1930s France failed to anticipate the future at great cost; are we going down the same road?

Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, leading Winston Churchill to remark, shortly afterwards, 'Thank God for the French Army'. To Churchill at that time, France's army seemed a powerful bulwark against possible Nazi aggression towards other European nations.

The defeat of this powerful army in a mere six weeks in 1940 stands as one of the most remarkable military campaigns in history.

One of histories greatest blunders was 1930s Fench Military strategy. Dispite having an army that Churchill once thought was a powerful bulwark it fell in six weeks. It wasnt the fact that France wasn't powerful, it was. Frances blunder is that it was stuck in the past and failed to anticipate the changing nature of its current environment.

...the British and French planned to fight an updated version of what happened in 1914-18...

In 1939, as World War Two loomed, the British and French planned to fight an updated version of what happened in 1914-18 during World War One, but with some essential differences. The French had suffered massive casualties in frontal attacks in 1914. This time they were going to remain on the defensive in western Europe, while mobilising their military forces and industrial base to fight a total war. They planned to take the offensive some two to three years after the start of hostilities.

The 'Maginot Line' replaced the crude trenches in which so much of the 1914-18 war was fought. It consisted of a sophisticated series of fortifications, which were confidently expected to protect France's frontier with Germany, although crucially the line did not cover the Franco-Belgian frontier. In general, the slow-tempo, attritional fighting of World War One heavily influenced French military doctrine at the outbreak of World War Two.

www.bbc.co.uk...


Is the US now making the same mistake that the French did over 80 years ago? Are we stuck in the past and leaving ourselves vulnerable to the dangers of the changing world around us?

The historian Alfred McCoy estimates that by 2030, China, a nation of 1.3 billion, will surpass the US in both economic and military strength, essentially ending the American empire and Pax Americana the world has known since the close of World War II.

"The American Century, proclaimed so triumphantly at the start of World War II, may already be tattered and fading by 2025 and, except for the finger pointing, could be over by 2030," McCoy wrote in his new book

www.businessinsider.com...

Why is it that Russia, a country and economy barely holding its head above water, dominates our current politics so pervasively while the real and eminent threat of China is all but ignoring?

2025 is a mear 7 years away and instead of looking toward this future and preparing for a China that will match or surpass the US militarily and perhaps economically, we are stuck looking backward; arguing over 2016 and gearing up to fight the cold war again.

Don't misunderstand me China has a lot of its own problems that will make it hard for it to become the next super power ... but that only makes China more dangerous not less. China's problems are long term in nature which makes acting against the US sooner rather than later in its best interest. Acting against the US while we are in political turmoil, fighting over the color of our cornflakes, and while we see the Russians as our enemy number one, would give them a strategic advantage. An advantage that could evaporate if they wait for their own geopolitical issues to come to a head.

2025 through 2035 could be a dangerous time with China and we're gearing up for a civil war and a war with Russia. Are we becoming 1930s France?

China is being ignored because they make alot of stuff that corps sell to the masses making the Corps HUGE profits. Cut China and cut profits. This is why their dismal human-environmental-currency violations are no biggy.

Why is it that Russia, a country and economy barely holding its head above water, dominates our current politics so pervasively while the real and eminent threat of China is all but ignoring?

a reply to: DanDanDat

a reply to: DanDanDat


Maybe making friends with Russia is a good idea then.

For the wars you think are coming.

originally posted by: highvein
a reply to: DanDanDat


Maybe making friends with Russia is a good idea then.

For the wars you think are coming.

It's quite possible Russia and China are already friends and Russia's current provocative nature is a means to get us to take our eye off the ball... and we are buying it hook line and sinker.

a reply to: highvein

a reply to: DanDanDat

In 1963, the US asked the Soviets if they can do a joint operation to bomb China's nuclear facility but the Soviets said no.

Later in 1969, the Soviets asked the US to be neutral should they ever launch a nuclear attack against China only for the US to say that they will be nuked if they do that.


www.scmp.com...

I think in the future it would be very wise of the Russians to ally themselves with the US against China because of this:

THE 6TH WAR: TAKING BACK OF LANDS LOST TO RUSSIA (YEAR 2055 TO 2060)

The current Sino-Russian relationship seems to be a good one, which is actually a result of no better choice facing the U.S. In reality, the two countries are meticulously monitoring the each other. Russia fears the rise of China threaten its power; while China never forgets the lands lost to Russia. When the chance comes, China will take back the lands lost.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thank you because we really need to talk about China. Here's what FBI Director Christopher Wray said a couple of days ago:

"I think China, from a counterintelligence perspective, in many ways represents the broadest, most challenging, most significant threat we face as a country,"

If you start studying China as a threat it's as serious as your OP suggests.

Trump can't come right out and say it but he's basically engaged in the economic and technological war China has been waging on us.

Get knowledgeable about what China has been up to y'all. And, YES, that's a big reason Trump wants to improve relations with Russia.

How about we take a completely new path and start looking fo alternatives to war. We need to stop worrying about how wars are fought and start looking for reasons not to fight them in the first place.

a reply to: Metallicus

When war is not profitable there will be none.

Who says China is being ignored? Really?

originally posted by: Jonjonj
Who says China is being ignored? Really?

From a counter-intel standpoint, no.

However, it isn't a priority, it SHOULD BE A PRIORITY.

Excellent thread and I'm glad somebody touched up on this.

originally posted by: atsgrounded
a reply to: Metallicus

When war is not profitable there will be none.

If I don't value war but my enemy does, who wins?


Seriously, I get it. Again, who wins?

a reply to: The GUT
Ha! Don't bother. Every time I bring up the growing and emerging Chinese threat, I am called a rabid insane warmonger picking on the Chinese who are allegedly minding their own business. Bullsnip! They already have a presence along the Red Sea with a base in Djibouti they leased from that government after they canceled our lease on the land that used to house our drone fleet for AFRICOM operations.

You can see their base on the thread I did, but I have not kept up with it recently.

Chinese base in Djibouti

You dummies who keep buying stuff at Wall Mart. Its your fault

Why is a war between China and Russia never considered? They hate each other as much as we hate both of them.

Our old and new allies are worthless. We really have no support from anyone of consequence. England is a joke. No one is concerned about the European countries-would we really go to war for Germany? Doubt it. We would gain nothing but lose in many ways.

If China and Russia go to war with each other, the winner takes all comes into play then they start picking everyone off.

I know that's a really negative scenario but I do think it's plausible. And it's something I am sure has been considered by all parties though not discussed here very often.

a reply to: DanDanDat

Ummm, I don't know if anyone ever told you this, France in the 1930's didn't have over 1,500 active nuclear warheads, along with a dozen or so submarines each carrying 192 of those warheads...each

a reply to: DanDanDat

Most of the French army actually held there ground pretty good but the German's had penetrated there line's also the French had completely devastated Mussolini's attempt to enter France at that same time, this indeed led to a great amount of bitterness among French Soldiers whom wanted to continue to fight, there most serious problem was over reliance upon there Maginot line which the German's simply went around.

Meanwhile the BEF was actually completely holding the German's but in danger of being encircled as the French line's collapsed they were then forced to retreat, when we along with the American's fully re-entered Europe (unlike the smaller actions several times in the war) in 1945 from that day forward our lad's actually never lost ground and the German's were forced into constant retreat, even the small short lived salient of the battle of the bulge never dented our advance.

The most infuriating things about that period are, Blitzkrieg was based on tactics proposed and successfully demonstrated by a British officer between the wars but ignored by our own brass and the Jet Engine was actually invented by us years before the German's got around to inventing an inferior version but once again the Brass refused to invest in Whittles concept.

Strengthening our military's can only come at the cost of cutting our public services and impoverishing our citizen's while the elite will continue to get tax break's.

Weakening our military's will only encourage despotic regime's and nations whom think they deserve more by force to try there own hand.

In the west the elite feared a socialist revolution so turned to dirty trick's to keep our own populations under control, additives in the water, food and inoculations sterilized or reduced male and female fertility which inevitably led to us needing to import labor from other parts of the world changing our social and ethnic balance far more than a healthy normal birth rate among our own people ever could have.
To try to redress this imbalance they tried to control the population growth in the third world then, we have the technology, science and knowledge to not only save our eco systems but support a far vaster population BUT that money needed is in the hand's of that tiny minority whom are control freak's, whom made these mistake's then made yet more to try to band age the damage they had already done with yet more devastating consequences to unfold.
But the most important thing they have done, the worst crime is to brainwash the public, to hide the truth and to pass the blame.

China's coming pre-eminence is solely down to it's population size, our own population would be equally huge had the elite not engineered these crime's against us and with larger populations we would have sought out answers to many of our problems' long ago.

As an example here is a small chapter from history with global ramifications on the environment and population of the world and how the elite will sink to evil, how they control the government of supposedly democratic nation's etc
Salters Duck was an invention by a Scottish engineer back in the 1970's, it is a common sense flotation device which turned wave energy into electricity and today the UK would not only be self sufficient in energy from this source but would most likely be exporting it to Europe BUT the petroleum industry would have been put out of action by this as would the Nuclear energy industry.
So a decimal point was conveniently moved several points to the right when a government agency was tasked with pricing a test implementation of the technology and this led to the ridiculously cheap method of producing more or less free energy being over priced in there estimate and looking about expensive as a nuclear plant which in turn meant the project was then shelved, to prove it was also NOT an accident when this came to light the project was not then restored to being used but conveniently just ignored.

Free Energy = cheap hydroponic farming which of course is also far more efficient and nature friendly than old fashioned and uneconomic farming techniques with a far higher yield and healthier crop's.
But that is not what the elite wanted and they did not want large populations, if they can't control it and us then we can not have it and the result of this mentality is the looming and now unavoidable end of western dominated global power with that power moving toward the larger population bases and there growing economy's.

Meanwhile has this stopped the old elite, Not on bit they are still pursuing there evil scheme's but then they were always blind parasites whom fed on the creations, work and ideas of others like the leeches they are.

a reply to: DanDanDat

Actually the big problem is all the butt hurt Democrats in congress trying to reverse the 2016 election and reign in Trump. Had Hillary won there wouldn't have been a whisper about Russian meddling.

If we're lucky we'll wind up with 60+ Republicans in the senate and hold or expand their edge in the House.

And the Democrats other big problem? Another bad election or two and the current party would become irrelevant. They are circling the drain and they know it.

Anything is possible,but as long as America consumes China's products at a high level, think they will be content to just dominate economically. However should internal flash points flare up in China who knows what would happen. Same could be said for America if the Chinese they sense weakness internally or militarily. Still a declining eagle isn't an attractive target as say the raw materials in Africa for example. With the booming Chinese economy they dont even have to invade per se, they can buy influence and raw materials from the significantly less wealthy African countries. As its been mentioned unless its little proxy wars here and there, war on your home front is bad for business. If and when China Russia and the US square off it will difficult to avoid using nuclear weapons once that starts it will be extremely difficult to stop. Mushroom clouds blossoming in any country and especially the big 3 would probably ignite civil war in one of them if not all of them. TPTB know this and would take a madman to start it.

originally posted by: Jonjonj

originally posted by: atsgrounded
a reply to: Metallicus

When war is not profitable there will be none.

If I don't value war but my enemy does, who wins?


Seriously, I get it. Again, who wins?

MONEY, ARMS, WAR, PROFIT

Nothing has change for thousands of years.