Al Qaeda pokes the dragon. This ought to end well...

[AshtonBlack]

Oh joy! Lots more people just trying to get by end up dead

The Muslim terrorists who called for jihad against the Chinese gov't? Sorry, but it wouldn't put me off breakfast to see them at the receiving end of summa dat...(though the execution of people working against the NK regime tends to boil me blood)

I think CJ means that there will be a lot of civilian casualties in this situation. People who couldn't care less about religion or politics but want to mak a living for themselves.

We have too damn many civilians running around as it is.

"Fuckin' civvies getting in the way of the bullets..."

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Fuckin' civvies getting in the way of the bullets..."

Ordnance Absorption Devices.

[Drewish]

Huh, I mean I'm no Al Qaeda fan, but for once their alleged grievances actually make sense.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Huh, I mean I'm no Al Qaeda fan, but for once their alleged grievances actually make sense.

We have a Churchill-Stalin-Hitler triangle in the making.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Does Al-Libi actually think that the Chinese government are going to allow anyone in China to hear his message?

[CJ]

Oh joy! Lots more people just trying to get by end up dead

The Muslim terrorists who called for jihad against the Chinese gov't? Sorry, but it wouldn't put me off breakfast to see them at the receiving end of summa dat...(though the execution of people working against the NK regime tends to boil me blood)

I think CJ means that there will be a lot of civilian casualties in this situation. People who couldn't care less about religion or politics but want to mak a living for themselves.

Yep! It's Joe Blow in the middle that always comes of worst in these sorts of things.

[Deep Sea Isopod]

The west will be calling for China to restrain itself. China wont like being told what to do.... and so on.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yep! It's Joe Blow in the middle that always comes of worst in these sorts of things.

There were times when I envied the folks who could hide.

[CJ]

Yep! It's Joe Blow in the middle that always comes of worst in these sorts of things.

There were times when I envied the folks who could hide.

True. But you chose to get in the way (joined up) and were paid for the privilege of being able to shoot back.

[Rum]

Huh, I mean I'm no Al Qaeda fan, but for once their alleged grievances actually make sense.

There is a policy in place to ensure that Han Chinese (the dominant ethnic group) do actually dominate and control the whole country. They come from the most populous parts in any case so they are using excess population to 'colonise' some of the outer reaches of the country. Tibet (arguably NOT part of China) has seen possibly millions moving there. The fate of minority ethnic or old indigenous groups in China is not historically a happy one. The natives of Taiwan were originally Malayo-Polynesians - there's only about a quarter of a million of them left now. When I lived in Hong Kong one could see something similar happening to a group called the Hakka - though these were originally Han too (long story).

In any case the Chinese machine won't be stopped by Al Q or anyone much else if they put a mind to it.

[AshtonBlack]

They will regret provoking China. Think of the economic power China now has, since it's an excellent time for military aggression/police action, since NO-ONE could possibly stop them, since we (the west) are broke and tied up elsewhere and the Russians would do well to stay out of it. Then who? The Arab States? Don't make me laugh.

I'm not that optimistic that China, at some point, will do more than just posture and actually commit vast numbers of troops in a "unilateral" action somewhere in the world.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yep! It's Joe Blow in the middle that always comes of worst in these sorts of things.

There were times when I envied the folks who could hide.

True. But you chose to get in the way (joined up) and were paid for the privilege of being able to shoot back.

Nobody really knows what they're getting into when they join. I thought I'd be tooling around the bright shiny ocean in an aircraft carrier.

[Drewish]

Huh, I mean I'm no Al Qaeda fan, but for once their alleged grievances actually make sense.

We have a Churchill-Stalin-Hitler triangle in the making.

They're saving that for Kashmir

[CJ]

Yep! It's Joe Blow in the middle that always comes of worst in these sorts of things.

There were times when I envied the folks who could hide.

True. But you chose to get in the way (joined up) and were paid for the privilege of being able to shoot back.

Nobody really knows what they're getting into when they join. I thought I'd be tooling around the bright shiny ocean in an aircraft carrier.

I bet you're right about the first bit. But didn't you at least do a little bit of the second?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yep! It's Joe Blow in the middle that always comes of worst in these sorts of things.

There were times when I envied the folks who could hide.

True. But you chose to get in the way (joined up) and were paid for the privilege of being able to shoot back.

Nobody really knows what they're getting into when they join. I thought I'd be tooling around the bright shiny ocean in an aircraft carrier.

I bet you're right about the first bit. But didn't you at least do a little bit of the second?

Oh, I got on a few boats. I spent some serious time on one or two. Most were just taxis.