Panama Canal Expansion

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

The love shack is a little site where... we can get together.

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

keep in mind your talking about a 'trip wire' involving a duel ocean canal that competes with the Panama Canal and all the cargo, oil, fees and strategic flexibility that goes with it.  if someone wants to use that as a trip wire they better have the muscle to back up their ambitions and hold it.  the Chinese dont, its our hemisphere.
they can suck it.

Except the Chinese have been watching, seeing that it is better to fight guerrilla style overseas than risk a fight on their homeland. The jungles of Nicaragua would be hellish terrain for foot soldiers just like Vietnam. Except they have billions. They are less squeamish about troop loses than we have become.

[GDS_Starfury]

and whos troops are they using?

[endfire79]

There were some posts here about corruption in the US.  I can assure you there is as much or more corruption in a state like China.  You guys are fairly open compared to them, it's just the way it is and how business is done there.  There's some cities where the government knows there's an entire different economy or lending system, and they can't do anything about it (i.e. Wenzhou).

China today has a large aging population, just like many other states.  They will have to deal with the added cost of this, yet they want to continue huge military spending budgets.  I've got my doubts about that.  Manufacturing costs are more expensive now compared to the heyday +10-15 years ago. 

A lot of manufacturing has gone to where it's cheaper (Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, Bangladesh etc).  My mother-in-law used to have a factory for t-shirts etc back in the 90's - 2000's.  Later on the government started forcing employers to pay for health insurance etc, and the cost of business just went up.

A lot of manufacturing closed up shop on the coast and went to South East Asia. Another alternative the government is pushing it to try  and convince workers in the central or western part of the country to and work there rather than on the big coastal cities, albeit at a price (reduced wages in order to be closer to home, which doesn't always float well with people).

It costs a lot to have a family in China - you need cash not credit.  From an early age, you may already have your future social group defined for you, and it's hard to get out of that if you don't have the right background. 

All in all, it's not as bright a picture as some of the news would have you believe.  Food is still pretty good though, I can vouch for that :)

[Gusington]

Don't forget the US Monroe Doctrine...it's been a core foregin policy principle for almost 200 years. We're not going to give it up now.

[airboy]

It is far easier to destroy than to create (or protect).  Especially for pipelines and canals.

[GDS_Starfury]

Food is still pretty good though, I can vouch for that :)

;)

[Windigo]

keep in mind your talking about a 'trip wire' involving a duel ocean canal that competes with the Panama Canal and all the cargo, oil, fees and strategic flexibility that goes with it.  if someone wants to use that as a trip wire they better have the muscle to back up their ambitions and hold it.  the Chinese dont, its our hemisphere.
they can suck it.

yet here they come....

[GDS_Starfury]

I have no problem with them building it.  let them spend the money.  Im just saying that if push comes to shove it will either be nationalized, blockaded or taken and there wont be a damn thing they could do about it.

[Windigo]

I have no problem with them building it.  let them spend the money.  Im just saying that if push comes to shove it will either be nationalized, blockaded or taken and there wont be a damn thing they could do about it.

it wont come to pushing or shoving, because the Chinese are playing the long game

[GDS_Starfury]

what long game?  you keep stating that like its some kind of mantra.  I said before, their long game has kept them a regional power for 1000's of years.  you dont even know what the long game is.

were they playing the long game during the opium wars or the Boxers?
were they playing the long game during Japanese occupation?

wait wait...

their long game is infiltrating the US through shoddy take out in strip malls.

[Windigo]

what long game?  you keep stating that like its some kind of mantra.  I said before, their long game has kept them a regional power for 1000's of years.  you dont even know what the long game is.

were they playing the long game during the opium wars or the Boxers?
were they playing the long game during Japanese occupation?

wait wait...

their long game is infiltrating the US through shoddy take out in strip malls.

for thousands of years they had technology, but no political expansionist ideology and no ambition.... hello??? now they are communist doctrine driven and they have the technology

[GDS_Starfury]

they had the ambition Windy but they were hemmed in by countries and tribes that wouldnt let them expand.  the Mongols... hello...  and no, they dont have the technology.  theyre ok at copying some things but not all things.  as Ive said, theyve had real problems making their Su-27 knock off and thats a 20+ year old design.
the main flaw in your logic here is that you take it for granted that everyone else will stay stagnant while the Chinese advance.
the secondary flaw in your logic is thinking that no one else has your beloved 'long game'.  as Gus pointed out, the Monroe Doctrine is part of the US 'long game' as is our Navy.  Mahan... hello.....  ever heard of him?
the third flaw in your logic is that youre ignoring both Russia to the north and India to the west.  one of the reasons the Chinese are trying to be dicks about the Spratlys is they cant go in any other direction.

[LongBlade]

I have no problem with them building it.  let them spend the money.  Im just saying that if push comes to shove it will either be nationalized, blockaded or taken and there wont be a damn thing they could do about it.

Just like oil rigs: they should have known better from the start.

[GDS_Starfury]

according to Windy the vaunted Chinese Navy will come to save the day.   ::)