Defending the Loin City...

**two-niner** · 26 Apr 06,, 07:48

there you finally get my point somebody is coming and to us it doesn't matter who comes but somebody will come and he has to be big enough resolve this problem for us, and if the yankees can't come then they will take matters into their own hands and all will come here and resolve this problem for us.

it's not any concern to me whether china navy is bigger than usa or who has a bigger airforce I couldn't care less, my concern is what would happen if malaysia turned off our water supply, a short war will happen what that will eventually lead to - we trained for this we know roughly what is going to happen.

**Officer of Engineers** · 26 Apr 06,, 07:51

Or how about Malaysia just clobber you guys without stopping sea traffic or even enforcing the freedom of the seas?

**two-niner** · 26 Apr 06,, 08:24

Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers

Or how about Malaysia just clobber you guys without stopping sea traffic or even enforcing the freedom of the seas?

thats not possible, now you see we thought of it before hand that if we totally depended on the concept that having an important waterway will keep us from war and didn't need to have a credible armed force that will be taken seriously by our nearest neighbours then we would be sadly mistaken and waiting to be swallowed by a bigger neighbour and if that were to happen the world will not take notice very much as long as it doesn't really affect them very much, as long as the rest of the world they turn on a switch there is light, open the refrigerator there's food they couldn't care less really if singapore couldn't defend itself and got swallowed by malaysia or indonesia.

But if we had a credible armed forces we could make life difficult if not hell for everybody. The size of our deployment and what we can field is no big secret and it's all in tim huxley's book but if you considered that to be almost equalled the combine for malaysia and indonesia? If you compare man to man we have more than enough.

So if a war broke out with intense fighting, civilians displaced brutal war images flashing across your tv sets and stock markets crumbling in the region many will be forced to sit up and take notice especially when they turn the switch there's no light or they go to market there's shortages of food, fuel becomes expensive and scarce or corporations reeling from losses in trade revenues and it affects many people's day to day living, then you decide whether they will come here or not.

**gunnut** · 26 Apr 06,, 08:41

No one will want to attack Singapore, or even blockade it. The cost-benefit analysis doesn't pay off.

It's too close to the ocean, meaning the US can easily project massive amount of power into the region. Not a good idea for any aggressor.

It's a big financial center. Messing with it will draw the ire of most of the capitalist world. Not a very good idea.

It's a virtual police state. Not very easy for terror cells to operate like they have in the US and Europe.

There might be a problem if Malaysia becomes the next super power. So Singapore should be safe for a long while.

**Officer of Engineers** · 26 Apr 06,, 14:41

Originally Posted by two-niner

thats not possible, now you see we thought of it before hand

Iran-Iraq occupied much the same position and as long as they were just keeping it to themselves, we couldn't care less.

**TopHatter** · 27 Apr 06,, 02:14

Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers

Iran-Iraq occupied much the same position and as long as they were just keeping it to themselves, we couldn't care less.

Yup, and when Iran couldn't keep it in the family, even the Soviets deployed warships for escort duty for cryin out loud.

Mind you it was the USN that actually smacked the Iranians around for awhile, but the point two-niner, is that screwing around with a fairly critical nexus of the world economy is going to bring the whole world down on you, even the pacifist-leaning countries.

**Parihaka** · 27 Apr 06,, 02:23

Originally Posted by TopHatter

screwing around with a fairly critical nexus of the world economy is going to bring the whole world down on you, even the pacifist-leaning countries.

Exactly. Nobody but nobody would stand by and see such a significant trading nexus attacked.

**Zaphael** · 09 Jun 06,, 11:49

China is seekinng force projection capabilities, with Taiwan and the Spratlys being their key focuses. The Spratly's is just one step away from Singapore. Chances are, if Singapore remains US-friendly when China decides to flex its naval muscles (which they are lookin to acquire) at the spratly's, Singapore is gonna be one of the places they will keep an eye on.

**lemontree** · 09 Jun 06,, 13:51

Have'nt we already had a big debate on this topic a couple of months ago?...

**-{SpoonmaN}-** · 10 Jun 06,, 03:13

Singapore also has us on board if there's an invasion, and given that means the strongest Air and Naval Forces in South East Asia, we could basically destroy any neighbouring Navy and cut off the attacking Force's supply line without too much trouble.
Australia and Singapore are pretty damn close on Defence you see. I read that SAF pilots do a lot of their training here on account of the fact that they simply dont have the airspace to train in back home.

**HKDan** · 10 Jun 06,, 05:19

I remember years ago being in Singapore on a Rugby tour and talking to a guy there who was telling me that because of lack of space in Singapore itslf they frequently have to go to other countries to train. I cant remember exactly, but I think that Taiwan was mentioned. Is that still the case? I think he said something along the lines of them leaving the equipment there and just flying in Soldiers to train on it.