Originally Posted by Sukio

Have you noticed? China is not a strict communist nation anymore. Their army is decreasing in size, and their government is slowly shifting to a more democratic state. China's biggest problems now are pollution and overpopulation. Not a arms race, or destruction of political rivalries. I am not sucking up, just saying, that China, has so much economic ties with the west, and have changed so drastically, that going to war with the west would cost both sides billions in economic trade revenue.

Actually, China is still very much communist. If anything, it's that China is becoming more capitalistic. Communism is a form of government and social structure, and capitalism is a form of economy. If YOU'VE noticed, China's government is still elected and controlled by a select group of people. Democracy or anything close to it would imply that the population votes for the officials. As far as i know, Chinese people do not have that day where they go to the voting polls only the select few in the Communist Party.

Even in its small change towards capitalism, China still taints that progress with its authoritarian control. Most (if not all) of the major businesses/industries in China are owned by the government, and the smaller ones are heavily influenced by the government (e.g. the recent mining accidents - small mining company has mining accident -> communist government says not to talk to press -> company shuts up).

As for your stated 2 problems of China today, for pollution, I hope they reap what they sow. As for overpopulation, well I hope they reap what they sow there too (one-child policy, license to have children, forced post-first trimester abortions, unbalanced ration of males to females...). Overpopulation in China could have been a positive thing but the "Cultural Revolution" did a piss poor job of revolutionizing anything except setting China back a few decades.

As for China's military... well actions speak louder than words...

Originally Posted by KJ

Sweden and Norway have decided to work together over defence strategies and gear purchases.

Too joint participation in Darfur, and previously together on the Balkans, with great results in the joint operations there.

Personally I do think we'll see the shapes of a joint defence organization on the Scandinavian Penninsula; Finland, Norway and Sweden - as once before proposed.

However what signals are sent to NATO, the EEC (Western Union) and our closest allied countries England and USA?

Maybe that NATO and the ECC will get the idea that they just don't act fast enough, if at all.
Actually those entities never learn those things. They just try to stomp on what's threatening their existence.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Maybe that NATO and the ECC will get the idea that they just don't act fast enough, if at all.
Actually those entities never learn those things. They just try to stomp on what's threatening their existence.

Well put. An aggressive Russia would be a threat to their existence, but I still think it would come down to the individual nations, not NATO or UN, they like talking too much. And even if they do something, the ROE would be like they were in The MOG or the AU in Darfur.

NATO = No Action Talk Only

What of the ISAF adventure series? And I don't think anyone notices, but, what of SEATO's records on efficiencies? IF Russian did grasp for power ( which I believe it is not going to happen, and if it does it will not be beneficial to Russia, or her enemies.) Then their subs will leave ports in the eastern coastline of Russia, and move once again through Kiagoon territory and patrol zones. Basically , the Japanese could share key info like that to nearby U.S. and other SEATO nations, and the cat and mouse of submarines would begin.

Kinda like a comical chase of hide and seek , except, in this version, the players each carry multiple nuclear warheads , or worse, radios....

Sukio, you just described a Cold War pretty well there.
And I'm not sure but their priority probably lies with Europe and not with its Asian part of the country where China is going to be the dominant power.

Originally Posted by Sukio

What of the ISAF adventure series? And I don't think anyone notices, but, what of SEATO's records on efficiencies? IF Russian did grasp for power ( which I believe it is not going to happen, and if it does it will not be beneficial to Russia, or her enemies.) Then their subs will leave ports in the eastern coastline of Russia, and move once again through Kiagoon territory and patrol zones. Basically , the Japanese could share key info like that to nearby U.S. and other SEATO nations, and the cat and mouse of submarines would begin.

Tunnels. You can build a lot of tunnels in ten years time.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

NATO = No Action Talk Only

true true!

Russia is now spending the money from their oil sales on defense/offense. Also, expansion doesn't have to be described as gathering countries under a USSR type of control anymore. Russia has watched the US and learned that arming countries in Central and South America and Iran is a better and cheaper than putting them under a boot heel.
When Venezuela is up and running, the KGB can start to foment unrest in South America and keep the US off balance for a lot of years.