The USA could not attack Russia or China because they are neighbors with a common interest in defeating the US.

The USA would be faced with extremely long logistics lines in such a conflict which would make victory a near impossibility.

The USA would also face attacks from North Korea if there was a such a conflict.

thegreatdivide wrote on Mar 11^th, 2024 at 10:39pm:

Frank wrote on Mar 12^th, 2024 at 4:55pm:



Today, Washington has once again turned its attention to securing output from foreign mines– this time in Europe. This is partly because critical minerals are China’s strongest card to play in economic warfare between the world’s two superpowers. China is the world’s largest producer of 29 of the 50 minerals the US government defines as critical. Chinese firms mine these metals, mostly abroad, and then process 40 to 90 per cent of the ores within the PRC, creating a chokehold on key markets. This is the result of four decades of strategic policy. Deng Xiaoping said in 1992 that ‘the Middle East has oil, [and] China has rare earths’ – but unlike in oil, the United States itself is not a major producer.

...

A significant proportion of Ukrainian minerals – including about half of its rare earth deposits – are in areas of the country under Russian control, and Putin is looking to do his own deal to supply the US with rare earths. The draft Ukraine deal also gives the US a share in future oil and natural gas projects in Ukraine, but crucially not in existing, profitable projects. As the world’s largest producer of oil and gas, the US hardly needs these rights.

True, Ukraine has one of Europe’s largest lithium reserves, a key input into electric vehicle batteries and utility-scale storage. Ukraine also has significant deposits of gallium and graphite, two key inputs in the semiconductor industry. (China has a near-monopoly on global gallium and graphite production and has recently imposed export controls and bans on shipments to the United States.)

Yet the United States has its own substantial lithium reserves – more than triple those of Ukraine – as do US partners such as Australia (the world’s largest lithium producer) and Chile. Furthermore, one of the few points of agreement between Trump and Joe Biden’s administration was the need to ‘nearshore’ the supply of critical minerals, siting production and processing at home and in friendly geographies. That was why the Biden administration introduced tax credits for EV batteries made from metals mined in the US or in free-trade partners such as Australia, Chile, Canada or Mexico, and backed investments in foreign mines destined for the US market.
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/dirty-deal-what-trump-really-wants-from-ukra...


The US has no interest in Ukraine except in so far as it has any relevance to its rivalry with China.

Jasin wrote on Mar 9^th, 2025 at 11:35am:


Jasin - with his delusional democracy equals freedom ideology - is  talking up the 'China threat'  theory, while he supports wrecking Oz's budget to project force into the Taiwan Strait. 

Go figure.

Hence China needs to show  China can also stick its nose into Oz  affairs.

Meanwhile, Indonesia knows which country supports its development,  eg assisting in the construction of  the nation's first HSR,  at an affordable price. 

thegreatdivide wrote on Mar 9^th, 2025 at 1:47pm:

More non-English non-sense.  An unending circle of un-facts.

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 8^th, 2025 at 10:10am:


A spokesman for the CCP said (on last night's 'Four Corners' program)  re Taiwan, in answer to the interrogator's  question "why can't the people of Taiwan choose their own destiny": "the people in a province of a nation can't choose, without regard to the entire nation's wishes, eg, many people in Texas want to secede from the US, but the nation won't allow it".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_secession_movements

As for China's navy, it already has 3 aircraft carriers including the latest with the most advanced technologies, and Taiwan is only 130 kms from the mainland whose missiles  the US navy would have to confront (and both nations have IBMs capable of stiking the other's mainland  (in the age of MAD...).

Trump doesn't answer the question whether he will defend Taiwan, for good reason, ie, strategic ambiguity - keeping the opponent guessing. Xi is playing the same game, so long as Trump doesn't openly support the DPP secessionists (40% of Taiwanese) and maintains the official "one China" UN policy. 

Frank wrote on Apr 10^th, 2025 at 2:38pm:


Not satire?

The funniest part about all the misinformation in this area is that it's only fooling the Trump supporters in the US and the lower IQ Trump fans abroad.

It will just leave them shocked and dismayed when they act like Trump is smashing it out of the park, only to see him back down, twice now, in extremely humiliating circumstances.

Forget that the tariffs have not been in anyway about the goals they've stated and were just market manipulation tools, but I wonder how long until Trump backs down against China, and if he doesn't if he's willing to spend the Trillions in the US economy to save it from his actions?

Or will he be too busy playing golf and not care?

Trump got respect from that little Ukraine boy.
He gets respect from Putin and Xi. Well, not much, but anyway he should. He demands it to make the US respected. Otherwise, it's a back-flip and hand-flaps, like an Olympic athlete for gold.