WSJ Blogs

choi

(1) Peter Landers, US Not Neutral About Japan, Armitage Told Beijing. Japan ReaL Time, Nov 29, 2012.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealti ... itage-told-beijing/

Quote:

former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage "traveled with a delegation of ex-US officials to both countries in late October at the behest of the State Department to convey US concerns about the way the dispute had flared up.

"'They [Beijing] would say, "We appreciate your neutrality," and we [would say], "We’re not neutral. We just haven’t declared one way or the other."'

(2) Andrew Erickson and Gabe Collins, China Aircraft Carrier Style! Assessing the First Takeoff and Landing. China ReaL Time, Nov 27, 2012.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealti ... -and-landing-means/

Quote:

"Carrier aviation is an inherently risky business. In 'Top Gun,' Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw dies in a training accident. In real life, the U.S. carrier program was forged in the crucible of wartime, when severe losses were not just accepted but expected. Planes and pilots were lost at an extreme rate, but the Navy gained invaluable experience in the process. High loss rates persisted well through the early Cold War years. Despite tremendous improvements, even today it is not uncommon for a plane, pilot or deck crew member to be lost. Chinese deck aviation, by contrast, is being developed in a technologically-advanced peacetime environment that does not justify significant losses.

"An American naval analyst has recounted to us a slow-motion tragedy in which a US Navy aircraft caught an arrestor wire and ruptured it without slowing down sufficiently. Unable to stop in time, yet sapped of momentum sufficient to permit a hasty takeoff, the aircraft rolled off the deck in front of the carrier and was promptly run over [by the carrier], causing both aircraft and pilot to be lost.

My comment: There is no need to read the rest.