What are the odds that President Trump will start a war with China? Please wait and answer the question after reading this two part series.
President Donald Trump continuous to talk about Putin with praise while badmouthing and challenging China.
Trump has a history of racism, and the Chinese are not Caucasians but Putin is.
Beijing is seriously concerned about Trump’s comments on One China policy says Politico.com.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump had signaled that the U.S. commitment to the policy that undergirds its relationship with China should be up for negotiation: “I don’t know why we have to be bound by a One China policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things,” he said.
Then the New York Post reports, “China lashes out after Mattis backs Japan in islands dispute.”
Politifact reports, Trump warned of China military might. “We have rebuilt China, and yet they will go in the South China Sea and build a military fortress the likes of which perhaps the world has not seen …”
Trump was wrong when he said the U.S. rebuilt China. After World War II, the United States, under the Marshall Plan, rebuilt Europe, but blockaded China and fought wars in Korea (1959 – 1953 with an estimated 2.5 million civilians killed/wounded) and Vietnam (1955 – 1975 with an estimated 1.3 million to 4.2 million civilian dead) that were wars that China saw as a threat.
American Foreign Relations.com reports, “During the Cold War in Asia, the United States imposed embargoes on North Korea, China, and North Vietnam. These were severe embargoes established under the Trading with the Enemy Act. The embargo on China and North Korea began in 1950, during the Korean War.” The United States wouldn’t lift the embargo with China until 1969 during the Richard Nixon administration.
To discover if the Trump White House is planning to start a war with China, The Guardian.com reported that Steve Bannon said, “We’re going to war in the South China Sea in five to 10 years. There’s no doubt about that.”
The Guardian went on: “Bannon’s sentiments and his position in Trump’s inner circle add to fears of a military confrontation with China, after secretary of state Rex Tillerson said that the US would deny China access to the seven artificial islands. Experts warned any blockade would lead to war.”
Continued on February 22, 2017, in Part 2
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine, Crazy is Normal, Running with the Enemy, and The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova.
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iLook China 
Surely nobody believes a word out of Agent Orange’s mouth after the many lies and “alternative facts” that are now a matter of record. He doesn’t seem to understand that one cannot make up “facts.” At least not if one intends to be taken seriously by the world.
Still, I believe it is important to firmly state that he is WRONG and give factual account of how and where. So I thank you for this informative post.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
Remember what Lincoln said about fooling the people. Some of the people will always be fooled. Trump will keep those fools who will support him as if he is their god.
I pray that more of their number will awaken (and while there’s still time to – maybe – stop this idiot before it’s too late).
xx,
mgh
There are several options for stopping Trump.
1st: someone takes him out, like a special forces black ops team that works for the CIA
2nd: Enough elected Republicans wake up and realize the horrible mistake they are making cooperating with this malignant narcissist and they join the Democrats to impeach him.
3rd. In the 2918 midterm elections, the GOP loses the Senate majority and the tRump becomes a lame-duck president with an emphasis on Lame
4th. He has a stroke while Tweeting, and it damages a large portion of his brain so he is even more lame tha he already is. But that probably won’t happen because there’s nothing left to damage between his ears. In fact, there is a black hole there.
I worry, Lloyd about #1 even going on the web. With what is possible with technology these days, and the increase in surveillance capabilities, I’m not totally comfortable even having his name searchable online in any of my comments.
Please be careful when you comment – even if #1 happens *exactly* the way you state, someone will end up scapegoated. That’s the way it works in our country anymore. Maybe the way it always has, but now more than ever, I’m afraid.
My vote’s with #2, then #3 – you are right, #4 is extremely unlikely. Like some bizarre comic book villain, he seems to gain strength with every one.
xx,
mgh
I learned in Vietnam in combat that the only thing to fear is fear itself. That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t worry about it happening. I would, but that will not shut me up. I grew up with the concept of the 1st Amendment that we were safe from government persecution when we expressed ourselves.
To use someone like me as a scapegoat because of what I write in my blog posts or on-line comments, they would have to manufacture alternative evidence (lies), because the odds are when it happened, I’d be at home in California. If I am in California and haven’t left the state or the SF Bay area for years, and the malignant narcissist is taken out in Washington D.C., New York, or Florida, it’s not going to be easy to make me the perp. They can wiretap me and snoop on everything I do online and they will not find anything that would link me to a plot because it would never happen. I would never join a clandestine group planning to take out that monster.
I also suspect I’m not the only one saying what I say on my Blogs or on other sites in comments. I’d bet that there are thousand and even millions expressing the same thing who somewhere during their lives learned tha the only thing to fear was fear itself.
And if the U.S. Constitution was subverted to the point that the Trump-Bannon White House was free to set up legal extermination camps with me on the list of millions of Americans to be exterminated, would life be worth living in this country? When they came for me, I’d have all my weapons loaded and go out in a burst of gunfire. I might not take anyone with me from the Bannon Gestapo, but I’d do my best.
I’ve lived more than 71-years, and I can’t complain much about my life to this point. If the Trump-Bannon partnership in crime and brutality squashed me today, I’d die with no regrets because once I’m dead, it’s over.
This topic came up on Quora:
“Threatening to kill anyone is crime. Threatening to kill a person who is specially protected under the law, as presidential candidates are, is taken incredibly seriously. Making the threat on social media just means you provided the evidence to make it easy for you to get caught.”
https://www.quora.com/Is-threatening-to-kill-a-presidential-candidate-on-social-media-a-crime-in-the-USA
I’d never threaten to kill anyone on my own. The only person I might shoot would be someone breaking into my house, because when I’m outside the hosue, I’m not armed with a firearm. That is illegal and I could end up in jail if caught.
I write about someone else doing it and usually that someone else to me would have to be a special forces, black ops team that runs out of the CIA or a similar agency.
I’m not crazy enough to attempt it on my own. The odds of success are astronomical that anyone like me could pull it off.
As long as I don’t do what this law defines, I should be safe from persecution.
i8 U.S.C. § 879 : US CODE – SECTION 879: THREATS AGAINST FORMER PRESIDENTS AND CERTAIN OTHER PERSONS.
(a) Whoever knowingly and willfully threatens to kill, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon –
(1) a former President or a member of the immediate family of a former President;
(2) a member of the immediate family of the President, the President-elect, the Vice President, or the Vice President-elect;
(3) a major candidate for the office of President or Vice President, or a member of the immediate family of such candidate; or
(4) a person protected by the Secret Service under section 3056(a)(6);
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
I might want someone else to take him out, and when it happens, I’ll be pleasantly surprised because that event will be as new to me as almost everyone else. I might even join the crowds that will be dancing in the streets of the nearest U.S. city to where I live. I expect celebrations to break out in every city. The only people who will be upset will be the hard-core racists.
That makes me feel a bit better, Lloyd. I so hate what is happening in America today, and it sure looks like the child in charge is going after the 1st Amendment – so I worry. According to his actions, anyway, if you work for the government, gag-orders are to be expected.
Thanks for your considered response – and I’m sorry if my comment led to agitation.
xx,
mgh
No reason to be sorry. Others have cautioned me to be careful what I say. I am careful, but I still say what I think, and I don’t think about actually being the person that pulls the trigger or pushes the button that gets this necessary deed done.
This is what I think.
Every morning I wake up wondering if this will be the day that I’ll read news of the end of the malignant narcissist living in the White House as the president of the U.S. It’s all based on hope. There isn’t much I can do beyond that. I’d have to be worth hundreds of millions or billions of dollars and the odds of that happening are astronomical. But I can write about it in a book using a fictional character to do et the job done. :o)
heh-heh-heh — I’ll bet you aren’t the only person with the idea of plotting by novel. And indie-publishing guarantees we will see quite a few, I’m sure.
If I were suddenly worth hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, I’d use the funds to expatriate, starting life again and engaging marginally and from afar. Except for the language barrier, Scandinavia is looking good. But then, I could suppose I could afford to hire a private tutor while I got up to speed ASAP.
America is no longer the land it was, and I believe there are better places to live now, tho’ it makes me sad to come to that realization.
xx,
mgh
Many countries, including the U.S., offers the wealthy an easy way to buy citizenship. If I had wealth, I’d leave too.
I’d probably retain citizenship – hope springs eternal, and I believe a US passport will remain an easy one for travel for a bit longer yet. At least I hope so!
I’d like to get out before that wall keeps us all trapped inside, however – lol?
xx,
mgh
Canada?
New Zealand?
I’d love NZ, but Canada would probably be enough of a stretch financially – unless I win the lottery or something. I sure hope they don’t close THEIR borders!
xx,
mgh
It isn’t cheap.
“About 20 countries operate similar systems. In the US, Immigrant Investor Visas are awarded to foreign nationals who invest $1m in the economy and create 10 full-time jobs for US citizens within two years of arrival. Those who do so are awarded permanent residence and, after three more years, can apply for full citizenship. In the Canadian province of Quebec, “Immigrant Investors” must invest $800,000 CAN (£457,000) in an interest-free, five-year bond and show at least two years of proven management experience. (Canada suspended its nationwide immigrant investor programme in July 2012 but Quebec’s continues.)”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/shortcuts/2013/dec/10/want-to-buy-citizenship-super-rich-malta-passports
WOW! I have read that if all you want to do is live there, and bring your own job, it’s a bit easier. I hope that turns out to be the case when I investigate further. I’m not in a position to move ANYWHERE right now, so it’s moot.
xx, mgh
All the federal laws and departments that came about after the last Great Depression to protect the people from another Great Depression and the environment from pollution are being swept away by the malignant narcissist in the White House with support from a large proton of the GOP dominated Congress.
I’ve been retired since 2005, and most of my income is from CalSTRS, with a tiny fraction from Social Security (SS) since the years I taught don’t count toward SS. I worked in the private sector for a little more than 10 years before becoming a teacher and paid into SS but even that earned income that I paid into from SS was cut in half because I was a teacher. I was qualified for about $650 a month but only got $300, and when I signed up for Medicare, I didn’t know that even that was going to be cut in half to $150 to pay for the Medicare. Imagine even eating on $150, let alone making my $1900 a month house payment. If my income goes, I’ll lose my house, my car, the ability to buy enough food to get through a month, etc. And most of America will be in the same boat. Only the billionaires will be immune and the minions they support who are our elected representatives in the White House and Congress.
CalSTRS is healthy right now with more than enough funds to pay its obligation to retired teachers for more than thirty years, but the huge Wall Street/U.S. Bank crash that is probably on the way will sweep all that money away and dry up that source of income.
If the billionaire owned GOP that works for the wealthiest 1-percent, and the malignant narcissist in the White House continue what they are doing they are going to destroy the economy, and do away with unemployment insurance, Medicare, the federal food stamp program, Social Security, and retirement incomes. I don’t think it will be a good idea to leave the U.S. and live in a foreign country to wake up one morning and discover your source of retirement income is gone and the entire world has crashed into an economic depression greater than the last Great Depression in the early 20th century.
If that happens, my family and friends might be my only source of support and even they might all be struggling forcing us to band together and live like a primitive tribe to support each other for survival.
I might end up sleeping on a cot in a garage somewhere in another person’s house (my daughter and her husband, a distant relative, a friend), or everyone I know ends up living with me because I have a VA loan and they lost their jobs and homes and end up helping me scrape just enough each month to pay the mortgage while we all struggle to get enough food to survive. I could have family and friends sleeping in every room in my house and even in my garage so they have a roof over their heads.
If you have a source of income immune from what is probably going to happen, you should be okay. Even during the Great Depression, only 25-percent of the workforce was without employment or an income, but back then they didn’t have the social safety net that was created by Teddy Roosevelt, Truman, FDR and LBJ.
This crash that is coming will probably be much larger than the last one that happened before World War II broke out and for sure, this president and the Republican Party will do nothing to help the people survive it.
I hate reading this, even as I fear you are probably right. This president and the Republican Party not ONLY will do nothing to help the people survive it, they seem intent on hastening it’s arrival.
Hateful, selfish totally self-involved, money-obsessed individuals, all. The Robber Barons of days gone by seem tame by comparison.
xx,
mgh
Instead of Robber Barons, we could call them America’s Darth Vaders or the Lord Voldemort Billionaires Club
Reblogged this on spaceship china and commented:
we live in interesting, challenging times …..