Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

The world is going mad. We will be lucky to see the next ten years out the way the world leaders are at the moment. Eventually someone will press the button.

I can see it!

I see Iran has switched to the Euro for oil sales , USA have said this proves they are terrorists , this was their reasoning for war with Iraq and Libya , I imagine there will be open hostilities very soon .

I also see Trump is about to backtrack on his policy of tariffs with China. He might think he leads the World but the reality proves otherwise. Unless we all work together, the human race is on a short timespan before oblivion.

I think we need perspective more than anything. China is big and powerful, has a vast population to feed/maintain, and they aren't going to go away.
And as big as it is, China actually keeps a comparatively low profile on the world stage.....they stay fairly well within their sphere of influence....most regimes tend to do so, within reason.
The US has drawn back to a certain degree since the end of the Cold War...it had no choice in the matter. A good amount of the current risk seems to be Trump wanting to escalate points of contention into political stand-offs when we really ought to be back where we were pre-WWI.

Erm

The number is closer to 800 bases (which is still staggering) in about 70 countries....the vast majority are there at the request of the host govts. (like the UK, for instance). They range from some quite large bases of a purely military purpose all the way down to simple Coast Guard weather stations in the middle of the Pacific, etc. Most of them are quite small in size.

End of the day, if the UK doesn't approve of the way the US does business, then why does it continue to do business with us??

People vote with their wallets.
And so does the British Govt., apparently.....along with just about everyone else.

To be expected I guess, as I recall that Trump stated that he was keen to reduce overseas involvement.?

D41 wrote:The number is closer to 800 bases (which is still staggering) in about 70 countries......

That's 70 countries that have declared US bases. Unless he's changed strategy (unlikely ) The number would be far higher if it stated countries world wide that contain US forces.

Okay....how much higher??

Do you have a figure in mind??

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45556290" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I see Israeli jets forced a Russian spy plane into Syrian airspace.

The Syrians then shot it down.

Nice team work.

Forced it BACK into Syrian airspace....where it came from in the first place, after it took off from it's base in Syria.

Would you agree that's a fair statement??

If that makes you happy.

I really don't give a shit where it was going, where it came from or what its intentions were.

What I am concerned about are the number of factions and countries using Syria as an excuse to wage war in the region.

Fair enough. But if the IDF have a plane coming into Israeli airspace like that, they really are fairly limited in what they can do. They can either turn it around, or shoot it down.

Russia also saying it detected missiles fired from a French Frigate in the Med.

Is this the same Russia who aren't currently invading parts of Ukraine?

What Ukraine? Oh look a squirrel.

Kwacky wrote:Is this the same Russia who aren't currently invading parts of Ukraine?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46340283" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and now stealing their ships.

Oh....what's a few little gunboats between (former) friends??

Gunboat Diplomacy is all well and good, until someone steals the toys...