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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| U.S. making no secret of its strategic buildup in the Pacific |
| 2008-03-07 |
| The United States is building up forces on Guam with an eye toward a future conflict with China, Pacific forces commander Adm. Timothy Keating said recently. Keating told a group of defense reporters on Jan. 28 that the issue of the strategic buildup on Guam, which has been underway for the past three years, was not raised by Chinese military officials during his recent visit to China. Asked if the Chinese are monitoring the buildup, Keating said: “I kind of hope they do. We've got a number of B-2s in Guam now. I'm hoping they notice. We're doing our best to make sure they do. We want them to understand that we're going to continue to course around the Pacific in ways apparent and maybe not quite so apparent, but we're going to utilize all the arrows in our quiver, if you will, and B-2s in Guam, continuous bomber presence writ larger in Guam and elsewhere. We've been told to do it by Defense Policy Guidance, and we're most assuredly doing it.” Guam is being upgraded by the Pentagon as a central strategic operating base in the Pacific and would be used in case of a future conflict with China over Taiwan or other issues, or as a base for operations for a war in Korea. Additionally, Guam is being beefed up to better project power to the strategic oil-producing region of the Middle East. Enhancements have included hardened storage facilities for B-2 bombers, additional attack submarines and better communications and infrastructure. The mutual build up began in the 1980s, and has been the major conflict assumption by both sides since then. Iraq/Afghanistan/Iran and the WoT are just interludes in that assumption. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #6 GUAM NEWS > A NEW POWER PLANT is reportedly being considered for the US Marines; + A B-1 Bomber has reportedly collided wid two vehicles. The news of the propsosed MARINE POWER PLANT is ambiguous to me, since it is NOT clear at this time whether any said US force buildup-relocation will occur on a future GUAM AS A DE FACTO NEW US STATE, ala "CUBA/GUANTANAMO" SCENARIO AS AFFECTED BY POST-COLD WAR DEV IN SUPER-TECHNOLOGIES [e.g. GMD, SPACESTRIKE, LUNAR/MOON-BASED COMMUNICATIONS PLANS, etc.]; versus a future Guam as a DE FACTO NEW INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN NATION. TMK, CHINA still desires to dominate Asia-Pacific vv the USA+ other major Pacific Powers; whereas post 9-11 RADICAL ISLAM HAS BECOME A NEW PLAYER = FUTURE THREAT IN PACOA POWER PLAYS, albeit for now is still fighting for Islamist "land bridges" into WESTPAC + CENTPAC. Lest we fergit, NET > various articles on growing or intensifying Radical Islamist queries in CANADA. RUSSIA'S NEW ANTI-NUKE/WMD TERROR DOCTRINE > IMO DOES NOT REQUIRE RUSSIA TO SEEK LOCAL SOVEREIGN GOVT. CONSENT TO ATTACK AND DESTROY INTERNATIONAL-BASED TERROR ORGS-CELLS, EITHER PREEMPTIVELY OR IN RESPONSE TO A DEADLY TERROR STRIKE AGZ RUSS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-03-07 19:20 |
| #5 When is the Navy going to convert a large container shipping vessel or a old oil tanker into a UACV aircraft carrier. I shouldn't take more than a crew of 100, be fairly cheap and disposable. Something not too costly to put in harms way. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-03-07 14:20 |
| #4 The USN's obsession with littoral combat operations has been a long evolution. Despite the focus on missiles and long-range, the USN's flag officers are still obsessed with naval gunnery. Littoral, or shallow water, operations are ideal for showing the flag and firing off a few big, long-ranged guns. It's much more showy than having a carrier sitting several hundred miles off shore and just letting the flyboys have all the fun. Every ship commander afloat (and most of those not afloat) dreams of taking his half-billion dollar vessel in close enough to see "the whites of his eyes" and blasting away in a firefight. There's always been a fight at the flag level between the blue water navy and the shallow water boys. The fight is over mission, money, and the future of the USN. For the last 65 years the blue water navy proponents have had the upper hand, but recently a lot of money has been pouring into the shallow water boy's pockets and projects. It'll move back to blue water when a few of the littoral combat ships get their nifty black hulls scored by a few hits from a lucky patrol boat. |
| Posted by: FOTSGreg 2008-03-07 12:38 |
| #3 trailing wife: China conflict estimates are why the US Army is going from heavy armored divisions to Stryker brigades; and why the US Navy is obsessed with "littoral" operations. The error is assuming that a US-China conflict will be a traditional war scenario. Odds are it will be anything but that. China is more and more a confederacy, and its military run by near hereditary "princes", warlords. How this will mutate in the future is anyone's guess. The Chinese themselves have a similar resignation to an eventual conflict with the US. Both sides thinking that it is not particularly something they want, just that it is inevitable. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-03-07 10:20 |
| #2 At least someone in the Pentagon is awake and paying attention. China is wanting to be the sole power in the Pacific and is working towards that goal. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-03-07 10:09 |
| #1 The smartest are checking in with JosephMendiola to get the latest information. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-03-07 09:15 |