China

Anchor Steam Aweigh

Kind of nice to know some things never change, according to the Standard newspaper of Hong Kong:

Happy hours have been extended again in Wan Chai bars – some 4,000 American marines and sailors are in town.

Just think of it as more hard-earned American dollars ending up in Chinese pockets.

Globalization at the Barrel of a Gun

That phrase, with its powerful imagery, was often tossed at me following the publication of my 2004 book, The Pentagon’s New Map. In it, I argued that globalization’s expansion was, and would continue to be, the primary cause of unrest and conflict in the world, as connectivity – in all its forms – extended itself into the …

The “Yellow Parallel, um Peril” (With That Red One)

Make no mistake about it: China remains the U.S.’s No. 1 foe — with a bullet. In its annual kabuki dance Wednesday, the Pentagon issued its latest version of its assessment of China’s military might, mandated by Congress. The 84-page report focused like a laser on what the Pentagon sees as China’s push for naval and air power in the …

The Pentagon’s Annual China Report…

….is going to be released Wednesday afternoon. Can we all calibrate our threat-hype meters beforehand? Fearsome new warplanes? Check. Scary aircraft carrier? Check. Able to gobble up Taiwan as mainland China keeps our carriers at bay with its fearsome carrier-killing missiles? Check. May need to sell Taiwan — think of it as a …

“Is a Cyber Pearl Harbor on the Horizon?”

This week on Command Post, John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security and I discuss the potential horror — and the potential hype — of cyber war with James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Kristin Lord of CNAS. Key question: now that the Cold War has melted into history, is the …

Our Silent Partner Everywhere We Intervene – China

That’s how I like to describe it. Whether we like it or not – much less admit it, every time we show up somewhere in tumult, the Chinese are already there or soon to show up. They will be making the big investments (like that $3-4B on a copper mine in Afghanistan) and they will be winning the big extractive contracts (like with both …

Carrier Wars: Who’s Crazier — U.S. Imperiling National Security by Shrinking to Nine Carrier Strike Groups, or China for Selecting Nine Captains for its One Used Russian Flattop?


These are strange times in carrier-land. The U.S. is struggling to hold on to what it has, while the Chinese are struggling to get some of those floating acres of sovereignty for their very own. It’s generating some interesting eddies that are likely to generate profound currents for control of the world’s sea lanes in the 21st …

Cyberwar fears: disaggregating the threat

My man Mark Thompson puts up a cheeky post yesterday that I most heartily approved of. In it he speaks of cyberwar worrywarts and rightly fears that, as the terror war recedes in some priority, new little piggies approach the DoD trough. And as these cyberwar advocates find such a prime target in China, I would note that their …

DEFCON 1: Incoming Numbers!

Washington is a Milky Way of numbers right now, all swirling around in a galaxy of confusion involving taxes, debt and interest rates.

Here are some other numbers that folks reading Battleland should know: $1 trillion out of $9 trillion, 48%, and 15 out of 22 nations surveyed:

China’s Rapid Space Ascent

A recent revelatory study by my colleagues Eric Hagt and Matthew Durnin to be published in the Journal of Strategic Studies (October 2011 Vol. 34) describes China’s rapid expansion of its space satellite network from humble beginnings only one decade ago. It’s constellation of reconnaissance, data-relay, navigation and communications …

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