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Washington Times - EXCLUSIVE: China report urges missile shield

Oct 1, 10:58am    (1 review)  military, china, future, us, geopolitics  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008...

EXCLUSIVE: China report urges missile shield Urges development of counterweapons From the page: "The United States needs new weapon systems, including missile defenses and other advanced military capabilities, to deter and counter China's steady buildup of nuclear and conventional arms, according to a draft internal report by a State Department advisory board. U.S. defense policy has stressed missile defenses against Iran and North Korea. The report, by the Secretary of State's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB), is the first to recommend such defenses against China, including technology in space. The draft, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, said Chinese strategy goes beyond building forces capable of retaking the island of Taiwan. China seeks to "break out" by projecting power beyond its region including sea lanes that carry energy resources for its modernization, the document said. "Using superior U.S. military technical capacities, the United States should undertake the development of new weapons, sensors, communications, and other programs and tactics to convince China that it will not be able to overcome the U.S. militarily," the report said. * Read the report by the ISAB Task Force on China's Strategic Modernization (downloads PDF) The draft report presents a tough assessment of Chinese strategic modernization that goes beyond many current government and private-sector analyses that say that China's military modernization does not pose a major challenge to U.S. security interests. For example, in an interview with The Washington Times in March, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden expressed professional "admiration" for China's rapid and sophisticated buildup and said it is "not inevitable that they will be an enemy." The report said that to reduce the chance of a miscalculation by China that could lead to a crisis or conflict, the United States "must take seriously China's challenge to U.S. military superiority in the Asia-Pacific region. ... China's military modernization is proceeding at a rate ... to be of concern even with the most benign interpretation of China's motivation." Chinese Embassy spokesman Wang Baodong said in a statement that China is "naturally becoming stronger and more influential in world affairs" after 30 years of reform, but remains committed to peaceful development and a "foreign policy of peace." "China will not harm anyone or pose a threat to anyone. China's development is opportunity, not threat. Any versions of China threat will continue to be proved fallacious," he said." I have said for some years that China is rapidly developing its military to go to war with the U.S. It has learned all the lessons needed from Nazi Germany and the USSR, and when it does go to war, it will win. While the U.S. has lived in the lap of consumer hedonism, China has aquired the necessary wealth to improve its military at a cost unparalleled in history.  It has projected populations around the globe sufficient to be key agents in time of conflict.  And there's much more. If the U.S. does not make wise - if not popular - decisions now, its children today will grow to be the casualties of war in the future. Do not vote Democrat. They will not advance American geopolitical interests, will not adequately ensure national protection, and impede the military's advancement for conflict in the future .  My words stand and have not changed for years.  I pray the ignorant don't outnumber the wise. .

China aims for military might - Telegraph

Sep 30, 3:09am    (1 review)  military, china, future, us, geopolitics  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnew...

China aims for military might From the page: "The analysts, from Jane's Information Group, believe that the Chinese Communist Party can only continue to rule the country if it maintains economic growth at more than 10 per cent. It is already investing heavily in Africa for food and natural resources but this could lead to conflict with India with the trade route that crosses the Indian Ocean. Within the next year the first navy pilots will begin training for aircraft carrier operations that are expected to be operational early in the next decade. A London conference attended by defence business leaders was told that new air-to-air refuelling planes are being delivered that will double the range of the Chinese air force's increasingly modernised fighters. The army has been substantially slimmed down into a leaner fighting force with new tanks and armoured vehicles coming off the production line. "China is developing a modern highly manoeuvrable force able to operate anywhere as good if not better than Western armies," said Christopher Foss, editor of Jane's Armour and Artillery. In the last 10 years China had made "dramatic progress, make no doubt about that," he warned. But it is China's growing naval might that poses the greatest threat. By 2015 it is expected to have six Jin-class submarines capable of firing the JL2 ballistic nuclear missile that could threaten both the western and eastern American seaboards acting as deterrent to any US intervention if Taiwan or other areas erupted in conflict. China's nuclear attack submarine force is expanding "quite considerably" with six T93 hunter killers and more than a dozen Kilo class boats. Fast attack craft, each carrying eight anti-ship missiles, are to increase from 40 to 100 giving the navy "a considerable capability", the conference heard. Christian Le Miere, editor of Jane's Intelligence Review, said China would fear America less if it had the threat of nuclear weapons off US waters with a "very capable military to back up diplomatic moves". "People will keep an eye on China but there is no reason to think that conflict is inevitable," he said. He added that the "greatest threat of violence" would come when China's military was fully revamped by 2020 and when it was "emboldened by military growth". While there has been a "step change in capabilities" the Chinese navy is a considerable distance from US Navy which spends ten time China's budget building twice the number of vessels. China, with an estimated defence budget of £35 billion, is currently on one of three countries developing a "fifth generation" advanced fighter called the J-XX that could be on a par with American planes although the project is highly secret. Increasingly technology from European countries is being seen in Chinese equipment, the conference heard. A major programme is in place to build 6,000 armoured vehicles at a cost of £7 billion that will include a "very advanced armoured package" of T99 tanks and the eight-wheeled VN1 armed with a 100mm gun, 30mm canon and 7.62mm machine gun. As one of the "most significant vehicles" on the battlefield for the People's Liberation Army the 2,500 VN1 will be air transportable. In recent years China has spent considerable sums on improving capability, new landing craft and special harbours. There had been a major build up of assault ships including 30 large tank landing craft that would allow long range operations." For over a year, while still in Europe, I was telling people on both sides of the pond that the upcoming elections were more critical for future U.S. geopolitical concerns than domestic issues. Given the Wall Street financial mess, I still stand by my statements. And the Three Hundred Hydra Head called Obama is not the right guy to address America's future. His 'Change' will be for the worse. This is a very pragmatic declaration, not a political party remark . America is acting similar to France before WWII. Obama was such a terrible option to leadership, that leadership in the military was hoping Hillary Clinton would win the Democratic nomination. .

David Cameron and John McCain are best suited to defy Russian aggression...

Aug 19, 2:29pm    (1 review)  politics, geopolitics, leadership, david-cameron, john-mccain  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main....

David Cameron and John McCain are best suited to defy Russian aggression BRITAIN "When Gordon Brown took office he was immediately presented with a series of what seemed at the time to be testing crises that he surmounted with stoical authority: now the floods, the amateurish terror attacks and the brief revival of foot-and-mouth disease seem like flea bites. David Cameron Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili greets Britain's opposition Conservative party leader David Cameron Where is he now that we are facing the most genuinely terrifying international confrontation in a generation? This is the man who has reminded us repeatedly (and rather plaintively) of the triumphal opening chapter of his premiership, implying that he would like nothing more than another opportunity to display Courage Under Fire. And he is missing in action. Gone AWOL? Hidden deep in his bunker surrounded by reassuring aides? Paralysed by the collapse of relations with his own Foreign Secretary? Hunched over his plans for a great autumn relaunch? Who knows? Mr Cameron, meanwhile, cleverly filled the vacuum by taking himself off to Georgia to utter an uncompromising message of defiance to the Russians - and to deliver an unambiguous message to the British media that he wasn't just a politician for the soft times. He may have the luxury that Heaven bestows on opposition politicians of being powerless and therefore not encumbered with the problem of actually having to make anything happen, but his statements were unequivocal enough to commit him to a course of action in office - which is brave enough. So in Britain we have seen a startling role reversal: the man billed as a brusque but resolute presence who came into his own in times of danger and anxiety has disappeared from the scene. And the one who was supposed to be cuddly and consumed with lightweight lifestyle issues is bestriding the world stage handing out ultimatums to an aggressive superpower. U.S.A. But within moments of McCain appearing to face the same queries, the Obama poise looked positively laconic and the Obama answers insubstantial. Where he had glided through the session with glib personableness, McCain electrified the hall. His answers were direct, detailed and full of the personal anecdote that his life experience has to offer. Asked the question about evil, he cited al-Qaeda and Islamic extremism. (He would, he said, pursue Osama bin Laden to the gates of Hell if necessary.) America had a moral obligation to defeat genocide wherever it occurred, and he was "very saddened by Russia's re-emergence as an empire". Georgia had achieved democracy and deserved our support. On the definition of "rich", he said that he did not want to raise taxes for anyone in tough economic times. He made it clear, too, that he supported education vouchers to allow poor children greater opportunity. Both men answered the question, "What is worth risking lives for?", with the word "freedom", but it was McCain whose memories gave it force. Ironically, the man whose age is thought to be a liability seemed more energetic and robust than his rival, whose cool sophistication looked somehow inappropriate for the times." .

http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/articles/20080810.aspx

Aug 16, 11:04pm    (1 review)  russia, war, geopolitics, georgia, ethnic-tensions  http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/russia/a...

Why Georgia Lost The War An excellent review and background of the ethnic tensions that have played into the 'war' between Russia and Georgia. Highly recommended. .

Pajamas Media & When the Founding Fathers Faced Islamists

May 27, 1:18pm    (3 reviews)  us, us-history, pirates, diplomacy, geopolitics  http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/when-the-fo...

When the Founding Fathers Faced Islamists From the page: "In response, Thomas Jefferson, then the Minister to France, suggested a multilateral approach of what we would now term "deterrence." He asked that Spain, Portugal, Naples, Denmark, Sweden and France enter into a coalition with America to dissuade the regencies from their criminal assaults on life, liberty and the pursuit of international commerce. As Michael Oren, in his magisterial history Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to Present relates, "By deterring, rather than appeasing, Barbary, the United States would preserve its economy and send an unambiguous message to potentially hostile powers." Jefferson thought it would impress Europe if America could do what Europe had failed to do for centuries and beat back the persistent thuggery of Islamists. "It will procure us respect," said the author of the Declaration of Independence. "And respect is a safeguard to interest." This sober judgment fused the cold calculations of latter-day "realism" with the morality behind revolutionary interventionism: not only would America protect its citizens from plunder and foreign slaveholding; it would ensure that other countries under "Christendom" were similarly protected. Though Jefferson found a stalwart Continental ally in a former one, the Marquis de Lafayette, France squelched the idea of a NATO made of buckshot and cannon. While waiting for funds that would never come from Congress for the construction of a 150-gun navy, the sage of Monticello resigned himself to further diplomacy with the enemy. In 1785, he dispatched John Lamb, a Connecticut businessman, to secure the release of hostages in Algiers, held by its dynastic sovereign Hassan Dey. Lamb failed ignominiously. At the same time, John Adams, then minister to England, agreed to receive the pasha of Tripoli, `Abd al-Rahman al-Ajar, in his London quarters to discuss a possible peace deal. Adams described his interlocutor as a man who looked all "pestilence and war," a suspicion that was soon confirmed by the pasha's demand of 30,000 guineas for his statelet, plus a 3,000 guinea gratuity for himself. He also did Adams the favor of estimating what it would cost the U.S. to broker a similar deal with Tunis, Morocco and Algiers -- the total price for blackmail would be about $1 million, or a tenth the annual budget of the United States. Adams was incensed. "It would be more proper to write [of his meeting with `Abd al-Rahman] for the... New York Theatre," he thundered. He agreed with Jefferson that a military response was increasingly likely, but Adams doubted his country's economic ability to sustain it. For the short term, he thought it better to offer "one Gift of two hundred Thousand Pounds" rather than forfeit "a Million annually" in trade revenue, which the pirates were sure to disrupt. Not long thereafter, Jefferson joined him in London to prevent the "universal and horrible War" and reach an accord with the refractory envoy from Tripoli. Both gentlemen of the Enlightenment, and comrades in revolution, affirmed America's desire for peace, its respect for all nations, and suggested a treaty of lasting friendship with the regency. `Abd al-Rahman listened well, but his reply was one that would shock modern ears less than it did those of the two Founding Fathers ... " I was taught this history in grade school, then later in high school. I have not spoken to any young American yet that knows this story and its impact on the founding of the American Replublic. My confident guess is that B.O. doesn't know it either or his pronouncements would sound more mature.

Spy photos reveal secret launch site for Irans long-range missiles -...

Apr 11, 11:04pm    (10 reviews)  news, iran, geopolitics, missiles  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo...

From the page: "The secret site where Iran is suspected of developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching targets in Europe has been uncovered by new satellite photographs. The imagery has pinpointed the facility from where the Iranians launched their Kavoshgar 1 'research rocket'¯ on February 4, claiming that it was in connection with their space programme. Analysis of the photographs taken by the Digital Globe QuickBird satellite four days after the launch has revealed a number of intriguing features that indicate to experts that it is the same site where Iran is focusing its efforts on developing a ballistic missile with a range of about 6,000km (4,000 miles). A previously unknown missile location, the site, about 230km southeast of Tehran, and the link with Iran's long-range programme, was revealed by Jane's Intelligence Review after a study of the imagery by a former Iraq weapons inspector. A close examination of the photographs has indicated that the Iranians are following the same path as North Korea, pursuing a space programme that enables Tehran to acquire expertise in long-range missile technology." A close examination of the photographs has indicated that the Iranians are following the same path as North Korea

World Tribune &8212; Sol Sanders: Taiwan’s finest hour

Mar 14, 9:39am    (1 review)  china, us, taiwan, un, geopolitics  http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune...

There will be a continued risk of war between China and the US over Taiwan. This is one significant reason why the Chinese government is rapidly modernizing it's military - and it's amphibious abilities. And if there is war, it won't be like war over the Falkland Islands. From the page: "Perhaps the least important in the nature of today's world politics would seem to be that the Taiwanese are being asked to vote on two referenda at the same time they elect a new chief executive. In fact, neither of the referenda are meaningful beyond Greater China - the complex world of Chinese who live not only on the Mainland and in Taiwan but in a diaspora in Southeast Asia and around the world. The question posed is at the same time a strategic and a tactical ploy, but maybe getting at the heart of the Islandâ€s present existence. It consults the 25 million or so residents on the Island on how they view themselves: whether they should apply to the United Nations for admission under the name of 'Taiwan'¯ is the issue. A spokesman for the outgoing Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] which proposes that, likened the referendum to an "amulet" that could protect Taiwan. Their political rivals, the Kuomintang Party [Nationalists or KMT] - whose political and often family forbears ruled on the Mainland under Chiang Kai-shek before they lost the Civil War in 1949 and tens of thousands fled to Taiwan - proposes another referendum. It asks to work for admission to the UN under the old Republic of China [ROC]. In fact, the KMT and its partisans would like the whole referendum issue to just go away and have only thrown that bone out because they think it might be a vote-getter against the more 'nationalistic'¯ DPP. [How could that possibly happen in a parliamentary democracy, you say?] Both, of course, know - along with the voters - that Beijing would use its veto as a permanent member of the Security Council, if it came to that, to block the entry of the Island under any name. It has repeatedly."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022502224...

Mar 2, 10:02pm    (1 review)  politics, war, geopolitics, president, near-east  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

From the page: "This is the mess that will soon land in the lap of President Clinton, President Obama or President McCain. Despite the shadows of 9/11 and Iraq, the U.S. primary season thus far has been dominated by the economy. But it's a mistake to assume that the next presidency will be. Instead of a honeymoon, the new president could inherit a brush fire raging out of control in a volatile region where U.S. involvement has never been deeper. Would he or she merely convene the U.N. Security Council, or rush to Israel's defense? And how, in the event of a general Middle East war, would the president safeguard the woefully exposed U.S. forces in Iraq?"