The New Arms Race
Jul. 26th, 2005 12:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frustratedpilotHey.
From the same source of the BA609 story, news that Boeing is lobbying to build a plant in India for the construction of F/A-18 Hornets to sell the Indian Air Force (and maybe other nations). This actually worries me.
Why? This nation is now looking at playing both sides--if not ALL THREE sides--of the struggle to dominate southern Asia. Last time we played both sides of an Asian arms race, it led to the attack at Pearl Harbor. (Boeing, Curtiss, Vultee and Martin planes were sold to the Republic of China while Seversky, Lockheed, Vought and Douglas planes were sold to Imperial Japan.) Now we're looking at a possible war in which F-16s from Pakistan and F/A-18s from India will deliver nuclear bombs to each others' cities. Maybe not tomorrow...but I would bet it will happen this decade or the next.
And the third side? Mainland China. China has been using the export market (with Pakistan as both customer and partner) to get access to American technology...not just for reverse-engineering...but for the purpose of creating countermeasures. After all, China wants Taiwan "back"--and Taiwan uses American military hardware. Their leaders are talking about hurling nukes, our leaders are talking about hurling nukes...
The "war on terror" isn't the only war that should concern us. There WILL be a next war.
FP
From the same source of the BA609 story, news that Boeing is lobbying to build a plant in India for the construction of F/A-18 Hornets to sell the Indian Air Force (and maybe other nations). This actually worries me.
Why? This nation is now looking at playing both sides--if not ALL THREE sides--of the struggle to dominate southern Asia. Last time we played both sides of an Asian arms race, it led to the attack at Pearl Harbor. (Boeing, Curtiss, Vultee and Martin planes were sold to the Republic of China while Seversky, Lockheed, Vought and Douglas planes were sold to Imperial Japan.) Now we're looking at a possible war in which F-16s from Pakistan and F/A-18s from India will deliver nuclear bombs to each others' cities. Maybe not tomorrow...but I would bet it will happen this decade or the next.
And the third side? Mainland China. China has been using the export market (with Pakistan as both customer and partner) to get access to American technology...not just for reverse-engineering...but for the purpose of creating countermeasures. After all, China wants Taiwan "back"--and Taiwan uses American military hardware. Their leaders are talking about hurling nukes, our leaders are talking about hurling nukes...
The "war on terror" isn't the only war that should concern us. There WILL be a next war.
FP
