Were all socialists spoilt as children?

Huh? Whats the problem?

Is this just the case that you don't want to discuss the topic, and don't want anyone else to do so either?

Edit. I scanned the previous pages... Am I correct in thinking this is your first and only post to the thread... Your only contribution is to shut down other peoples discussions...

Mad_maxx wrote: »

Do you think China can sustain it's present growth trojectory?

Yes, and no.

Yes, because there is still a lot of room for growth within Asia. China still hasn't tapped into the majority of its natural resources, having imported most of their needs from other countries. So they're sitting on a crap-ton of resources which can used to fuel their economy, along with a massive population. People are a resource and the Chinese are quite good at exploiting that resource. The problem with their economy is that it's growth has always been artificial with the government fueling the boom, but nobody truly knows what their cash reserves are like. I've seen estimates but nobody knows for certain. The real problem is that their economy has never faced any crashes and so their resilience is in question.

And no, because of their political situation. Xi is supreme leader, but he's answerable to the military. They've been modernising and that tends to encourage the military to want to test their strategies and technologies. A war for China (even on a small scale) would be disastrous for them, both for internal happiness, but also their reputation across Asia especially with their trading partners. You've got to step away from the Western media to understand, but China has built up a rather good reputation over the last few decades in the region with many Asian countries. It's reported differently in western media because most westerners can't understand the way culture and reputation works here expecting it to be the same in the West. But it's not.

Xi promised the military the return of Taiwan when he took power. That's a major obstacle to China's growth.

Will trump succeed in his trade war?

Probably. I suspect he'll succeed in ways that are unseen and less obvious... Which will be taken as a failure by his enemies in the States.

Personally I think America is much stronger than China than is often portrayed, i think China is limited by its necessary internal repression but also by its tiny cultural footprint relative to the USA

The US has their own style of Internal repression, and it's been growing in influence since Vietnam. It's just that our perception of the US is different and that tends to blindsight people to just how much the power dynamics have changed.

America is stronger than China in terms of military power, but it hasn't the capacity to project it's power that it once had. In a conventional war, they'll be too slow to respond to Chinese aggression in terms of men on the ground. Saying that, the US has China surrounded with military camps, missile bases, and airports. It's one of the reasons that China needs Taiwan so badly. TBH, it's a lot like the Cuban missile crisis, except that China is the one surrounded by American missiles. If America had experienced the same, we'd be seeing war already... but that's different, isn't it? :rolleyes:

The problem for the US is that China has been preparing for war with them for forty years. They've developed missiles to take out the US surface fleets, and more missiles to take out the US Satellites. So, any war would be extremely costly for both sides... and it's worth remembering that both countries are nuclear with strike capabilities. It doesn't matter that America has more missiles, China could still wipe out the US with their own present stockpile.

I seriously hope that nothing comes of it. It would end the world as we know it because both countries wouldn't hesitate much in launching nukes should they feel justified.