chola wrote: From my standpoint, propaganda is nothing in a kinetic world. No amount of propaganda can change the fact that Unkil surrounds the PRC with bases that can annihilate the chini military within hours of any hostilities, for example.
But for a proper discussion of China it is better to just ban the chinis. There is nothing to gain from having them post. And seriously, I am tired of the same ones anyways.
Unkil surrounding China is no comfort to the Indian except for the Indian who has a dual identity both as part of unkil as well as Indian - typically one who lives in both worlds due to various reasons. Given that the US is no ally of India in times of distress, Indians without a US connection cannot boast on behalf of the US. Either we cock up and shut up or get into a mine is bigger game.
Chinese propaganda from Liu has basically boasted about dominating everything - but in the last 15 years Chinese propaganda has gradually moved away from mocking the Indian to challenging the US.
Just like Indians are provoked by the Chinese to respond with a "mine is bigger", I am increasingly noticing that Americans too are now responding to China with "mine is bigger". The "twin identity" Indian-US person can always reject mocking of India by pointing out that America is bigger, nyahaha. But the fact is that the Chinese are successfully provoking responses from Americans.
Both banning and claiming that America is bigger and better are useless in my opinion. Right or wrong I see the Chinese playing a game that sets them up with a psychological advantage. They have suckered India in this game for decades and it is a game that Indians don't play well - a game of highlighting and exaggerating Indian achievements.
The US however is already master at this game. Despite Liu's denials - he is wrong. Just in the past 2-3 months there has been news of an exercise where the F-22 won hands down against legacy US fighters because they could not see the F-22 and so they had to put radar signal enhancing devices on the F-22 to balance things out a bit
And guess what - just a few weeks later we have Liu and the Chinese coming out with EXACTLY the same story. First the J-20 put up that pathetic and shameful display at Zhuhai - but it was notable because it had radar signature enhancing devices. A sound propaganda ploy - not just a security measure. After all who which foreign nation would have a snooping device in Zhuhai?
And now Liu tells us the same story that the Yanks told us "The <F-22/J-20> showed a 10-1 superiority over opposing forces of <F-15/16/J-11, Su-27)
The US is saying "The future lies with F-35 and F-22" Liu is saying "the future lies with J20 which is == F-22. No need for 4th gen fighters
And Americans are responding and saying "No no no we are better"
In short the Chinese are now challenging the US and their challenges is being validated by the US responding to their boasts. The more the US or American citizens respond, the greater the validation for the Chinese that they have arrived.
Indians can only watch this drama and stay prepared for getting attacked by China on the one hand and a coalition of China+America via Pakistan
In the 1970s and 80s a desperate US decided that they should co-opt China to fight the USSR, and supported Pakistan.
Who knows, if India gets too big for its shoes the US and China may once again cooperate to screw us. So US capabilities versus China are not necessarily reassuring to India