Something to think about

[pvfan]

If China and Japan joined up forces with the Arab world and attacked us does anybody here actually think a US/UK force could win? I dont, were spread thin, China owns us now so they could pretty much control us not getting any more money. What would we do? We dont have a draft, it would take months to train enough men to fight and by that time we could be in a pretty bad situation, most of the world hates us and you wont see anybody rushing to our aid like we do for them.

[burton2019]

We could not defeat China nor Russia alone. We could not fight 2 powerful countries in a 2 front war. We are spread way too thin. I dont believe Japan would ally with China. They have too much antimosity toward one another over the handling of Tawian.

[greencrest1272]

We would not be able to fight China alone. For every 1 American there are 4 Chinese. The sheer size and power of their country is astonishing. Not to mention that had about a $3 trillion surplus last year and we had about that much deficet. So any time that they feel like teaching 300+ million people speak Chinese, they can.

[jtw61194]

I doubt very seriously that a scenario, such as the one provided above, will ever occur. Governments would be overthrown, leaders assasinated, embargos, etc. would be more appropriate. If those didn't work, there would be cause for nuclear strikes and I don't care how many people the Chinese have. I think people need to understand that we are capable of far greater destruction than what we have shown in the past. Countries like Iran could be wiped off the face of the map tomorrow. Terrorists scare me more than the World Power Struggle scenario, because terrorists make you paranoid. They may only kill a few, but they affect millions and it goes on day after day.

[burton2019]

[ QUOTE ]
Countries like Iran could be wiped off the face of the map tomorrow.

[/ QUOTE ]


So could we. The entire Middle East is a melting pot that can, and will, escalate into a "world" war.

[Gotch]

No world war will ever be fought as the previous 2 were. The next major world wide conflict will be waged with technology. We are capable of far more destruction than the potential enemies mentioned in the above scenarios. The U.S., the U.K. joined by Israel have the nuclear firepower to make this a nearly uninhabitable planet.

[jtw61194]

I agree wholeheartedly with what you say. And I do believe that the war on terrorism is indeed a "world war" by the fact that terrorists cannot be confined to one geographic location. I just think that the U.S. has shown great restraint in not doing what most of us think is the obvious solution to the problem. We have the means to do whatever needs to be done, but I also think that our national conscience and bipartisan mentality would not allow us to annhialate an entire country. I guess that's not such a bad thing.

[burton2019]

[ QUOTE ]
The U.S., the U.K. joined by Israel have the nuclear firepower to make this a nearly uninhabitable planet.


[/ QUOTE ]


So do 8 other countries.

[greencrest1272]

China, Russia, Japan, India, just to name a few....soon to be Iran and North Korea.

We are not the sole elite anymore, as scary as that is.

[Gotch]

Guys, do a little research. These countries may have nuclear capability but most of those you are naming can actually do relatively little damage on the scale of what the U. S. can. For instance even China has only 20 intercontinental missiles. France actually has more capacity to strike us with payload and accuracy. India, Pakistan, etc. are basically in the nuclear hand-grenade stage.

I'm not saying that makes us safe or that the world isn't a very dangerous place. The fact is however that we have the ability to deliver a far greater payload with far greater accuracy than any of our enemies, or allies for that matter. In fact Israel is the wildcard. We, the U.N., and the rest of the world knows less about Israel's full nuclear capacity than any other countries by far.