:meow-popcorn: Mood music.

How bad is it? Global Times is currently posting Mao quotes.

EDIT: You can track the flight here currently: https://www.flightradar24.com/SPAR19/2ce4f83f

Site currently overloaded it seems

EDIT: Japanese media report about the departure of eight fighters and five US Air Force tanker aircraft from Japanese bases. https://i.imgur.com/9ORbaJ0.jpg

EDIT: US propaganda telegrams reporting "A total of 22 🇺🇸 KC-135 aerial refuelling aircrafts are flying from outside bases to the US military Kadena base in Okinawa, Okinawa Defense Bureau"

EDIT: Civilian traffic cleared on east coast of China. Chinese fighters spotted near Fujian. (Telegrams)

EDIT: Taiwanese fighters take over escort. US fighters no longer escorting SPAR19 (Telegram)

EDIT: J-16 sighted at the south side of the Bashi Strait (Telegram)

EDIT: SU35s crossing the Taiwan Strait (Telegram)

EDIT: CGTN reporting SU35s crossed the Taiwan Strait

EDIT: Video of an air raid siren reportedly in Fujian is floating around the telegrams now.

EDIT: Looks like it has landed in Taipei airport now.

Not sure what happens next.

  • ajouter [she/her]
    hexbear
    87
    2 years ago

    what if we played nuclear chicken with the one place on earth that supplies us chips

    • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]M
      hexbear
      55
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      US military-industrial complex looking at a potential China-Taiwan war: :porky-happy:

      US military-industrial complex realizing that they get the chips for their weaponry and devices from China and Taiwan: :porky-scared-flipped:

    • buh [any]
      hexbear
      66
      2 years ago

      :good-morning: I may not be Franz Ferdinand, but I’d like the PLA to Take Me Out :liberalism:

    • space_comrade [he/him]
      hexbear
      15
      2 years ago

      Are people actually expecting China to shoot her out of the sky?

      I think it's more likely China puts up some sanctions.

      • InsideOutsideCatside [they/them]
        hexbear
        33
        2 years ago

        Nobody is expecting anything were all more just horrified at the infinitely awful possibilities and the fact that if this did lead to nuclear war we're all fucking helpless to prevent it

        • ClimateChangeAnxiety [he/him, they/them]
          hexbear
          11
          2 years ago

          To use someone else’s analogy from yesterday, we’re all watching Pelosi swing her dick right near a circular saw and we’re just hoping the guy using it is paying enough attention to not fuck this up.

      • shiteyes2 [any]
        hexbear
        5
        2 years ago

        More like desperately thirsty for China or anyone, to shoot her out of the sky, or even just same but hold the sky

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    hexbear
    63
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    Please don't read the r/worldnews thread about this story. Americans really, really need their own century of humiliation. So many westerners acting like this is le epic own of evil see-see-pee.

    • amyra [she/her]
      hexbear
      35
      2 years ago

      the lib response is always the worst part of taking Ls

      • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]M
        hexbear
        25
        2 years ago

        If "taking Ls" is some people predicting that China would take an action that would bring us the closest humanity has ever been to nuclear extinction, then they need to take it, imo. I don't particularly care about the opinions of a group of coddled Westoid dronies with the collective intelligence of a toddler, spreading yogurt and shit on the house walls and making Keanu Reeves wholesome memes about Taiwan because their ancient mummified quasi-corpse managed to survive another day on this Earth, especially because this now means that China is now incredibly angry at Taiwan and the US and this only accelerates the decline of the greatest genocidal regime this world has ever known.

    • Kanna [she/her]
      hexbear
      33
      2 years ago

      There's nothing that could get me to read an r/worldnews thread on china

      also happy cake day :heart-sickle:

    • Parzivus [any]
      hexbear
      28
      2 years ago

      We're already undergoing it but Americans are too egocentric to notice the humiliation

    • LaBellaLotta [any]
      hexbear
      17
      2 years ago

      I think about this constantly. It feels to me that the biggest barrier to socialism in America is the unbreakable fucking American ego.

  • ShittyWallpaper [they/them]
    hexbear
    61
    2 years ago

    I know this is probably all posturing but y’all make me nervous after insisting there was a 0% chance Putin would invade right up until their aircraft crossed the border

    • SeventyTwoTrillion [he/him]M
      hexbear
      41
      2 years ago

      Yeah, I'm out of the prediction business on new wars after I got owned on February 24th, I'm just patiently waiting for reality to unfold now

      • ShittyWallpaper [they/them]
        hexbear
        3
        2 years ago

        :heart-sickle:

        I’m better informed about reality either way thanks to the bulletins, so your work is appreciated

    • Parzivus [any]
      hexbear
      20
      2 years ago

      I got owned on that one but Putin owned his entire country first so

    • sayqueensbridge [none/use name]
      hexbear
      14
      2 years ago

      Yeah I can’t lie, that killed a lot of credibility for consensus lefty foreign policy predictions for me. Not that any other group has credibility to me, but now it’s just like whatever nobody really knows anything until it happens

    • A_Serbian_Milf [they/them]
      hexbear
      9
      2 years ago

      I have always said that Russia may get involved, and I actually think they should have smashed the junta in 2014

  • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]
    hexbear
    57
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    :nuke::pog-dolphin::posad:

    "Atomic war is inevitable. It will destroy half of humanity: it is going to destroy immense human riches. It is very possible. The atomic war is going to provoke a true inferno on Earth. But it will not impede Communism. Destruction always comes before creation“

    • Juan Posadas

    :posadas:

        • star_wraith [he/him]
          hexbear
          53
          2 years ago

          Likely something that hurts the US economy, I assume. The US would love nothing more than a war with China right now, IMO. But tanking the US economy even further is gonna lead to the Dems losing even harder in the midterms. If I was China and I wanted maximum chaos but also specifically wanted hurt the democrats for this little stunt... hurt the US economy so much that the GOP wins enough state legislatures to call for a constitutional convention. We'd be royally fucked but maybe libs would finally get that you don't fuck with China like this.

          • PasswordRememberer [he/him]
            hexbear
            61
            2 years ago

            Why would the CPC give a fuck about hurting the Democrats specifically. Of all the national governments on earth China is probably the #1 most aware that the Democrats and Republicans are on the same team

            Death to America

            • star_wraith [he/him]
              hexbear
              31
              2 years ago

              Yes, true. More like, if they see this as a stunt done by Pelosi and Biden specifically. But yeah I'm pretty sure they don't care.

            • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
              hexbear
              8
              2 years ago

              I'm sure China is acutely aware of how much faster shit would accelerate with gop winning the next couple elections.

              It wouldn't be a bad move if the goal was accelerating internal rot.

        • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]
          hexbear
          34
          2 years ago

          I think they’ll turn off the treat hose or up the prices on things if nothing else but I don’t see them kicking off a hot war. Their best bet is really to just sit back and let america throw its temper tantrum.

      • Commander_Data [she/her]
        hexbear
        15
        2 years ago

        If there is any justice in this world they'll seize the Tesla factory and boot Musk out.

      • kristina [she/her]
        hexbear
        10
        2 years ago

        itd be funny if they just made the airspace dangerous looking enough that she was forced to stay in taiwan indefinitely

    • Phish [he/him, any]
      hexbear
      17
      2 years ago

      They'll just do a small military flex to show their presence. Standard procedure. No bullets will fly.

  • Praksis [any]
    hexbear
    48
    2 years ago

    I love how even Taiwan themselves tried to tell Pelosi off but she was like lol no I'll do it anyway. wtf

  • star_wraith [he/him]
    hexbear
    41
    2 years ago

    fr though, China has had ample time to consider the appropriate response on this. And of course my boy Xi is hella smart. There's gonna be retaliation but it's gonna be something like China dropping trillions in US treasuries or something like that.

    • PasswordRememberer [he/him]
      hexbear
      44
      2 years ago

      Yeah it's not like the Chinese are gonna be caught by surprise here. They've known something like this was possible for a long time, and I'm sure they've put about a million times more effort into considering their next move than the Americans have put into understanding the potential ramifications. This will hopefully be a massive long term L for the US ruling class

      Death to America

    • Owl [he/him]
      hexbear
      21
      2 years ago

      I think the biggest risk is that the US military escorts get itchy trigger fingers at some point during this debacle.

  • DrunkUncle [none/use name]
    hexbear
    36
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    China: we will cut off your treat supply you fucking piggies.

    Pelosi: that’s what we want to happen so we can build our own chip industry up.

    American people: uhhh so you’re just gonna let us suffer without treats for years while you do this?

    Pelosi: oh we’ll blame China and you’ll get so mad at those foreigners instead of me. Maybe we’ll get to have another excuse for more insane Military spending. Win win for the ghoul party :cia: :tofu-cool:

    • star_wraith [he/him]
      hexbear
      21
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      that’s what we want to happen so we can build our own chip industry up.

      In 10 years we'll be talking about how we gave Intel and Nvidia billions and they never built one thing with it, just gave money to shareholders. Similar to how we talk about how the telecoms took billions to build fiber internet in the 90s but they just pocketed it instead.

      • DrunkUncle [none/use name]
        hexbear
        2
        2 years ago

        Oh for sure.

        But we’ll also have cut ourselves off from china’s supply of chips, leaving the US even further behind hahaha

        :xi-lib-tears:

  • Kanna [she/her]
    hexbear
    36
    2 years ago

    I'm gonna be stuck at work when nukes start flying :deeper-sadness:

  • plov_mix [comrade/them]
    hexbear
    35
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    So about 15 minutes after Icecreamfridge touched ground -- which probably means the move was premeditated --, the Xinhua New Agency was authorized by the Chinese government to release that China will be conducting six military exercises completely surrounding Taiwan. interestingly, the exercises are time to begin on midday August 4, after Icecreamfridge would have left for either Japan or cringe Korea.

    Up to a few days ago, it used to be a dispute whether Chinese fighter jets should be allowed to fly over the so-called mid-point line (or whatever) between the mainland and Taiwan. Now the military exercises are basically right off-shore both Taibei and Gaoxiong, the island's two largest metropoles.

    Add: also, about 20 minutes after that, the Eastern Theater Command of the PLA announces military exercises in the northern, southwestern, and southeastern areas of the island -- beginning immediately. The timing is interesting (? it starts earlier than the previous one but is announced later), and there is not a single mention of what areas planes or ships should avoid (the one above have coordinates and map).

      • plov_mix [comrade/them]
        hexbear
        18
        edit-2
        2 years ago

        nothing extreme for sure, it's just never happened before -- I mean, at least Russia had had numerous military exercises on its western border before the one in Feb 2022 :shrug-outta-hecks:

    • Parzivus [any]
      hexbear
      15
      2 years ago

      This seems pretty big :what-the-hell:

    • Catherine_Steward [she/her]
      hexbear
      13
      2 years ago

      six military exercises completely surrounding Taiwan

      lol libs gonna be literally calling for nuclear war

    • A_Serbian_Milf [they/them]
      hexbear
      11
      2 years ago

      Keep those 6 exercises surrounding Taiwan going indefinitely, let’s see how the imperialist bloc responds to their own island being completely blockaded :quagsire-pog:

  • Awoo [she/her]
    hexagon
    hexbear
    31
    2 years ago

    Civilian traffic cleared on east coast of China. Chinese fighters spotted near Fujian. (Telegrams)

  • thisismyrealname [he/him]
    hexbear
    31
    2 years ago

    completely unrelated to the now-impending WW3 but holy shit there are THAT MANY planes in the air? no fucking wonder our planet is cooking