• @sugar_in_your_tea
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    29 days ago

    Sure, but Taiwan is also a lot more prepared than Ukraine, is an island, and has the promised backing of the US, who has ships in the area. Oh, and F-35s.

    • @[email protected]
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      1029 days ago

      The US is the trump card here. I highly doubt China will start anything if MAD is involved.

      • circuscritic
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        127 days ago

        Oh come off it. I know you really don’t believe that a standard US administration would launch a nuclear first strike in defense of Taiwan.

        China is not the USSR, and the possibility of war between the powers has not historically been thought of in the same context as the Cold War USA vs USSR WWIII Nuclear Bonanza.

        • @[email protected]
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          27 days ago

          Not right off the bat, but I could believe they’d respond conventionally, and then it’s a bit of a slippery slope, isn’t it?

          I mean, it’s possible the two could wage some sort of polite “flower war” over Taiwan, but I don’t know for sure and don’t want to find out. I’d assume neither does China, regardless of revanchist butthurt.

          You’re right that it’s not the Cuban Missile Crisis anymore, but that’s exactly because now everyone is afraid of nukes in a way they hadn’t really grokked in that era. Very much including China, as far as anyone can tell.

          • circuscritic
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            127 days ago

            It’s not a slippery slope, it’s called an escalation ladder.

            Again, you need to stop thinking of this in the historical context of the Cold War and USSR vs USA. Well there are similarities, it is a very different situation for any number of reasons.

            • @[email protected]
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              27 days ago

              It’s not a slippery slope, it’s called an escalation ladder.

              And it’s spelled “while” not “well”. There, we’re even.

              I’m well aware of the vocabulary. Trying to make me look dumb over choice of phrasing is kinda a dick move.

              Again, you need to stop thinking of this in the historical context of the Cold War and USSR vs USA. Well there are similarities, it is a very different situation for any number of reasons.

              It is a very different situation in some ways, but I think the same military logic applies. When the US says “competition not conflict” what they mean is “let’s have a Cold War, but a polite, orderly one”. China is building missile silos like crazy, and the West is gradually severing off themselves from the Chinese economy.

              • circuscritic
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                127 days ago

                I used text to speech and didn’t proofread because that’s all this little dialogue warranted. You got me.

    • circuscritic
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      27 days ago

      More prepared, yes, but a lot smaller. A saturation attack is going to do significantly more damage because of the higher density of critical targets and infrastructure. But unlike a CBG, they can’t withdraw out of range while they wait for resupply.