TOKYO – A shooting war with China may not be inevitable, but a dangerous arms escalation seems a dead certainty. That’s the take from a rare public discussion here this week among naval experts from Japan, the U.S. and …
China
U.S. and Japanese Troops Draw Closer
The prospect of U.S. and Japanese troops fighting side by side in the next land war in Asia — and heaven forbid the need for either — comes a step closer with a little-noted provision in U.S. realignment plans announced last …
Marines’ Move to Guam: Just the First Step
Over on Time’s Global Spin blog, Krista Mahr explains that the shift of 9,000 Marines from Japan’s Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam only fixes half the problem:
…many islanders recognize Japan’s geopolitical vulnerability next to China, and are okay with the U.S. military presence on the island. But they really don’t
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Kiwis to Yanks: Welcome Back!
TOKYO – For the first time in almost three decades, Americans are training for combat in New Zealand – and even the Kiwis are happy about it.
U.S. Marines and soldiers began a joint-training exercise Thursday with the New Zealand Army in the rugged mountains of the North Island. The 10-day exercise is the first combat-related …
Doubts Down Under
Former (1975-1983) Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser isn’t pleased with the tiny, but growing, U.S. military presence on the island that some dare call a continent:
Over 20 years now we have given the impression of doing that which America wants. We seem to believe that our security can be best assured if we do what we can
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Support For Japan’s Military Reaches Post-War High
TOKYO – It’s been a tough year for Japan, what with the earthquake and tsunami, North Korean nukes and China’s increasingly aggressive military. But there’s a silver lining for at least one part of Japanese society – …
Amazing Rescue at Sea
A California Air National Guard HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter hoists a badly-burned fisherman from a Chinese fishing vessel more than 700 miles off the coast of Acapulco, Mexico. Just how a rescue chopper was able to reach so far out into the middle of the Pacific Ocean to pluck the injured man from his ship and bring him to the …
President Obama’s Defense Budget Falling Flat on Capitol Hill
Thursday morning, the Defending Defense coalition—The American Enterprise Institute, The Heritage Foundation, and the Foreign Policy Initiative—will host members of Congress discussing the negative consequences of the Obama …
New Nuclear Math: It’s About Time
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8H7Jibx-c0]
The Obama Administration is considering slashing the nation’s nuclear arsenal to as few as 300 deployed strategic nuclear weapons, Robert Burns of the AP reports. That’s an 80% cut from the 1,550 currently permitted under Washington’s treaty with the Russians.
Certain circles …
Same Old, Same Old At Japan’s Ministry
TOKYO – Japan’s new Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka seems to have done the impossible: He’s gotten off to an even worse start than his predecessor, who was fired after just four months on the job.
Tanaka is to meet with …
How America Painted Itself Into A Corner on North Korean Succession
Great Washington Post piece on China’s intense desire for stability on Korean peninsula, thus the clear backing of the “Great Successor” Kim Jong Eun. Wrap-up paragraph says it all:
The notion of a democratized Korean Peninsula
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More Evidence of the Glorious Do-Loop That Is the East Asian Arms Race
WSJ lead story about Chinese developing a ballistic missile designed to fragment – like a cluster bomb – on the deck of a U.S. carrier and wipe out all aircraft and personnel. Naturally, it’s unbelievably provocative to us, …
The “Strategic Pivot” to Asia Now Committed, Pentagon Can Float Allegedly Deep Cuts
Nice piece in the New York Times on Tuesday, previewing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s much-anticipated announcement of almost a half-trillion in defense cuts over the next decade.As Mark Thompson just noted, not a whole lot …