w/ the possible exception of the supreme court nominee i reckon the rest of the trumpeteers are extraordinary light-weights, albeit they themselves naturally do not even suspect so
i expect much amusement over elapsed time as these magnificent light-weights start the inevitable squabbling and finger-pointing, because that is what light-weights always do
trump shall do what he must, repeated dictating, "you are fired" even as he might change his volatile mind a few hours later.
have worked w/ the blustering, bullying, bi-polar, volatile sorts before, and they can get some few things done, mostly over a short elapsed time and by breaking things, but do not otherwise amount to much in the way of worthwhile legacy and such, and invariably leave a mess for others to try to clean up. i expect trump to do much damage, some of it necessary, but most of it w/i the domestic arena, because the foreign sorts would simply work around, ignore, or otherwise wait out.
in time the joke of trump's reign shall become clear even to his various factions of supporters, i expect, except one such group counting myself as one, those want trump to try his very best and be taught that he is not good enough
of course trump shall do much damage, but the world is hardier than trump the tweeter, so might as well enjoy the comedy
w/r to war, especially one involving any two of three members of usa, china, and/or russia, am not worried for too many reasons; and should it happen, none would have any worries afterwards, forever
in the mean time my guidance to china, keep the nuke stockpile to w/i practical reason, say between 250 - 500 road-mobile mirv-ed, solid-fuel, intercontinental, upgradable to hypersonic-glide-manoeuvrable; skip the bomber-deliverable and the submarine-launchable except as r&d curiosities, and allocate the funds saved to almost anything else less idiotic. interesting, that appears to be what china is doing.
any number over a manageable few akin to a taxi fleet is a waste of time and money and focus.
the russians seem to understand what is how and why ...
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Say Hello to China's ICBMs
The Global Times stressed Hong Kong and Taiwan media interpreted pictures of the DF-41 were taken in Heilongjiang, admitting there was no official confirmation from Beijing while hoping the "strategic edge" would soon be confirmed.
© Photo: Youtube/ ????4
China's Reported Missile Deployment Near Russian Borders No Threat to Moscow - Kremlin
Russian media was way more explicit, with military analyst Konstantin Sivkov stressing that the DF-41, as positioned, would not be able to target Russia's Far East and most of Eastern Siberia; and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noting that "if the reports prove correct, the military build-up in China is not perceived as a threat to our country."Of course not. The Russia-China strategic partnership, which, as I argued, needs to be broken according to Trump's shadow foreign policy adviser Henry Kissinger's strategy, is a very serious business. If there were indeed a deployment, Russian intelligence would have been fully aware. Peskov's response also pre-empted the notion this might represent a Chinese response to potential US-Russia negotiations over nuclear disarmament.
Still, all of the above did not prevent the Chinese Foreign Ministry to issue an attempt at a non-denial denial, describing the alleged deployment as "speculation and crude guesses".
Go West, young missile
The timing of the alleged deployment, with Team Trump doubling down on anti-Chinese rhetoric on their war of positioning geared to extract further trade concessions, may indeed betray a very graphic Beijing message.
© Photo: Wikimedia/Jian Kang
Why Developing Nuclear Potential is an 'Absolute Necessity' for China
The DF-41, a three-stage solid-propellant missile, with a range of up to 15,000 km and capable of delivering up to 10 MIRVed nuclear warheads, is one of the most sophisticated – and secret — ICBMS on earth. Virtually everything about it is classified. Positioning in Heilongjiang, near the city of Daqing, close to the Russian border, implies a huge "dead zone" around it. So call it a mix of nuclear deterrence and a "message" to the ultimate target — the West Coast of the United States.This propels the matter to an even more serious sphere than a possible upcoming crisis in the South China Sea, where the Pentagon, under the pretext of "freedom of navigation", is obsessed in maintaining "access", Trump or no Trump.
If there ever were an attempted American blockade in the South China Sea, it would be easy to take out the Chinese-developed islands/islets/rocks/shoals. But far from easy to grapple with the Chinese response; submarines with "carrier killer" missiles able to take out anything the US Navy may come up with.
© Sputnik/ Anton Denisov
Chinese Editorial Speculates About 'Real War' With US After Trump Inauguration
Islands/islets/rocks/shoals in the South China Sea have no inherent strategic significance for the US. What their upgrading – the Beltway would say "militarization" — does represent is China's progressive attempt to eventually deny access to the US Navy.Enter the "messenger" DF-41. The technical reasons why Russia does not see the DF-41 as a threat are simple – and may unveil the rationale behind the alleged deployment.
Beijing has been able to deploy its predecessor, the DF-31 – which is able to target Russia — for more than a decade now. And a simple analysis of distance and trajectory reveals that Heilongjiang province is the optimum location for the DF-41 to target the whole of the continental US.
It's virtually guaranteed that an official Chinese confirmation of the DF-41 deployment will accelerate a nuclear arms race, involving all players from Russia, China and the US to India and Pakistan and even North Korea.
© REUTERS/ China Daily
This is China's 'Riskiest and Most Complex' Active Defense Program
But more than this, it will be yet another lethal blow to the Beltway's master strategy – first deployed by Dr. Zbig "Grand Chessboard" Brzezinski – of trying to prevent the emergence of any peer competitor, or worse, an alliance of peer competitors such as Russia-China.Just at the start of the Trump era, the new reality could not be more striking. Not long ago, it was "say hello to Russia-China". Now it's "say hello to China's ICBMs."
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik. |
