The Aircraft Carrier Club

CONGRATULATIONS are perhaps in order to the people's republic of china, if that's what they still call it, for the official launching, activization of their first ever aircraft carrier. They join an elite club,, maybe the most elite in the world; countries with carriers. The U.S. has, what twelve or thirteen, and france and great britain and russia all have a handful, and that's about it.

With a positive attitude, we recognize that not just anybody can own and operate an aircraft carrier, so the very fact that china can, or is at least trying to, indicates an organized, prosperous, forward thinking nation, poised to contribute to human progress. A aircraft carrier takes about a million dollars a day to operate; presumably the chinese already know this; if they don't they'll soon find out.

They require several thousand well trained crew members, and they rarely do anything. Evedry once in a blud moon the U.S. or france or britain launches fighter planes off of one, to hammer some recalcitrant country like iraq. Other than that, aircraft carriers serve mostly to scare people and project airpower, warning of catastrophic capability. But they have not been used effectively on a large scale since the battle of midway, in the summer of forty two.

Any country with aircraft carriers in 2012 is intended to help police the world. The chinese carrier acquisition project began shortly after the break up of the soviet union, which is where the chinese got theirs. So their first one is store bought, not made at home. Their next one will be made at home, they say. Hwo many more they plan to build they have not said, but they do say they're in the carrier business to stay.

Within the past few months the united states has moved at least one carrier group into the china sea, to make damned sure america is respected and not forgotton in asia.

thus the world in the near future will be policed by the united states, france, russia, great britain, and china, the same bunch which comprises and has comprised the united nations security council since the end of world war two. Of those five nations, china is the only one which has grown more prosperous since the second great war.

We the world's sheep might as well accept this arrangement without complaint. It wouldn't do any good anyway. And who knows, this arrangement might be as good as any. The united states is too broke to remain the world's only controlling force, and the american people don't want to job.

The new chinese aircraft carrier was at one point slated to become a floating casino. The day may come when all former aircraft carriers become cruise ship casinos. Until then, no third world petty uncooporative dictator is safe from superpower oversight.