Gigantic weirdness in Gobi desert

[Walsingham]

Story with pictures

 

I'm thinking it's purely to mess with our tiny little minds.

[Morgoth]

It's a Chinese superweapon!

 

 

 

No, actually I wanna know myself what that really is

 

Edited November 14, 2011 by Morgoth

[Malcador]

The comment on them being used for targeting seems sensible.

[Orogun01]

It's aliens, the history channel said so. Plus if they ever crashed on Earth and touched ground chances are that it would be on one of the biggest landmasses.

[Humodour]

I saw a few US military and defence analysis professors giving pretty compelling reasons as to why it's a missile and defence testing range. Things like the existence of military planes and explosion debris when zooming in were cited as evidence.

 

Sounds pretty mundane to me. As mundane as the fact that an aggressive, expansionist superpower pumping huge amounts of funding, resources, and time into state of the art military assets can ever be.

 

South China Sea anyone?

 

But it's OK, because Australia will now start selling uranium to India, open a few new US bases in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with accompanying US troop deployment, and bolster joint training exercises with India. While America does the same with the Philippines and Vietnam. What a dizzying week.

 

And what a waste of money - and the blame does not lie with the West on this one. China shouldn't be acting like a spoilt brat over numerous territories and maritime areas that don't belong to it. But hey, that's what happens when a country suddenly realises it is a superpower. Especially a non-democratic one.

[Masterfade]

So Australia gets to sell more uranium and hosting U.S. soldiers could be a rather lucrative business. Sounds like a windfall to me.

[Walsingham]

Not much point investing in non-state of the art military hardware, Krez. That's like investing in a hand of tens.

[Humodour]

So Australia gets to sell more uranium and hosting U.S. soldiers could be a rather lucrative business. Sounds like a windfall to me.

 

What possible reason could I have to be happy about the proliferation of weapons-grade uranium? If if it's not used in India's nukes programme, it means their uranium from other sources can now be diverted to their nukes programme.

 

Moreover, why would I be happy about the exportation of power-generation uranium to India? It just means that they've now lost their main incentive to mature much safer (in every way) and more efficient thorium nuclear reactors. That was something India was leading the world in, so much so that China, Britain, and America decided to follow suit. Given India's problems with poverty I find it hard to believe they will seriously maintain their thorium programme when they could opt for already mature uranium reactors (mature because the billions of dollars of government subsidies were already pumped into it back in the Cold War since unlike thorium, uranium can be weaponised). Mature, but not safe.

 

As for those US soldiers - it's a token gesture. The reality is that the USA is legally (and economically) obligated to come to our aid if we are ever attacked, and we've already got the 10th largest defence spending in the world so that we can hold China off long enough for America to arrive if it ever comes down to that. I hate that China is forcing South East Asia into a situation where more US troops are actually required in the region to fend off an expansionist China. Did they learn nothing from the world wars?

 

So I understand why America is deploying troops in Australia (it's not to protect Australia, rather our neighbours), and I support it because the alternative is ****, but I blame China for causing unrest in this otherwise peaceful part of the world. You need only take a look at how much of the South China Sea which China's military claims sovereignty over to understand why I and the rest of the world feel this way.

 

[Walsingham]

The pint (edit: 'point'. You can tell it's Friday) may be, Krez that they are hoping WE learned more than them from the World Wars. They're hoping for appeasement. The old 'peace at any price'.

 

That map of territorial claims you posted is awesome. Shown like that they look like they're taking the piss! I presume it's based off some half submerged atoll at the south end?

Edited November 18, 2011 by Walsingham

[Gorth]

Probably some Tibetan foothills if Chinese logic is anything to go by >_