Japan; the Silent Big Man

[kham]

Read the post over at CDR Sal's

I may have mentioned it before, with the shifting of the balance of power in WestPac, new non-standard alliances are happening. The Japanese Navy and the ROKs are forming a fairly solid one, and they also might be getting closer with the Vietnamese. Just the Japanese and ROK, should give the ChiComs pause, since they are both serious, BADASS navies, with very little fat. And waste no time with idiotic PC bullshit.

It should be noted , for anyone wondering if the comments from Lazarus re LCS alone render him a fucking imbecile, then his stuff here, gurgling about resurrecting the Imperial Navy Name, truly brand him as a moron. Especially since the ROK, has some VERY unfond memories of the "Imperial Navy" and the last thing you would want when trying to forge a real alliance.

The only thing that still clashes my gears, is their ensign. Same one that the Akagi flew at Midway; does startle a little at first, but been that way from the beginning.

[nachtjaeger]

Great discussion. As I mention on that thread, our military classification seems to have omitted a specialty equivalent to Business Analyst. NOBODY is sitting down and "running the numbers" on anything. And if they are, they are deciding on the outcome beforehand and "massaging" the data to get the desired results. Somebody should club them with their own "hockey stick."

[kham]

I'm sure there are, but that, is worthy of a discussion all on it's own. Since in many ways, the USN is still a 19th-century organization being dragged screaming into the 20th-century. There are far too many cliques, too many daddies for different AOs; you have Bubbleheads, who are unto only themselves, the Fighter Pukes, who finally won the ongoing battle with Strike, but are still retarded since they ARE Strike now....you have the LACK of guys pushing Patrol Aviation, which is why the P-3 died early, and why it took so long-and still not enough- P-8s. The CARRIER bubbas, who think they supersede everyone, forgetting that without a frabbing air group...you're just a big fancy piece of real estate that looks really tasty to a modern nuke boat, or ALCMs. And down at the bottom of the heap, of course you have the Surface Warfare guys, you know, those schlubs that ACTUALLY will be trading shots with the enemy in a hot war with everything from missiles to BB guns?? The number crunchers are there, likely buried in the mess of Logistics, which in an actual war, never mind, RIGHT THIS SECOND, Are the most vital part of the entire operation. No gas, no parts, no food, no ammo, no chance. Take away the Fleet Train, and you really are, an expensive toy boat collection
Amateurs discuss tactics; Professionals discuss logistics. You could say that all day, and the no-forehead types would still not get it

But as far as WestPac goes right now, with Duarte making this bonehead move sucking up to the ChiComs, won't really effect the big picture much. Other than making it easier around the Spratly's. The next Hot Spot, could be one of two; the areas claimed by Vietnam, and the Japanese islands. Now, Vietnam has utterly no fear of China, millions of minions be damned, since the last time the Chinese actually fought someone, was in Vietnam. And they got their asses kicked. So, not much chance of rolling over there. As far as the Islands the Chinese are idiotic enough to claim, well, they have been Japanese for north of a thousand years. Maybe more. But the point is, there is NO WAY, nada, zippo, chance of them just letting them roll in and build another quaint little landfill-airfield on one of them. And while the ChiComs might like waving their dicks around and gurgling how mighty they are, they are forgetting that one part of the Japanese Navy includes modern, state-of-the-art diesel submarines with equally modern smart-weapons. And bad fiction aside, they are very , very good. Your move, Charlie....

[Mynock]

Our most powerful weapon against China is not military but economic. Half their economy is based on making shit we buy and a 1/4 of their food is imported from the USA. They think they're hot shit but they're really one trade embargo away from devastation.

[kham]

Precisely
Turn off Wal-Mart, and you will hear the screams over here. WE don't need the crap they produce for 5.99, but THEY would be grabbing their chests in a double-handed-polish-heart attack if that dug in more than a week or so. Especially since the ChiCom politburo gets a huge slice of all the money. Like any criminal enterprise, money talks