Thank you for your kind words. (before However)
No I do not aspire to change ALL minds here, but maybe some may see the logic in what I post once in a while.
Nor do I think that the Norwegians you have met haven’t traveled abroad.
ALL Norwegians under 50-60 have at least been on packet tours to “Syden” (anywhere nice and warm and to the south) but they may not have “seen” much. (Much like American tourists)
Norwegian seafarers have usually travelled widely, as have many of the oil & gas workers.
My point was “see the world with an open mind,” which doesn’t even require travelling.
As for being a bit brasque; Norwegians are usually fairly straight forward, especially us “Sunnmoringa”. We usually say what we mean and mean what we say.
PS> I see Kraken explained it while I was posting.
No I don’t think the Chinese is claiming Australia just because they knew about it before the Brits.
Maybe Norway should claim North America, since the Vikings from the settlements on Greenland knew about it and actually tried to settle there a long time before Columbus stumbled upon it while looking for the “Spice Islands” by going south of the “North lands” that he had learnt about from Viking maps.
BTW: The Chinese was around the area much earlier than 1400’s:
I agree… So come take it… See how it works out for you.
Claiming it and taking it are two different things. China is trying to find that boundary now… Keep pushing and they’ll find it. Just depends on which country pushes back first (even though they can’t challenge them militarily) and whether we back them or not. Time will tell.
I said it here before and I’ll say it again… War is coming in this region. My prediction is either Taiwan takeover attempt or an attack on the Philippines when the PI attempts to enforce their sovereign territory.
China is smart. They won’t attempt this until they think the leadership in Washington won’t react militarily. If they guess right, they expand their ‘motherland’ as you called it. If they guess wrong, there will be a war.
I wonder if China could stand sanctions like Russia?
What we might find is china will own all the 3rd world from just loaning money to them…
I think Malaysia might already have been sold, just a slow invasion nobody will notice.
So now calm down. NOBODY is coming to claim anything, neither USA or Australia.
I know you can turn “sand into glass”. Maybe even Norwegian mountains into glass for all I know??
The problem is that you’ll kill yourselves in the process as well.
Neither China, Russia or anybody else is threatening an attack on USA. (Unless you believe that North Korea is actually stupid enough to do so??)
The only good thing with nuclear weapons is that they are too destructive to actually use. Nobody is likely to be stupid enough to start a nuclear war as long as it is “mutually assured destruction” for all. (MAD)
Taiwan will eventually reunite with the mainland, but in a peaceful process that is already under way. The island have been occupied by the Portuguese and the Japanese, but have always returned to China eventually. That USA will risk a full scale war with China to stop that is ludicrous, even if Chine should use force. (Which is unlikely)
But you are right on one point; China is smart. Too smart to risk a war with USA, unless attacked militarily.
Trade war is an entirely different matter. But only if forced on them, since nobody win a trade war and China is a trading nation.
There is one thing that is forgotten in all the hype; If USA is a big enough economy to manage without external trade, so is China. Both need outside sources for raw materials though, That can result in proxy wars to control the sources of essential supplies, such as Cobalt, Lithium etc.
China survived 30 years of almost total isolation during last century and survived, They would not like to do so again, but if forced to they will.
China have suffered hardship and invations many time through their long history, but have always come back stronger. They are doing it again now and will do it in any future calamity.
Invaders gets absorbed and assimilated into the large Chinese population and culture.
They will dominate the economy in the region and eventually in the world, just like USA has done for 70 years now. But China will do it with money and soft power, not by threatening with military force.
They will take control of the sea lanes and air space that is vital for their trade and security against attack by any adversary, but not block peaceful merchant ships and planes, nor friendly navies on lawful passage.
the tool today with isolation is all the rich crooks risk having their overseas assets frozen, then they apply some serious pressure to whomever is in charge back home.
You know the UK and USA have laws to do this now, aimed at Russians…
I just wonder if something similar is happening in maritime rescue as well? It appears that helicopters appears on the scene to pick up “survivors” before they even know they are in peril at times.
