Taiwan vs china...

Because if you are brought up in a society that hates Jews, you are more likely to have anti-Jewish leanings.

Heck, when I was a kid, it was common to call anyone picking up small-value coins from the pavement "Jew". Fortunately that is now not the case (as far as I am aware). However, now it is 'immigrants' and occaisionally 'Arabs' that get the bad stereotyping.

 

2nd legion, what you dont realise is that it is no longer the jews who are hated by the majority, that is the past. There might be much 'Jewhating' left in the world but the truth is its the Arabs and muslims that are hated the most in the world now.

This is quite obvious, in fact it is right there in front of my eyes everyday. Whenever I chat with someone in the states or outside, I usually get:
'Oh, your an arab, so did you meet BinLaden? Are you planning another terrorist coup? Why do you want to kill innocent people?'

So before you say one side of a story, say the side of the story that is more overwhelmingly present. I ask u, when is the last time someone called you a terrorist?

 

I think that 2ndLegion (please forgive me if I put words in your mouth that were never intended to be there) was simply illustrating his point from an area he knows well. He pointing out a specific example of where people only show one side. He did not claim that Jews are never wrong, or never give unbiased accounts. He did not claim that Arabs were not hated / feared / whatever.
2ndLegion appears to be Jewish (or at least know a lot about Jewish history & present), and so illustrates his point in that way. DesertWolf uses the whole unfortunate 'Arab=terrorist' example. Roel might use an 'all Dutchmen are dope-smoking brothel-owners who grow tulips and live in windmills' stereotype (sorry all Dutchmen out there, I could not resist! ).

 

Well, it's entirely true. In fact, when I go abroad and say I'm a Dutchman, the likely response will be, "Have you got any weed for sale?"

It's true. My brother was asked this question when he met some Byelorussians in Germany.

What is fact, however, is that even when walking through the bigger cities it'd have to be really late in the day before someone walks up to you asking if you "want some stuff". Only the frankly hopeless characters in my secondary school used softdrugs, and they were outcasts in just about every way already.

 

I've thought the Dutch were a tad strange since the time that I read (some years back) that their armed forces are unionized. I always got this mental image of Dutch soldiers picketing the battlefield, protesting low combat pay or something similar.

 

You ain't seen nothing yet! There's a union for prostitutes!

Honest.

Has anyone seen this afternoon's CNN special on the Netherlands and the Muslim hatred growing so strong suddenly in these parts?

 

Shows you how much hate is directed towards all races in this world.

You know, to really end a discussion like this, the conclusion would simply be that wether Arab, Muslim, Jew, Christain, Slav, Nordic, Dutch, Aryan,etc etc, you would always find some stupid ignorant biased people who would hate you simply because of your race or religion.

I find this surprising as it renders all humans more similar than different.

 

err...guys...i think u are getting off topic, i thought there is another topic for this kind of discussion....

back to topic, how well can taiwan defend herself from a naval blockage? china has about 60 subs u know...

 

Ray43 is right, back to topic.

Against blockade, Taiwan cant do much on her own but if shes allowed to use the subhunting planes of the US and with the 7th fleet support she might be able to deter Chinas submarine threat. This will take some time though.

 

China's subs are all old USSR designs (doubtless with upgrades). If the 7th Fleet got involved, they would only really have weight of numbers on their side...

Edit: They would have a slight advantage in that the Formosa Straight is fairly shallow, and US sub-hunting techniques are geared towards the open ocean.

 

Can anyone tell me the composition / amount of ships of the American 7th Fleet?

 

u may take a look at this site

http://www.emeraldesigns.com/matchup/military.shtml

 

we also must take on consideration the chinese air force, during Cope India 04,Indu- USA air exercises, the Su 30 prove to be more than a match for the F-15 and F-16, and china is buying more of these planes, including licenses to build them

 

check this out:
http://www.emeraldesigns.com/matchup/military.shtml

 

Eh, me262, that's the same site ray243 already linked. It does wonders for this thread though, basically it's all been said already.

Cope India certainly was a disaster for the American air force! They got their rears kicked by planes that are supposedly several decades behind on the American planes.

 

well, they underestimated the opponent this time, NOW they are even or better, and now the question is more politicaly than ever in the congress, for the future F-22, the air force next fighter, the AF itself is already old, and the main problem is the rep-dem fight ( sorry if i call it a fight but that is the way i see they are do in it to aprove or not the future production of this plane)

 

The future of the F-22 is in doubt. Not everyone in the military agrees that the type is the correct solution for the problem of America's aging aircraft. That, plus the cost overruns in the plane's development, may doom it.

 

I do not know the exact composition of the fleet but this can give you a little idea about the size
i think this is the entreprise and her ( or his?) battle group

 

Thanks me262, that is one nice picture!

Though I wouldn't want to mess with this fleet if I were in a canoe, I doubt it would be enough to support or repel a full-scale invasion, though.

 

It's not as much the question wether or not the PLA can take Taiwan but merely which price they are ready to pay for it.