The Rise and Fall of a Superpower

An article from 2000 with lessons for today:

 

(©iStock.com/Diane Labombarbe)

 

Building the Panama Canal was one of the greatest chapters in American history. It helps to reveal how America became a superpower, if we understand the complete history. Today we see an almost totally different spirit in our leaders. The meaning behind that change contains the strongest warning ever for America!

How much do Americans understand their own history? We are called the world’s greatest superpower ever! But how did we rise to such heights? Most Americans are ignorant of how it all happened. And that ignorance places us in grave danger!

Our building and now surrendering of the Panama Canal reveals a large part of the story. It gives a powerful insight into the rise and fall of the world’s greatest superpower.

President Theodore Roosevelt led our people to build the Panama Canal. He had a spirit and courage that I don’t see in our leaders today.

China’s Military Threatens America: ‘We Will Hurt You’

As a reminder and an answer to the previous post about where China is heading with its military modernization and war preparations. Anyone with two braincells remaining in their head can see where this is going and can’t whitewash it away.

 

“Every nation has a right to defend itself and to spend as it sees fit for that purpose, but a gap as wide as what seems to be forming between China’s stated intent and its military programs leaves me more than curious about the end result,” said Admiral Mike Mullen this Wednesday. “Indeed, I have moved from being curious to being genuinely concerned.”

It’s about time the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in public, expressed disquiet about the Chinese military buildup. For decades, American flag officers, many of them from the Navy, have remained optimistic about America’s military relations with China. And after every Chinese hostile act — even those constituting direct attacks on the United States, such as the March 2009 attempt to interfere with the Impeccable in the South China Sea — American admirals have either remained silent or said they were “perplexed” or “befuddled” by Beijing’s intentions.

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Senior Chinese officers, on the other hand, have no trouble telling us how they really feel.

In February, Colonel Meng Xianging promised a “hand-to-hand fight with the U.S.” sometime within the next 10 years “when we’re strong enough.” “We must make them hurt,” said Major-General Yang Yi this year, referring to the United States.

Congressman: Obama is letting China steal U.S. military secrets

For the first time, the Obama administration invited China’s People’s Liberation Army to participate in the 2014 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, an annual maritime exercise that enlists a variety of nations typically allied with the United States. But in wake of concerted Chinese attempts to obtain U.S. military secrets, not everyone is thrilled about the two naval powers floating side-by-side.

“The administration made a mistake by letting China play a role in the Rim of the Pacific exercises,” Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, tells The Cable. “They will likely utilize these exercises to their advantage: stealing our military secrets and better understanding our military strategy.”

China And The Biggest Territory Grab Since World War II

As with countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, Israel is not even included on the maps — even within in-flight maps aboard middle eastern airliners.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that China’s mapping authority, Sinomaps Press, issued a new map of the country showing 80% of the South China Sea as internal Chinese water.

Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies

Designs for many of the nation’s most sensitive advanced weapons systems have been compromised by Chinese hackers, according to a report prepared for the Pentagon and to officials from government and the defense industry.

Among more than two dozen major weapons systems whose designs were breached were programs critical to U.S. missile defenses and combat aircraft and ships, according to a previously undisclosed section of a confidential report prepared for Pentagon leaders by the Defense Science Board.

Trade Policy and Economic Decline

In a book titled SELLING US OUT, J.R. Martin writes of Chinese companies “exploiting loopholes in the U.S.-China tax treaty signed by the Reagan administration in 1986.” He asks what the Founding Fathers would say about our current trade deficit, and our indebtedness to communist-ruled China. Martin asks, “What would Washington and Adams think about the corrupt and destructive power of the two major political parties in America? How would they judge today’s capitalism?”

Chinese hackers caught trying to steal secrets of our new stealth fighter as tens of thousands of cyber attacks are launched on jet manufacturer every week

• Lockheed Martin said it was being targeted by hackers from China
• Company is building new Joint Strike Fighter which is ‘invisible’ on radar
• Team of ‘young geeks’ battling against cyber attacks at British base

Chinese cyber spies have been caught trying to steal the secrets of Britain’s most sophisticated combat jet, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

A covert unit within the Chinese Army has been using highly sophisticated cyber weapons in a desperate attempt to acquire classified information about the stealthy Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).

Manufacturer Lockheed Martin claims it is thwarting tens of thousands of computer attacks every week to keep secure secrets about the jet – due to be in service with the Royal Navy and RAF by 2018.

New Report Says China Secretly Executes Thousands Of People A Year

China is carrying out thousands of secret executions but refusing to report them, according to a report released this week by Amnesty International.

Amnesty believes China executed several thousand people last year — more than all other countries put together — but its government won’t confirm any exact numbers. 

Beijing tests ‘killer’ missile

While the rest of the world is fixated on the Cypriot situation, Beijing completes yet again another carrier killer missile. For the story on the Gobi Desert aircraft carrier killer missile test, click here. Concerned people might want to ask why the United States is allowing for Chinese to train on U.S. soil while it simultaneously preps for war against it. The Chinese get a warm invitation to learn the enemy fighting tactics while also being exposed to enemy military technology. It all amounts to a winning situation — and for China only.

CHINA has successfully tested a “carrier killer” missile designed to change the military balance of power in Asia by deterring US aircraft carrier operations up to 2000km from Chinese shores.

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It comes amid rising concern in Washington about warlike language from China, such as a recent article in the Liberation Army Daily calling for an end to “romantic pacifism” and “full preparation” for war.

Recent cyberattacks could be part of a Chinese military strategy started nearly 20 years ago

In light of this, it’s highly recommended two read two books that were ahead of the curve and how they illustrate (by publishing date alone) that what we see transpiring just now was planned many decades ago. One could only imagine what the Chinese are up to now if we just now caught on to decades-old warfare plans. It’s often what you don’t see that hits you the hardest. Read the quotes and ask yourself if what you see happening today in general with a “recession” going on its 6th year (something no real economist has ever heard of) just happens to be what is called a ‘correction of the free market’ or something else.

The two books:

• Red Dragon Rising: Communist China’s Military Threat to America

• Unrestricted Warfare: China’s Master Plan to Destroy America

The first signs of China’s interest in cyberwarfare began with Major General Wang Pufeng, a former Director of the Strategy Department at the Academy of Military Science in Beijing. Now regarded as the founding father of “Chinese information warfare” (link in Chinese), Wang’s 1995 paper titled “The Challenge of Information Warfare” (a more literal translation of the Chinese, 信息战争与军事革命, would be “Information Technology and Military Revolution”) analyzed the way the US had used information technology to win battles. Wang urged the Chinese military to ”strive for an active approach in a reactive situation and use every means possible to destroy the opponent’s information superiority and transform our inferior position in information.”

Major General Wang Pufeng, the founding father of Chinese information warfare No. 1 School, Jiangyang City, Jiangsu Province

Here’s a longer excerpt from his analysis of how cyberwarfare would play out (emphasis is ours):

The large-scale importation of information technology deep into the field of warfare will inevitably bring about a military revolution. This revolution has actually already started.Those who perceive it first will swiftly rise to the top and have the advantage of the first opportunities. Those who perceive it late will unavoidably also be caught up in the vortex of this revolution. Every military will receive this baptism.

China’s Drone Swarms Rise to Challenge US Power

Being that China produces and controls more than 95% of the world’s rare earth materials, it’s not unthinkable that they would be able to crank out thousands of drones.

China is building one of the world’s largest drone fleets aimed at expanding its military reach in the Pacific and swarming U.S. Navy carriers in the unlikely event of a war, according to a new report.

The Chinese military — known as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — envisions its drone swarms scouting out battlefields, guiding missile strikes and overwhelming opponents through sheer numbers. China’s military-industrial complex has created a wide array of homegrown drones to accomplish those goals over the past decade, according to the report released by the Project 2049 Institute on March 11.

“The PLA now fields one of the world’s most expansive UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] fleets,” said Ian Easton and L.C. Russell Hsiao, researchers at the Project 2049 Institute and authors of the new report.

Chinese military leaders calls for war-readiness in Parliament

Regardless of the bogus and intentional “sequestration”, it’s quite unwise to leave five U.S. aircraft carriers laying around while the military of an enemy nation continues advancing capability by leaps and bounds. The PLA has hit every Washington network via hacking while a decision was made two years ago to go soft on the CCP. Advanced F-35’s at the moment cannot fly into clouds, bad weather or at night. Meanwhile, the “latest” nuclear weapon made by the US is roughly 20 years old.  Then lets not also forget to thank the Clintons who gave China a technology boost to their nuclear arsenal (while ours are reduced or collecting dust) by selling hundreds super computers through the U.S. Department of Commerce during the 90’s. And to cap it off, our military leadership thinks the global economy is more important than physical protection of the US citizenry.

This is only the beginning when it comes to describing with a few examples just how crippled America has become over the last five years. If someone thinks America today is safe, cannot be touched and can pull through this “recession” that is going on its sixth year — they couldn’t be farther from the truth. America is one disaster away from a total economic collapse, or one economic collapse away from war.

Beijing: Lawmakers from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest military, has called for increased battle preparedness to win wars amid simmering tensions with some of the country’s neighbours over maritime disputes.

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“Our military construction is currently facing an unprecedented historical opportunity with various rigorous challenges existing at the same time. Since the situation is so pressing, it is necessary to build up the armed forces in accordance with the high standards of fighting,” said Mo Junpeng, PLA deputy to the NPC.

The 2.3 million-strong PLA, World’s largest military, this year got USD 115.7 billion alloted to it in the budget, second only to the United States.

Cyber-attackers penetrate Reserve Bank networks

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s computer networks have been repeatedly and successfully hacked in a series of cyber-attacks to infiltrate sensitive internal information, including by ­Chinese-developed malicious software.

The RBA is sufficiently concerned about these risks that it has had a private security firm carry out “penetration testing”, or authorised hacking, of its computer networks to assess the integrity of its digital defences.

China navy seeks to “wear out” Japanese ships in disputed waters

China’s naval and paramilitary ships are churning up the ocean around islands it disputes with Tokyo in what experts say is a strategy to overwhelm the numerically inferior Japanese forces that must sail out to detect and track the flotillas.

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It wasn’t until China became embroiled in the high stakes territorial dispute with Japan late last year that its secretive military opened up.

Now, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is routinely telegraphing its moves around the disputed islands, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

Mao’s ‘Nuclear Mass Extinction Speech’ Aired on Chinese TV

To understand today’s CCP, one must look back on the history. Chinese military doctrine has not changed since the Mao era. Instead, it has become more hostile and is evident through what their high ranking military officers say.

During the Chinese New Year, the Chinese regime’s documentary channel, CCTV-9, ran a series on declassified China-Russia foreign affair files dating back to the Mao Zedong era. One episode showed Mao’s never-before-aired famous 1957 speech in which he boasted that he had no fear of nuclear war nor how many of the world’s people would be killed, including in China.

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With two episodes broadcast nightly for a week, the 18-episode documentary presented historical events previously unknown to the public, including the relationship between China and the former Soviet Union after 1949, and details of the Korean War, and the Taiwan Strait wars.

It also revealed Mao’s relationship with Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev, his successor, exposing many instances of mutual scheming, betrayal, political blackmailing and extortion through witness testimonies from Rong Zhi, who worked at the Soviet embassy to China, and Shi Zhe, the daughter of Mao’s early Russian interpreter.