> We obviously haven't and won't do this to a nuclear-armed country.

Right... which means that every regime knows they have to become a nuclear-armed country.

Absolutely, this has been clear for a long time. Countries are only truly sovereign if they have a reliable nuclear capability, otherwise they are always at the whim of another country with a sufficiently powerful military.

They need the military either way. There's no country that just has nukes and nothing else, except for North Korea, see how that's going for them.

> It's an objectively fantastic thing when those presidents are doing things not in our interests

Why wouldn't China do the same in another country whose president is not acting in China's national interest? If you were Iran[1], would abandoning your nuclear weapons program for sanctions relief still be an option?

1. Or Saudi Arabia

Of course each of these countries are ignoring international law in various respects and doing things in their self interest.

Anything as brazen as capturing a president? Not yet. But I can absolutely see them doing this if they deem the cost/benefit great enough.

I wouldn't be surprised if China goes further and launches a full-scale invasion of Taiwan in the next decade, they've certainly been preparing for it according to our intel.

What the fuck do you think China is going to do next time the US does an “exercise” in the china sea?

What the fuck do you think Iran is going to do next time Israel acts up and the US supports it?

> What the fuck do you think China is going to do next time the US does an “exercise” in the china sea?

They will continue to blow hot air but ignore it, unless they truly and sincerely believe it is a real military action worth starting a war over (and destroying both economies over.)

> What the fuck do you think Iran is going to do next time Israel acts up and the US supports it?

They will continue developing their weapons program thinking they can do it in secret, and it will continue to get compromised and/or blown up.

The brazen callousness with which you advocate for the spread of nuclear weapons and the subjugation of other nations’ sovereignty is disgusting.

You’re probably one of the worst people I’ve ever interacted with.

I don't really care what you think of me, but please adhere to the HN guidelines[1] for civil discussion, this sort of fulminating and personal attack simply has no place here (though there are other websites for that, if you so desire.)

Re. nuclear weapons, sovereignty - I am not "advocating" for anything. I am simply describing the factual reality of international relations, and "political realism," the school of thought that governs international relations between superpowers in the current day and throughout most of human history.

That you are ascribing to this description some sort of moral stance on my part is a judgement error on yours.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html