BIG TROUBLE!!! I guess it's unkind of me to add another quotient to the anxiety factor, but the China connection has been on my mind long before I was worrying about Y2K.

More than a year ago, I heard on the major news the report of the Chicoms trying to buy the abandoned Long Beach Naval Station. Connected with that story was the startling revelation that the Chinese (supposed business leaders) were also building an ammunition factory in the California desert along with a shopping mall. They were also going to build an airport or takeover one that was already there.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What really floored me was that there did't seem to be much concern, except maybe from Robert Dornan, ex-Congressman.

Why should I be surprised? If 70% of the American people see nothing wrong with having an immoral, unethical President, why would they worry about a threat from a government that supplies us with so many material goods, albeit, at the hands of slave labor.

Come January 1, 2000, we may just learn exactly what those secret deals were that Clinton made with his Chinese benefactors.

Someone in California, please assure me that the invasion hasn't begun. Mary

-- Mary (sweep@gateway.net), January 21, 1999

Answers

Chinese is such a difficult language to learn too. Why couldn't it be Canadians or Australians or somthing?

Laugh or cry,

Johnson & Johnson

-- Jonson & Johnson (nomore@tears.com), January 21, 1999.

We could see serious trouble from the Chinese. They have already told us what they will do to fight us, should it come to war, and they believe that it is inevitable.

Also, near Long Beach, I'm told, are oil wells/refineries, and a large naval shipyard/facility. Between the location, air access, sea access, oil access, it's PERFECT to start an invasion from. All it'd take is most of the PacFleet to be out of commission due to electronics faults, most communications down, and a few Chinese Merchant vessels full of troops. Ever wonder how many troops a large merchantman could carry? Alot. Pop a couple of nukes in the area set for EMP, a couple more on trouble-some looking military bases, or a city-buster or two, and we've got a real big problem.

The Chinese fleet is large, and comprised of mostly small, WWII era vessels, with some newer ones, but against a crippled US fleet with little or no comms, it'd be an interesting scenario.

-- Bill (billclo@hotmail.com), January 22, 1999.

Hi Mary,

first off, the longbeach sale was scrapped by Congress months ago - that was one of the times that the PRC issued one of thier "congress hates us and we think the president should just ignore them" statements...everybody laughed and the Chinese just looked confused - which is their standard reaction when encountering anything related to democracy, free enterprise, etc.

Secondly, the Chinese are going to be in MUCH worse shape than we are due to y2k - they started late, and it now looks like they are going to actually have to shut down at least some of their oil refineries in order to effectively remediate their y2k related issues. In other words they aren't going to be invading anybody, unless they can walk to get there...could be a real problem for India, and parts of Russia, but de nada as far as we're concerned...

Arlin Adams

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), January 22, 1999.

dear johnson and johnson, the canadians DID invade southern california, there's about a million of them in los angeles alone, living and working there year-round. and of course the retirees like to go to palm springs every winter, but no one really notices. they were replaced by a bunch of vietnam war draft dodgers who moved permanently to calgary, alberta. so it's fair, i guess.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), January 22, 1999.

Arlin,

What you say could be true, but we know all about the Clinton Admin trying something, getting slapped back, and then finding a backdoor way to get what they wanted originally. The govt is GOOD at this kind of thing, and if they want the Chinese to have that base bad enough, they'll find a way.

I'm talking speculatively here, as to the best of my knowledge, the transfer hasn't occured, but could.

China could have stockpiled lots of fuel, as they have stockpiled food and medical supplies. I read that they have huge complexes of subway-type tunnels under most of their cities, that are highly blast- resistant, and lead away from the city out into the country. All built with "volunteer" labor. Given a few mins notice, they can get most of their urban population under cover, and most of them should survive.

Now, given that as an example of the lengths they will prepare for war, it's not so hard to believe that they might not have a huge amount of fuel stored also. the US has got damn little in the way of preparations, in comparison.

Surely, the communications problem will hamper them somewhat too, but I have difficulty believing that they couldn't invade us effectively anyways.

Who knows whether they'll attack India or US, but I suspect, that given the ability, they'd rather attack the US. Hopefully it'll not occur at all.

-- Bill (billclo@hotmail.com), January 22, 1999.

Who knows whether they'll attack India or US, but I suspect, that given the ability, they'd rather attack the US.

Their ability to reach the US with ballistic missiles and hit their targets accurately improved greatly thanks to the payoff they received from some well-placed bribes to Bill Clinton. A great deal of sensitive missile guidance technology was transferred to China by US Aerospace companies while the Administration deliberately looked the other way. Because we were using Chinese-built rockets to launch our own payloads into space (go figure), we sent highly-skilled engineers over there to work on their missile guidance systems. If Y2K should happen to scramble China's early warning system, or cause it to give a false warning of attack, they could certainly launch on us and hit our cities.

-- Tom Knepper (thomas_knepper@intuit.com), January 22, 1999.

The Chinese may not have invaded southern California but here are two good articles along those lines:

www.jbs.org/library/subject_military.htm Title: Green Berets going Red? (American special forces to train Chinese soldiers) Title: Luftwaffe Invades New Mexico. (German Luftwaffe at Holloman Air Force Base)

Sharon in Texas who will be thankful for Toast with Chipped Beef (Thanks for the laugh Greybear)

-- Sharon in Texas (sking@drought-ridden.com), January 22, 1999.

Very unlikely they would invade here - there's no profit nor political gains to it, and it is too far from "home" to support logistically.

BUT - North Korean re-invading South Korean - when everybody else is "busy" fighting Y2K problems - that is a scenario where the KN have a reason to invade, a method, and the opportunity. The SK economy and power will very likely be reduced if Y2K issues are not resolved, and the economic troubles are worst anyway. It is close to home literally, and far from our support. Farther even from our president's support - if China says "hands off" how's he to complain? The fight there would be easy to minimize through the media - they are his slavish propagandists anyway - so they will casually allow the takeover - or religiously support a military response as they did in Iraq if that is what Clinton wants.

Same conclusion goes for China invading Tawain - motivation, method, opportunity, and logistics all favor an invasion then.

But nothing in CA - other than long term economic and military espionage from the port and satellite control/design agencies nearby.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), January 22, 1999.

Robert,

I can see why you'd think that the Chinese have nothing to gain from invading us, but I believe you're incorrect.

#1, the Chinese consider us an enemy, trading partner not- withstanding. They have come out and SAID so. They now have a strenghtened alliance with the Russians, as I recall.

2) They have the world's largest army, to the best of my knowledge, and can, on short notice, train a huge number of additional cannon- fodder troops. (there are now 12 males for every 10 females in the country, thanks to their predilection to kill off the female babies). 20% more males than females makes for alot more expendable men, and this in a country with a population of around 1.2 billion.

3) They pack as many of those troops in any ship they can get their hands on, and invade us.

4) Things they have to gain: oil, mineral resources, FOOD, technology, and territory. They are working with the Russians, after all, and I'm sure that the Russians would much rather have the Chinese invade the US rather than Siberia (which is the only other logical place for the Chinese to gain additional natural resources). The Russians by and large, when they aren't begging money from us, still consider us an enemy, and the old adage still applies: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".

Heck, the Russians might even be convinced to pitch in a few ships and some troops to help. Or, a few nukes launched at troublesome areas to help out. You get the idea.

Did I miss anything?

-- Bill (billclo@hotmail.com), January 22, 1999.