Let’s Go (Way) Beyond Douthat’s “Decadent Society” to Address America’s Rot…

 

Let’s Go (Way) Beyond Douthat’s “Decadent Society” to Address America’s Rot…

 

Stimulated/inspired by Ross Douthat’s The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success

WARNING: GRAPHIC, POSSIBLY DISTURBING, PHOTOS IN ARTICLE. DO NOT READ OR VIEW IF POSSIBLY TRIGGERED OR FOR ANY OTHER SIMILAR REASON FOR CONCERN. THE AUTHOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY REACTION TO WAR OR RELATED PHOTOS, ETC.

WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE, SUBJECT MATTER, ETC., SOME MAY FIND OFFENSIVE. READ WITH SUCH KNOWLEDGE PROVIDED BEFOREHAND IN THIS SECTION.

Book. Subject. Topic. Very good, I agree with many points ... only ... I would take it one or five steps further. Douthat doesn't go far enough in taking Americans to task and that's a shame because while Americans don't like to hear it and while Americans are too sissified to handle any bad news as they bury their heads in the sand, the facts are we are soft and weak, people are lazy and entitled, dumber each generation (and various conspiracy theorists have plenty of reasons dating back from generations to centuries of intent on the part of US leaders shadow leaders). Americans have lost all critical thinking and reasoning skills -- skills most desired by major employers now but a reason they're having to recruit from international universities instead of taking the "teach for the test” Americans, very few of whom are prepared for shit upon graduation. Everyone gets a blue ribbon for participating, kids are bullied, which while I admit has taken on a more serious and despicable tone, EVERY damn generation of kids in history has been bullied, my wife and I among them. Did we freak out, commit suicide? Shit! It's called Grow A Pair or Grow a Spine and deal because it's great training for what you'll find in life and in the workforce later in life, where the younger generations can't take criticisms of virtually any type. I was brought in to fire those types. We expect comfort and leisure, but I'm not sure why because unless you're one of the 10 or 20% at the top, those are basically gone for good. And here's the thing that really gets me. Americans think we're so badass. For decades the "ugly American" has tortured the world with demands, with bragging about how if it weren't for the good ole US of A saving your lousy pansy asses in TWO world wars in the last hundred years, you'd all be speaking German. There are so many reasons for people to resent Americans just for that because not only is it arrogant and snobby, but it's literally dead wrong. WW 1 was largely over -- a huge trench warfare stalemate which had essentially been for over a year while the Europeans in charge tried to broker a peace. Then, depending on which historian or conspiracy theorist or whoever you listen to, President Wilson decided he wanted in on the act -- and there are lots of reasons and plenty of resources, so he sends a million men over there about the time the rest were going to give up and go home, resulting in extending the war over a year and casualties by an ungodly amount. And after that, American historians and politicians like to try to hide the fact that he sent American troops to the Soviet Union to HELP them, such as guard the Chinese border, camp out in Siberia and built the Trans-Siberian railway for them, and US bankers sent craploads of money over there and all of this was hushed up, but the point is, the US not only didn't "win" WW 1 and save Europe, but we made it much worse.

But what about WW 2? We won that, right? Well, we like to tell the world that. And it's total bullshit. Some basic facts -- and not John Wayne movies -- can point out some basic truths. When did the war start? Yes, late summer 1939 when Germany AND the Soviets invaded Poland. And when did America enter the war? Yes, years later after most of Europe west of Berlin and much of northern Africa had been decimated and the Brits were the only ones keeping the entire region hanging together and they were about to go under, but by then, it had been years. So we "entered the war" with great fanfare, only it was with the Japanese due to Pearl Harbor, but somehow everyone declared new war on each other in Europe. But did we go to Europe? No! We went to Africa to help out the Brits, which we did. And then eventually from there, we made our way up into the toe of Italy where we faced Mussolini's non-existent armies, non-existent tanks, non-existent air force, non-existent weapons and the Italians all of a sudden decided they'd have enough of the fascist and they wanted out, which annoyed the hell out of Hitler cause then he had to divert a couple of divisions down to Italy to hold off the Yanks and the Brits. Which they did. Pretty effectively. So D-Day, right? We kicked ass on D-Day and saved Europe, right? Well, maybe, but when was D-Day? June 6, 1944. But did you know that Allied planners had originally been planning for such an invasion for one year earlier? Secretly? And do you know what cynical critics say is the reason why that didn't happen and in fact it took an entire extra year before “the weather was good enough” for us to get there? (Please don't misunderstand. I lost family members on the beaches there and throughout Normandie. I'm not anti-American. I'm anti-STUPID American!) Well, Hitler bit off more than he could chew when he foolishly invaded the Soviet Union and he had to divert not only nearly all of his armies to the eastern front, but recruit others from Finland and other neighboring countries to join AND also insist that Romania send its army (along with the inept Italians) into southern Russia, etc. And they were slaughtering each other, which accomplished two things for the western allies. One, we knew a beach landing and invasion under heavy fire would result in horrible causalities but the longer the Germans were occupied with Russia, the fewer there would be to deal with because they were getting killed by the bushels, so facing old men and children seemed much more appealing to us. Second and more important, we never WANTED to be allied with Stalin -- he was Hitler's ally at the start of the war and invaded Poland along with Germany. They were allies until Hitler double-crossed Stalin. Many American and British government and military leaders already viewed the Soviet Union as our next big -- and likely much worse than Hitler -- enemy, so while we were rooting for the Reds to kills off the Germans, we were thrilled that the Germans were doing the same to the Soviets. It was fucking ugly. Oh yeah, as far as D-Day (“Operation Overlord”) goes, the casualties WERE horrible, but the US was far from the only ones taking them with the invasion. If you don’t know this you need to. There were five beaches designated to be invaded, all given “code” names which were Utah, Juno, Gold, Omaha and Sword. Of these five beaches, the US was given Utah where the 23,000 man 4^th Infantry Division took roughly 200 casualties. Omaha was supposed to be the worst and it was also given to the Americans. The US 1^st and 29^th Infantry Divisions faced off against one of the few remaining badass German Divisions and casualties were predictably high – about 2,000. However, the British were assigned Gold Beach and with a Canadian division faced virtually no opposition compared to Gold and moved pretty far inland. An aside. How many of you knew that not only were the Canadians involved, but a damn whole lot of them at that? Having lived several years in Canada, even while a young lad, I learned about that. Because while the US was responsible for two of the five beaches (intentionally and erroneously often telling our students we were virtually the sole invaders and took virtually all of the horrific casualties, which is simply not true and yet so typical of American propaganda), the Canadians – with far fewer forces at their disposal – not only participated on assaulting Gold Beach with the British, but they were responsible also for Juno Beach! And I don’t know the figures off the top of my head and don’t have the time to look them up, but Juno was fucking BRUTAL and the Canadians took it in the ass really, really hard and were lucky just to get on to and hold the beach by the end of the night. Sword Beach, the fifth one, was the responsibility of the British and not only was it brutal, but some might argue it was the one that was least successful, in the sense that the invaders did not meet their objectives and barely held off a ferocious German counterattack. All that said, the invasions never suffered the terrible casualties so many planners were worried about, with estimates basically looking like of the 155,000+ Allied forces on Day One, “only” 4,000 were KIAs (as well as additional wounded and missing). While it’s tragic to lose anyone in war, war is hell as they say and sustaining “only” 0.026% casualties compared to both planned estimates and what could have been was very nearly a miracle. Finally, as an FYI, there weren’t only US, British and Canadian troops involved. The Free French and the Poles insisted and were given serious responsibilities in the invasion as well, as such was deserved. So again, not to sound like an anti-American blasphemer, but the propaganda that bragging Americans love to spout about how bad ass we are and were and how we took horrible casualties on D-Day while saving Europe, the Jews and the world is kind of bullshit as we were responsible for only 40% (2 of 5) of the beaches, half of which were nearly devoid of opposition and casualties. In essence, we played at best a role slightly larger than the Brits or the Canadians, but actually less than the two combined. Still wanna brag?

Another major WW 2 point and I'll move on. Ever look at the WW 2 casualty figures? America had about 450,000 casualties -- which is horrible. But still among the fewest of any of the majors in the war. Without having the time to look up the actual figures, the Brits lost a few more, I think the Italians lost over a million, the French lost about a million, shitloads of Poles died obviously, Romania lost a damn million (and you never hear about that!), Germany lost 7 million, tons of other countries lost more than their fair share -- it was horrible -- but do you know how many soldiers and civilians the Soviet Union lost in WW 2? Nearly every conservative estimate places the number at a minimum of 27 MILLION people! I don't know the facts off the top of my head, but I'd wager that's more than all of the Allied countries combined. And it was brutal too. Those on the Soviet western front got to experience what most of Poland did and they're still discovering hidden mass graves where people (especially Jews, but others too) were lined up and murdered relentlessly. When Americans brag about "winning" WW2 and saving Europe and the world, please remember we did NOTHING of the sort while we continue to brag endlessly and insult countless people who had to live through hell no continental American ever had to worry about. The damn Soviets won and with very serious blood paid at that.

Now I've gone on too long and it's late, so a quick example or two. One, there are experts at the graduate National Defense University and elsewhere who have written books (Donald Stoker is one) on the subject that most people don't want to bring up, if they even know about it. With all of our money, our tech, our training, etc., how come the US does such a shitty job at warfare??? Over half of our national budget and we get our asses kicked by seeming-prehistoric people who wipe their asses with their hands? And now we want to take on both Russia and China when we haven't won any conflict or war we've been predominantly engaged in since before 1950 if not going back further? If that ticks you off, don't blame me. Blame the American government and military. Read the history, literature, the experts who will to go there. We haven't won a fucking war since we Helped in the cause for WW 2! And yet we beat our chests and issue threats to the rest of the world that they better play by our rules or else. Any wonder why China doesn't seem too scared? Why other countries are so terrified of our threats that they engage in proactive cyberwarfare against us daily and increasingly where it can’t be seen so easily, space conflicts that will lead to warfare on that front as well? Or that there are a number of burgeoning regional hegemonies now? We're known as the most violent society of earth. There are more guns than people in this country. Our homicide rate is higher than the next 10+ 1st world countries combined. And we have no intention of fixing that. Our kids watch the bloodiest movies and shows, play the most insane FPS games,

Game: Half-Life (Valve)

and yet... Those of you old enough to remember Somalia... Mogadishu. Do you remember? Black Hawk Down? 

Black Hawk Down (2001) – Columbia Pictures

Battle of Mogadishu – The Mirror

Gruesome movie, but war is hell. And what happened? American saw a sad picture, but one others see every day in many other parts of the world -- corpses. American corpses. We saw Black Somalian crowds dragging mostly naked (at least one WAS naked, white genitals exposed to the world) dead WHITE US soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu while they laughed and partied and our collective stomachs got sick and we started screaming WTF are we doing there? 

Credit: IconicPhotos

[For what it’s worth, I intentionally left out the photos of the completely naked and mutilated body of a dead US soldier being dragged through throngs on the streets of Mogadishu. For what it’s worth…]

So what happened? Took no time for us to cut and run! Cause we're chickenshit. And to my horror apparently we've also been as racist as ever and just hidden it too. The past 5-15 years have more than proven that. We go back to the safety of our pretend fun FPS killing games while elsewhere little girls going to the stream to wash clothes in their villages face the prospect of having the limbs blown off by US mines (and Soviet) all over the world daily. And what have we heard since? NO Boots on the Ground! Air Force only. And now drones. All of which have proven to be ineffective (read the stats on Vietnam if you doubt me -- take a look on the number, type, frequency of munitions dropped on N Vietnam alone, the horrific shit it did and just how horribly it caused them to want to cut and run -- which would be NOT AT ALL! Because they were strong and dedicated and we were there against our will [our soldiers, not the damn politicians], didn't know why we were fighting and dying, what was being accomplished, what the lies about the daily body counts were about, why we were even involved in what seemed more and more like a civil war the US had taken sides on and was driving at the expense of everyone and for what exactly?) because you NEED BOOTS ON THE GROUND but badass killer Americans are so gutless and weak that during W's Iraq, the government started keeping the media from getting near planes returning with filled coffins covered by flags and they were no longer allowed to show them on TV ... because America didn't have the guts to handle it. We can offer our hypocritical hollow "thought and prayers” (which makes me want to puke) at American mass murders, drive bys, gang wars, white domestic lone wolf terrorists preying on minority, "liberal" and other perceived (it's called brainwashing) "enemies," with the last group of which many Americans now know the FBI and other agencies have labeled as the biggest security threat to this country. Not Muslims, not brown immigrants, not Spanish speakers, etc. Wannabe Aryans "Killing In The Name Of" White Jesus, white christian nationalists, violent white separatists, Fascists or fascist wannabes, fans of autocrats, "antigovernment" "Outsiders" who become Insiders but insist they're still Outside, brainwashed, braindead, psychotic ignored, neglected and Pissed Off nihilistic kids in need of serious help (Columbine was a good starting point for that discussion) AND their goddamn FANS, most disgusting of which has been Anne Coulter, who exposes so much blood lust for "The Other" (nearly everyone not white, insane conservative and full of shit) that it says something disturbing that these people are even allowed mass media audiences in which to egg others on to murder and sedition. We find these people in our christian churches. Yes, it IS that simple. And if you seriously believe Jesus was about peace and love and that's maybe been corrupted by some current religious leaders, you haven't read your holy book -- just the devotions your churches urge you to read cause the Bible is just so, well, big and heavy and boring and shit. Jesus said he came to "divide" families, turn families against each other, split the family unit up, and yeah, he also instructed his new group of clueless zombie disciples to go buy swords -- sell their cloaks if they needed money to do so -- and this is peace and love? And yes, I've seen and read christian apologists try to explain these, usually in "fulfilling" prophecy, but there is so much scholarship and evidence available now that shows virtually none of this so-called "prophecy" a) applied - got taken out of context, which ironically is what these apologists says this sword passage has done -- b) was completely made up (especially by Matthew) or never existed, c) was twisted so very badly and obviously to fit the gospel authors' agendas, d) were (purposely) misinterpreted again to fit agendas, etc., and that doesn't count the massive discrepancies in the gospels alone, such as which of the two birth, hide/flight, return to the public stories do you believe in because it buggers the mind to say you believe in both. And yeah, most of you forget there are two different ones from two different times that do not coincide with each other, but theologians work bigger miracles than the disciples to get things to fit, so WTH? (The fact that there is no independent or even literal evidence that "Nazareth" physically existed at the time the messiah allegedly lives is another laugher...)

So anyway, how do you like them apples? (Back to the present) We sure do feel fine about assassinating towel heads from the air, right? Back to the more main point of the book. America IS decadent. Just look at the pandemic starting around April 2020 in the US. Americans used every excuse in the book to call bullshit on scientific reality and why? Aside from what we would learn were a shocking number of crazies around, it was INCONVENIENT! It kept people from the bars and clubs and churches and beaches and schools and on and on so people broke rules, led by ditto brain, and insisted on their "religious freedom," which was bullshit because I would support that IF it involved just them. If you want to Jim Jones it, to play Russian Roulette with two chambers loaded, be my damn guest, we need to thin the herd anyway. But what people didn't GET and then didn't give a shit about, led by our christian community, was that not only was it potentially suicidal, but HOMICIDAL as well, and what about MY freedom to not be near an invisible killer coming straight from church, which was the first place they all started getting sick and dying even while they still denied it (oh yeah, the country that led the world in inventions, new tech, etc., was now a country of science haters and deniers and its citizens continued to pray to their fairies in the sky while completely disregarding their god's orders, rules, commands, etc.,) and on and on, but the fact that EVERYTHING was more important than not only your life, but your damn neighbor's life -- who gave a shit about them anyway? -- that Republican leaders wanted to have the elderly volunteer to fucking DIE for the sake of the others, the children, the economy, etc. (the Texas governor, an Indiana rep, etc. And they weren't leading by example, remember!). How far off from Mengele was THAT? Those of us with brains and hearts thought there were some sick fucks in this country who might say that, but surely there were only a few. Then came ditto brain's maggots, KKKers, skinheads, white christian nationalists, racists, violent separatists, and now they were mainstream and there were tens of millions of them and where the hell had they been hidden, but it was obvious now that America was a country full of rot at its very core, hidden under Hollywood faux glitz, and it turned out tens of millions of Americans WANT fascism instead of democracy -- are fascists, without even understanding the history of that term, nor the actual definition -- and we want to enjoy our martinis and our new Trek bikes and getting rid of the Section 8 housing down the road to build new condos and upscale developments so yeah, this general concept kinda, sorta resonates with me in my own way I guess. Americans are a sad people, pathetic, an embarrassment to our ancestors and while it's horrible that "innocents" have to die because of psychos, these are the people who have been saying for centuries that all babies born are born guilty and worthy of death and eternal torture because of some alleged myth a couple of people allegedly did thousands of years ago, and while I can hold grudges for life, I tend not to be such a goddamn bastard as to sentence an entire species I claim to have created and love like my own children -- like the one I'm going to send to commit suicide to save these children who are guilty by association and everything about that just reeks of the most ludicrous lines of non-reason, ration or brain function -- you sentence billions and billions of people to eternal damnation cause a couple of people none of the others ever met screwed up one time??? That is insane psychotic! What sicko does that? Oh well, a Hitler. Stalin. Ditto brain. Pol Pot. But even put together, none of them could ever match what this imaginary freak people worship is given credit for having done. And he's worshipped! And we wonder why other civilized nations look at us in wonder while laughing their asses off at our stupidity. Or they were laughing until the American Taliban started killing for Jesus. Not so funny now. Book? Recommend? Oh, I recommend a lot of things, beginning with educating ourselves about our country's history (Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines, etc., et al), about reality, about politics, about brainwashing, about many things, and yeah, how the US is rotten with lazy, entitled, spoiled, WEAK people who can't and won't face fact-base reality just because they don't like it and their own fantasies are now their own realties.

Welcome to a dystopia the best sci fi writers in history could never have come up with in their worst nightmares.

 

February 2, 2022

Scott Holstad

For Those Not Keeping Track...

 This is the China that states and entities have been fearing for several decades.

This nightmare story has been making the rounds amongst global leaders, analysts and China watchers for the past couple of days. Lest anyone think this an aberration, it isn't nor is it intended to be by the CCP.

China takes Uganda's only international airport

 

 

Let me rephrase that first sentence. This is ONE of the Chinas. I suspect we'll see more variants in the near future. I suspect many will, particularly in that region. Is 2025-7 still a realistic deadline? It's nearly December 2021. Some generals have been mentioning 2022 throughout the year, some others 2021. Softly. It's nearly 2022. What the future holds... 

超限戰 

Much more has been and can be said about regional and global geopolitical tensions, particularly pertaining to the East Asia region, but I'll just put some links to some things I've posted or written lately.

 

China's hypersonics

Indonesia stands up to China in the SCS

Japan's growing defense budget and Article 9

China is about to seriously invest in growing its minute "collection" of international military bases

US intelligence leaders issue warning to US companies that China is targeting 5 specific US technology industries -- legally and illegally

The US National Counterintelligence & Security Center put out a press release concerning China's US embassy lobbying/pressuring US execs and Congressional leaders to influence pro-China legislations or drop anti-competitiveness (re China) legislation in Congress

India defense chief states that "China is the biggest security threat."

Duterte finally pulling the plug on China "waffling" as Chinese aggression continues to grow.

China builds missile targets shaped like US aircraft carriers

 

Those PLA-built coastal Chinese hypersonics seem even less amusing now...

 

 

Virtually all of these pieces were taken from my LinkedIn page, where I post commentary as often as possible. Meaning those without a LinkedIn account won't be able to access them, for which I apologize. If that's the case and you want to read at least the source pieces, leave messages here, let me know, do something -- or even look them up yourselves! -- and if you can't find the original source, I'll find it for you and post it. These are important and critical times in the world for so many reasons. China's big and the potential problems it presents sometimes seem insurmountable, but with Russia's designs on its neighbors in Eurasia and a US-led NATO stuffing missiles on all of the borders of the newly NATO'd former Soviet satellites, I understand why Putin's feeling threatened and ticked as hell, but the last thing we need is a two front narrative. Of course that doesn't take into account issues in the Middle East, attempts at illegal proliferation with certain states vowing to literally stop at nothing to ensure that doesn't take place, as well as renewed violence at certain places along the China/India border, which happens to be the longest geographic national border in the world -- and it's nuclear -- and when mixed with an illegal nuclear India, the second most populous country in the world behind China -- and catching up -- AND a burgeoning regional hegemonic rival to China ALSO up against their worst energy, an equally illegal nuclear Pakistan that is armed to the teeth, pumping out nukes like crazy, paranoid as shit, lives for basically one thing which is to obsess about India and its nuclear destruction should Pakistan be lucky enough to pull that off, which means that THREE nuclear countries, all hostile, are all sitting there in a row having a pissing contest. The India/Pakistan region is considered by most global military and civilian leaders to be the most volatile and deadly in the world.

BUT it doesn't stop there! Ever since the US dumped Pakistan and fled Afghanistan with its tail between its legs, predictably, nuclear China and nuclear Pakistan have been growing quite chummy, and -- shocker -- both unstable nuclear states have a Real problem with nuclear India between them. Nice. Something else I've found interesting is that analysts and experts have been writing and publishing on these dynamics all year, but I have YET to see what I'm about to mention -- because I am the "groundbreaker," you know ;) -- but with all of the people around the region/world freaking out about an unstable, tension-filled THREE nuclear state S/SE/E Asia region, why has no one -- and I read hundreds of items daily, probably thousands, from all over the world -- why has no one mentioned the FOURTH just north of all of them -- Russia? Forgotten in the mix of crazies? They're actually not as crazy as some others, but they're damned dangerous and despite the extreme unlikelihood of any worries in the region of a crazed Russia nuking everyone, we all know it only takes one nutjob to set off a chain reaction that couldn't be stopped, so even if Russia is the more "mature" (and I'm not entirely willing to go there) nuclear player in a four-nuke area, it doesn't mean we should forget that the most volatile place on earth doesn't just involve two nuclear enemies, and now possibly a third, but FOUR nuclear states and with the world going crazy, WTH knows what could come of that dynamic? 

And with that, I'll stop for now because A) I have other things to attend to and B) if I really wanted to drive this or these points home, I could keep going for days and weeks and never come to a logical stopping point so I'm forced to create one of my own -- which I've done. If anyone would like some more substantial resource suggestions (in the way of books, journals, etc.), leave a comment (or look at my Goodreads author page library, as I have libraries on Asia, geopolitics, military, etc.) and I'll be happy to make some recommendations.

Screenshot of the top of my Goodreads Author Page

 

 

 

Is Taiwan China's Cuba?

I recently came across an article in the Wall Street Journal titled "U.S. Troops Have Been Deployed in Taiwan  for at Least a Year." This was an article someone I know posted on a different site and I made a comment in response. But I've thought more and more about it since, especially considering all of the geopolitical, military, maritime, etc., goings on in the South China Sea, as well as the East China Sea among others, combined with increased aggression by the PLAA and PLAN, particularly toward Japan and most obviously Taiwan. Many experts feel that conflict of an unknown type is very likely to occur this year over Taiwan and all of the events of the past months have been leading toward that, supporting that theory. 

However, I wanted to throw a few words out there on this, particularly one thought that may be quite relevant with the news the WSJ uncovered and published last week. 

So, the anti-PLA “porcupine” strategy rears its head once again. In no way do I wish to diminish the importance of the revelation of the possibility/probability U.S. troops have been on Taiwan for at least a year as all involved parties seem to be racing faster and faster toward a seemingly inevitable confrontation of potentially indescribable proportions. I think few have viewed that eventual likelihood as a “limited engagement.” I’ve closely been following events in the region since Nixon/Kissinger’s “reopening” of China, have studied & researched regional history dating back thousands of years, have spent decades studying China from 1900 - present & the future. I’ve been engaging with experts, writing, speaking, debating on related topics this entire century. It’s been impossible to ignore the years of analyzing the unsaid mixed with the spoken now somehow transition to more apparently overt beating war drums this year with more openly stated and less cryptic comments. On the parts of multiple entities. I haven’t hidden my feelings on the regional/global dangers China presents to the world, and certainly not merely the U.S. China has already used its maritime aggression and military to encroach in sovereign waters and airspace of most of its neighbors, literally attacking the Vietnamese and Philippines, angling in that direction in Indonesia, harassing Japan to such a degree that this has never been seen before, ignoring international law AND their major loss in an international court when they tried to assert they controlled the entire SCS so the USN has been conducting daily FONOP operations throughout the SCS, now joined by the UK and soon Australia. Because regardless of what China asserts, they're literally wrong and as an ambitious, growing hegemony, they've been overstepping their boundaries with too many states, resulting in the pushback being seen this year, including the reformation of the Quad, the wooing of India to western democracies' sides, as well as that of their S/SE Asian neighbors so that ideally they will be in a position, of their own choosing, to ensure the Indian Ocean remains free of conflict. Australia and Indonesia have renewed a defense agreement while the US and Vietnam have signed one and the US is watching out for the Philippines. South Korea just launched its first aircraft carrier, a likely needed disincentive to China's program of having five carriers by 2025, at least two to three of which are nuclear carriers. If memory serves me, the third one is nearly complete and ready to set sail. Finally regarding Taiwan, Japan stated as assertively as possible that they'll view a Chinese attack on Taiwan as an attack on them and they're committed to Taiwan's defense. They were joined by the U.S. in publicly committing itself to Taiwan's defense against an invading China. 

Now, all of that said, I’ve not been eager to jump into any major brawl with the CCP, as unavoidable as that may seem. Regardless, I wanted to mention a comment I saw floating around somewhere in relation to this WSJ article.  A thought to keep in mind is that perhaps Taiwan may be China’s Cuba. No big deal? The U.S. was willing to go nuclear to keep Soviet missiles and troops off of and away from Cuba, OUR Taiwan (in terms of proximity). And we don’t think China will stop at Nothing to ensure U.S. troops and weapons aren’t stationed just some miles from their shoreline? I’ve been thrilled to see the U.S. encouraging Western and Eastern states to form defensive coalitions in the area to discourage increasing Chinese aggression. I'm not sure I’m as thrilled to potentially be goading the biggest darn military in the world, especially with its having just dumped its famous “No First Strike” policy and building nukes like crazy, into a fit that might make them crazy enough to take radical actions that few want. So many variables. Not enough time to go into a fraction of them. But SOF in Taiwan? I doubt this is a surprise to China, but now that it's public, I wouldn't be surprised to see them pitch a calculated fit 100 times bigger than what we're used to. The question I have is aside from their verbal protests, what tangible response is to be expected?