With an eye on China’s growing power, other countries have drawn closer, revealing the contours of an emerging new security architecture.
Japan has strengthened defense ties with Australia, the Philippines and India, and it is discussing closer cooperation with South Korea. Japan has also scrapped its longstanding restrictions on defense exports and is moving to join South Korea as a regional arms supplier, while Australia has signed new agreements with Pacific Islandnations, including a mutual defense pact with Fiji…
An order in which Asian countries assume greater responsibility for their own defense and rely more on one another — and less on an increasingly distracted United States — could ultimately prove stable and secure.
At any rate, it is unavoidable. An overextended United States is less prepared to underwrite Asia’s security indefinitely than it once was…
The United States, for its part, could continue to coordinate closely with its Asia-Pacific allies, take the lead on tasks central to U.S. interests, such as keeping vital sea lanes open, and work to maintain stable relations with China…[end quote]
Long overdo. Europe is a fading industrial plant & GDP & demographically.
The United States has spend defense funds on the wrong things.
There is a low supply of missiles. And the US does have a industrial able to rebuild supply rapidly. Building new factories will take years. And the new factories might be as poorly run as the new 155mm artillery round factory in Texas that I posted about previously.
Drone now appear the new effective weapon system. But they cannot be utilized in stopping ballistic missiles. Defense missiles are needed for that.
The Iran War has demonstrated that our country has wasted spending $2 trillion on a navy that is incapable of opening the Strait of Hormuz or keeping Houthus from attacking ships transiting the Red Sea.
The United States has been humiliated by Iran inspiring no confidence from our allies.
Citizens should expect more from their representatives, who stay in power due ineffective campaign money rules & laws.
I see parallels of the United States and the fall of the Roman empire. Our nation will have to drastically change course to prevent a similar end. And it will require of course a massive influx revenue [increased taxation] to do so.I do not see the will of the citizenry for congresscritters willing or able to bring change to our present corporatocracy government.
For me it is pretty much a non issue as I likely have less than 10 years of life left. I have no children to worry about. For those with children, you had best get off your fannies and become much more politically active. And it will require than your vote but cash to be heard our present political system. Because the elites and oligarchs will be spend to put forth their view that everything is fine and dandy in the current corporatocracy and it’s policies.
I’m not sure there is anything that would keep the Strait of Hormuz open short of total war and a ground sweep of Iranian forces from the westernmost coast of their country. Like 1/3 of the country, at least.
That is not a failure of military, that is a failure of leadership - to not recognize the vulnerability and do diplomatically what cannot be done militarily. But everybody here knows that.
As for our laggard entry into the drone space, well I’ll just point out that the US military has a history of doing that. The Army first turned down the Gatling gun , because “too much ammunition.” The Navy clung to the “Battleships of the Sea” theory right up until Dec 7, 1941 when they had no choice but to change. We used precisely the wrong tactics in Vietnam (and refused to change for YEARS) even though it was clear to all (including those high in govt) that it wasn’t working.
I am reminded of the Bill Cosby routine about the Revolutiionary War. “We will wear different clothing and shoot from behind rocks and trees, and you will wear Red uniforms an d march in a straight line”. Something about the military seems to always run slow - unless they are forced to do something different.
Germany built rockets because the WWI treaty forbade them from building airplanes. (Of course they did that too.) Japan built carriers because they could not build battleships in sufficient numbers to counter the US. The VietCong built bamboo shoot traps because they didn’t have traditional armaments. And so it goes.
Ukraine started using drones because they could buy them from China, strap on a grenade or whatever, and let fly. Whoa! New paradigm! And here we are, with the generals and bright lights at the DoD just barely starting to think about it. (Of course it will wind up being its own entrenched bureaucracy within a few years, and then it’ll be the “Battleship” problem all over again.)
It will prove more secure, because instead of the US trying to workout riding in for the rescue, the smaller powers will be equipped to fight. China is much more stymied. The other Asian defense budgets from day one will be greater so the built up residual regional military might to ward off China will be far greater.
