What countries would be so dull to buy downgraded weapons from the Americans and the West?

 Countries buy weapons to prepare to defend themselves against potential enemies. Many are very clear who their potential enemies are and would want to have weapons that can defeat their enemies, weapons that are better than their enemies.  As for the Mickey Mouse, it is another story, a story of self delusions, buying toy guns and think they can defeat their enemies with real guns. Some Mickey Mouse think with one submarine they can defeat a country with 20 submarines. Some bought one or two sampans or fishing boats and want to take on superpowers with aircraft carriers.

In Africa and the Middle East, the enemy is often one country, Israel. The African and Arab countries know exactly what kind of weapons the Israelis have, mostly the best from America or Europe. And to prepare to defend against the Israeli attacks, they also bought American and European weapons. Theoretically this sounds reasonable. If they cannot get the best or better weapons than the Israelis, at least get the same weapons that the Israelis have to be on par with them. The problems start here.

For a long time, the American and the West have the monopoly of weapon sales. China and Russia did not have the capacity to sell weapons, either they were not good enough, did not have the production capacity or being rubbished by western media as inferior weapons, so it will be a waste of money buying them. The picture is changing when the J10C, rubbished by the West, took down 3 Rafales, claimed to be the best in Europe. This started the whole world thinking again.

Today, the problems of buying American and western weapons are obvious. The Americans and the West would not sell comparable weapons to the Africans and Arabs, weapons that would be better than what the Israelis have. They would not allow the Africans and Arabs to have weapons to defeat the Israelis. Period. The Americans and Israelis are also able to set conditions for the European countries on what they can and cannot sell to the Arabs and Africans. 

What the Arabs and Africans are getting from the Americans and the West are literally toy guns or downgraded weapons, and inferior to what the Israelis are having. It is like having a gun that can shoot at 200m while the Israeli gun can shoot at 400m. The moral of the story, the Africans and Arabs are buying toys that cannot work in a war against their enemy, the Israelis. Then why waste all the money and resources on such toys? For show during parades, .... we also have tanks, submarines, and F15s, but would be shot and taken down easily by the Israelis. It is the biggest scam the Americans and the West sold to the Africans and Arabs. Poor thing.

Did the Africans and Arabs know that they have been cheated? The same thing happened all over the world, especially in Southeast Asia. Fortunately, their enemies are not Israel. But if their enemy is an American poodle, and they are not the real friends of the Americans, especially if they are Muslim states, then the same F15s they bought would be like the Africans/Arabs vis a vis the Israelis. The laymen may not know this simple scam. But military leaders and commanders cannot be so dull to miss this crucial fact. By looking at the long queues in Washington and European capitals, it is apparent that the military leaders and commanders are really dull, as they are still dead set on buying American and western downgraded weapons.

And they did not bother about the kill switches embedded in the weapons, ships, aircraft and happily traded their hard earned money for such doctored weapons. Not only that, the Americans and the West would include many conditions for their used, and in critical moments, they would stop the supply of spare parts and ammunition to render the weapons useless.

The latest example of Thailand wanting to buy submarines from China and insisting that the engines must be German. They found out a bit late, that the Germans could go against their contractual agreement and refused to deliver the engines. This is the behaviour of Americans and western weapon suppliers. They can refuse to honour their agreements and contractual obligations. Why would dull military leaders and commanders continue to trust the American and western suppliers when trust is not their virtue? The breaking of such trust could mean winning or losing a war or having a fictional defence force, like toy soldiers.

Despite all the bad examples of how untrustworthy and treacherous the Americans and the West can be, dull military leaders and commanders would still form a beeline in Washington and European capitals to be cheated and to compromise the national security of their countries.

Not only that they are buying downgraded and compromised weapons, they are still using GPS that can be switched off, and using Apple mobile phones to be tracked and spy on. These military leaders and commanders are a danger to their countries when their mobile phones could leak state and military secrets to their enemies.

Stupidity has no cure.

India is planning another attack on Pakistan to regain its lost prestige and ego

India needed lots of time, three months in all, to come up with an Indian cocktail of sorts trying to explain how it won that war against Pakistan, that even some Indian political analysts like Pravin Sawhney are not buying it. The explanation of India's victory was full of unanswered questions and riddled with holes.

The attack initiated by India was said to be using more than necessary retaliation method against just flimsy unproven accusation that had pinpointed Pakistan's involvement right from the word go. No investigation, no proof, just the arrest of two terrorist 'associates' whatever that means and all pointed to Pakistan, inevitably just an attempt to showcase India's military might that backfired badly. Was the terrorist attack in Kashmir just a false flag to enable India to strike Pakistan? Investigation would have revealed the truth, so India did not want to wait for a verdict that may backfire.

India has a bone to pick with Islamic State Pakistan for supporting and building relations with Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, another close Islamic country surrounding India. This is not palatable for the Hindu fanatics in India, and they keep looking for opportunities to teach Pakistan a lesson, not knowing Pakistan's military capabilities. Now India found out the hard way, and there are signs and reports on social media that India is planning another attack on Pakistan to regain its lost prestige and ego. Never underestimate how important prestige and egos are for Indians, all the years touting about its upcoming superpower status and factory of the world dream.


Anonymous

Who else was the devil behind all the wars? The West and Anglophiles will say China, China, China

Who else was the devil behind all the wars? Who is the devil hyping up the South China Sea conflict? Who was the devil behind the attack on Iran's nuclear sites? Who is the devil using its currency to sanction countries that do not toe the line? Who was the devil that was the first and the only rogue to drop two nuclear bombs on another country? The biggest mistake must be the Saudi's allowing the pricing of oil in US$ that created the mother of all hegemonies to haunt the whole world.

Everywhere the devil goes or set foot in, trouble follows. Who else started the Five Eyes nonsense? Who else started the QUAD nonsense? Who else started the AUKUS nonsense? Who else created all the World Bodies and used them in an attempt to control the world? Who else conned the rest of the world that having a foreign military base in the country is a safety measure to protect them? Protect them from who?

Now the devil has not yet finished its evil work. The devil is destroying the Palestinians to allow its advocate to expand its territory in the Middle East, the whole purpose being to control the Arabs and Muslims, including Iran. The devil is still focused on destroying Iran with a war on the horizon. The devil is going to start another conflict against China, when and if Ukraine is settled, China and Iran are the next targets of the devil. China knows that and is getting ready, building up its resources, controlling its essential mineral exports for making weapons, migrating its needs in food away from the control of its main enemy, making sure it can handle any energy blockade by leveraging on its good relations with Russia and building up its renewable energy base. It is great that everything is falling into place for China.


Anonymous

History tells us that India is just as untrustworthy as the USA, both of which are snakes

History tells us that India is just as untrustworthy as the USA, both of which are snakes. Snakes bite even those who helped them, without an iota of conscience. It could be said to be in their DNA to behave in such a manner.

India's behavior will never change, just like the USA. It is too deeply ingrained in their character or to put it another way, it is like expecting a leopard to change its spots, when those spots are its natural appearance. Funny, only talking about leopards not other animals, when it applies to all living things, including humans. Apple trees grow apples, orange trees produce only oranges, and we cannot expect them otherwise to change. That is nature.

So, can India change? Not possible with the kind of system - the religious fanatism, the archaic laws inherited from the British, the power of its small scale but widely prevalent agricultural base that are needed to elect whoever rules India and the still alive caste system that still favors the chosen few.

India is always touted as the world's biggest democracy but delivers little of the touted benefits under democratic rule for the majority of its citizens. Plenty of shouting about its democracy, but little to show. That by the way is all Indian behavior.

Lee Kuan Yew said that India is not governable. That tells the world how much of a mess India is today.


Anonymous

9/3 Victory Parade - Taking sides, no more pretending to be friendly but stabbing China from behind

 China's Victory Parade is meant to be the same as the Europeans and Americans commemorating D Day or Russian's victory over Nazi Germany. But this Parade is again being politicised by the American terrorists and turning into a with us or against us event. The Americans are twisting the arms of their European allies, colonies and cronies not to attend the Parade.

Japan is also doing the same, making calls to Asean states not to attend the Parade. This in a way is getting more interesting and countries sitting on the fence would have to make a deliberate choice. Those that attended would end up in the bad books of the Americans and Japanese and may face sanctions or more tariffs. Those that did not turn up will expose which side they are on, can no longer pretend to be neutral to be like India, play both sides. This is shiok to watch and see how they try to wriggle out from it with sophistry.

With the whole world being caught up in the new divide, forced by all the sanctions, tariffs and coercion by the Americans, attendance in this Parade is going to be telling, to be with the Americans and Japanese or to be with China and the Global South. Countries that play the strategic ambiguity game would be in a very difficult position now. Do die, don't do also die.

Countries cannot choose to be neutral as they have to attend or be absent, cannot be in the middle. Can countries cook up things like a matter of principle, rules based order, or being polite, ie have to attend because one is invited? Those not invited would have an easy choice.

Oh, there is a way to minimise the impact by sending a low level minister to attend instead of a head of govt. This is a way of appeasing the Americans and Japanese by going halfway and also not to offend the Chinese with a direct rebuff. The Americans and Japanese are not coercing or forcing them, for sure.

Who is making all the American cronies stuck between a rock and a hard place, forcing them to take sides? It is a ceremonial event, like commemorating the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Why make such a big farce?  Being American cronies is increasingly very difficult and uncomfortable. For the BRICS countries and the majority of the Global South, the choice is easier. Just attend without the American terrorists and Japanese breathing down their neck. 

With China as their biggest trading partner, how many would risk offending China and choose to kiss the ass of Trump and the Japanese?