America gets it right: multilateralism

[Humodour]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-a...x-1225949666285

http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-austra...rveillance.html

 

tl;dr America ignores Asia. China gets ****y and starts violating international law by claiming land & sea belonging to other countries. US allies complain to America. America rapidly and efficiently flexes its muscle in the region as a sign to China to back off. America sells more military hardware to Taiwan and South Korea. US allies announce extra defence pacts and alliances with each other. Japan (world's second largest economy) becomes openly politically angry with China on multiple fronts. Australia and the US announce joint state-of-the-art space surveillance and missile defence systems to be built in the Australian desert. US allies feel safer and happier. America gains respect for handling the situation skilfully.

 

For now.

[Wrath of Dagon]

China forecloses on the US and tells us to move out.

[Moose]

China in 2007 launched a ballistic missile to knock out one of its old weather satellites

 

lol...

[Humodour]

China forecloses on the US and tells us to move out.

 

[Citation Needed]

[Gorth]

China in 2007 launched a ballistic missile to knock out one of its old weather satellites

 

lol...

Dissident satellites?

 

Maybe the weather is sensitive information... officially the sun always shines.

[Humodour]

Consider the implications of that: if China can knock out one of its old satellites, it can also knock out one the West's new ones.

 

And on a related note, when Australia and America say they're developing a system to destroy space junk... well, that's a valid concern, but any such system would also by definition be capable of knocking out enemy satellites.

 

Hello Cold War 2.0

[Thorton_AP]

Hey it's not too shabby for the economy right?

[Gfted1]

Consider the implications of that: if China can knock out one of its old satellites, it can also knock out one the West's new ones.

 

Eh, weve been doing it as early as 1985 and as recently as 2006.

[Humodour]

Consider the implications of that: if China can knock out one of its old satellites, it can also knock out one the West's new ones.

 

Eh, weve been doing it as early as 1985 and as recently as 2006.

 

Sure, but now China can too.

 

And the point of the US-Aussie space pact is global coverage of such an ability.

[Walsingham]

Consider the implications of that: if China can knock out one of its old satellites, it can also knock out one the West's new ones.

 

Eh, weve been doing it as early as 1985 and as recently as 2006.

 

I don't buy the notion that strategic threat capability should be 'fair' somehow. I don't mind US doing it. I mind angry anti-democratic heavily industrialised, massively populated ****ers doing it.

[Gfted1]

Technological advancement is inevitible for a suitably motivated and financed country. Im just saying we were doing this 25 years ago so its not a huge surprise other coutries have caught up. Im a little surprised they didnt rip off the plans 24 years ago tbh.

[Walsingham]

Technological advancement is inevitible for a suitably motivated and financed country. Im just saying we were doing this 25 years ago so its not a huge surprise other coutries have caught up. Im a little surprised they didnt rip off the plans 24 years ago tbh.

 

Oh. I see.

 

Makes you worry because basically EVERYTHING in the western military arsenal wants to talk to satellites the way a fat middle aged man wants to talk to the ladies shown in those annoying pop-ups.

[Gfted1]

Makes you worry because basically EVERYTHING in the western military arsenal wants to talk to satellites the way a fat middle aged man wants to talk to the ladies shown in those annoying pop-ups.

 

Agreed, but at least there are only one or two countries that can even do it. A more realistic threat to our infrastucture is someone firing off a high altitude E Bomb. Thats when you'll really see the poop hit the fan.

[Oblarg]

Makes you worry because basically EVERYTHING in the western military arsenal wants to talk to satellites the way a fat middle aged man wants to talk to the ladies shown in those annoying pop-ups.

 

Agreed, but at least there are only one or two countries that can even do it. A more realistic threat to our infrastucture is someone firing off a high altitude E Bomb. Thats when you'll really see the poop hit the fan.

 

The sun might do that for us one of these days, though.

[Walsingham]

Makes you worry because basically EVERYTHING in the western military arsenal wants to talk to satellites the way a fat middle aged man wants to talk to the ladies shown in those annoying pop-ups.

 

Agreed, but at least there are only one or two countries that can even do it. A more realistic threat to our infrastucture is someone firing off a high altitude E Bomb. Thats when you'll really see the poop hit the fan.

 

Thing is that a mag pulse will hurt everything. Why bother when China could surgically whack all the military sats?

[Moose]

It might look prettier.

[Humodour]

I guess, on the upside, being able to destroy satellites is a kind of 'electronic MAD', so one might hope that it would be yet another disincentive to go to war.

 

My only fear is that Western civilians have a lot to lose from satellite loss, where Chinese civilians have far less to lose on average, so China could see the trade off in terms of fomenting political unrest domestically in Western countries as worthwhile during some theoretical war and just go ahead and take out the satellites anyway. This obviously becomes less of a concern as China becomes more developed (and hence reliant on technology).

[Walsingham]

It might look prettier.

 

They could do both. Nice clear night, it would look lovely.