissioning of another 12 Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers in the next five years must be halted.

@LamontCranston No. It cant. Not without the nuclear option. The Chinese can just keep coming until there are no defenders left. Precisely the America stategy in WW2.

You can thank Obama/Biden for all that. @beckyromero

@jackjjackson

The reduction in U.S. Naval strength actually started with Bush 41 and the Democrat-controlled Congress and continued with Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress.

Elected officials couldn't wait to start the cuts once the First Gulf War was over and wanting so-called "peace dividends" to celebrate the end of the Cold War.

What did it get us?

The mess we're in now, with a bellicose China, a belligerent Russia and growing threats by Iran and North Korea.

Obama can certainly be blamed for not advocating keeping the USS Enterprise in service with a refueling of its nuclear reactor. But Trump didn't do anything about it, either.

@beckyromero While everything you say is correct, it is not the whole story. The age of the Carrier started with WW2 and the Carrier group has been a way of radiating power globally in a way Colonies used to be. But satellite technology now provides intelligence in real time and drones project strike capacity to the same levels, without risk to men or a $Mega Billion carrier group that can be taken out with a single nuclear hit. The age of the carrier as a weapon between two equal powers has past and it is fast becoming an expensive dinosaur. In the event China does become a real military threat, it has already staked out the battlfield in its own backyard, leaving America severely disadvantaged with impossibly long supply lines. America knows this and is already planning forward supply bases through South Asia. But it wont be enough.

@whowasthatmaskedman
That's what also makes aircraft carriers a deterrent.

Lauch a nuclear strike against a U.S. CVN and you're inviting a massive retaliatory attack. An adversary might as well lob a nuke against Honolulu or Seattle.

Thus an adversary, to avoid getting into a shooting nuclear war with the United States, might instead launch a convention attack against a carrier task force.

And right now, a carrier battle group is much more difficult to successfuly strike and put out of action than any forward U.S. base.

Satellite technology does not always provide intelligence in real time and satellite survelliance isn't 24/7 over a moving target. Satellite themselves are moving - in orbit. Moreover, satellites themselves are probably more vulnerable than the naval target they are trying to detect.

China, strategically, is at a big disadvantage if it fights a naval war with the United States. Like Japan did in World War II, it relies on much of its oil via shipping lanes. And those tankers can be either sunk or disabled by the U.S. submarine fleet without much effort.

True, there's a long supply line to Taiwan. But, let's face reality. The United States won't be sending troops to Taiwan. What it would be sending is weapons that can be airlifted. Supplies sent via an air corridor, protected by a mobile and robust U.S. carrier fleet, is how Taiwan will receive critical supplies in the event of an attempted Chinese naval blockade as part of a prelude to invasion.

But the only real way to really stop the PRC from establishing a bridgehead on Taiwan is to sink the invasion fleet. Or to make the PRC fear that's what will happen.

@beckyromero While on the same side of the question here, we are not going to agree on strategy. The fact that China has always claimed Taiwan will make it possible for them to send troops to "restore order" before the US can do anything. No troops will be there to stop them and by the time they gret there it will be too late. The Logistics are all wrong. Plus the US cannot afford to put a carrier group and 10,000 plus service people at risk. The politics at home would crucify them.

@whowasthatmaskedman
China, like Germany did in World War II with regards to Britain, will be telegraphing its intensions with invasion troop buildups. It's not going to look like Crete or Arnhem. It's going to look like Normandy.

And, you're right. No U.S. troops are going to be sent there. Because no amount of troops can stop the PRC once they are ashore.

The trickier questions are whether the U.S. will attack the embarcation points, the landing craft at sea and the covering force of Chinese naval vessels. And what our response will be to the Chinese response should it launch missile strikes against Guam, Australia and the Philippines.


Not in the Straits. But to keep an air corridor open in order to continue to supply Taiwan with SAMs. If we become too fearful of operating our carriers in the wide open waters of the Pacific, we might as well mothball the fleet in Bremerton and put up a foreclosure sign on the West Coast. Because the ball game will be over.