Generational Dynamics World View

[Cynic Hero '86]

(12-24-2017, 11:01 PM)John J. Xenakis Wrote: Furthermore, there's a historical irony.  After World War II, the
United States took on the role of Policeman of the World, and in doing
so, signed some sort of mutual defense treaty with many countries:
Japan, South Korea, Israel, Taiwan, the Philippines, the Marshall
Islands, the ANZUS agreement with Australia and New Zealand, a special
treaty with Iceland, and the NATO agreement with all of Europe.  The
purpose of these treaties was to discourage attacks on any of these
allies that would otherwise have the risk of spiraling into World War
III.

So today, since those are mutual defense treaties, all of those
countries actually have an obligation to defend the US in a war with
China.  Even if they stay neutral, any incident could trigger a larger
war.  Furthermore, the extreme xenophobia in China makes it more
likely that the Chinese will interpret the mutual defense treaties in
a way that will cause them to attack those countries.  The irony is
that these mutual defense treaties were supposed to prevent World War
III, but instead they make World War III more likely.

These paragraphs as currently phrased is nonsense. The danger of war between China and the US comes from the fact China wants to invade Taiwan as well as the hostility between China and Japan left over from WW2 and the fact that the US is obligated to defend these countries. Those countries therefore don't have the option of remaining neutral in a war with China. It is America that has the option of neutrality. The danger of war with China comes from the fact that if war breaks out between China and Taiwan or China and Japan, the Chinese would be tempted to attack the US as well due to the defence treaty. Thus There are potential scenarios in which China attacks taiwan, japan and the US simulataniously or instead China attacks taiwan or even Japan without attacking the US. However there is no possibility of China attacking the US without also attacking Japan and Taiwan. This is because if you took away the interlocking treaty system, there would afterwards be no casus belli between China and the US. However if you took away said treaties the hostility between China and Taiwan and especially China and Japan would still exist.