2006-02-16
Richard Moore
Friends, We should all be aware that the primary concern of US geopolitical planners, along with controlling global oil & finance, is the ascendency of China. We hear little about this in the mainstream media because the current policy is to make money from investments in China, just as the US made money from investments in Germany prior to WW II. In that pre-WW II era the media praised a bold "New Germany", and downplayed the sinister side of the Nazis. As with Germany then, the time will come when China will suddenly be portrayed as an Evil Enemy, and the US will turn on China as it did on Germany. China is well aware of all this, and for the past decade or so there has been a momentous arms race going on, unadvertised but not secret. The US is aiming for a first-strike capability, while China is aiming for a comparatively low-cost defensive capability, what they call an"asymmetric" strategy. The space-weapons programs, anti-missile defenses, etc., have only China as their motivation. No other nation poses a serious threat to total US hegemony. The attack on Iran, besides being a defense of the petrodollar, will also be an attack on Chinese ascendency. China & Iran have been moving closer and closer together, Iran providing long-term oil contracts, and China providing investments and modern weapons systems. In these circumstances, it makes a great deal of sense for the US to pin down China while the Iran attack is underway. We can assume that the timing of these exercises matches the timing of the planned Iran attack: "this summer". Meanwhile the anti-Muslim, anti-Iran propaganda campaign will continue to build. rkm See also: http://energybulletin.net/12125.html The Proposed Iranian Oil Bourse by Krassimir Petrov -------------------------------------------------------- http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006 216story_16-2-2006_pg4_5 Thursday, February 16, 2006 US to hold biggest naval exercises in Asia Pacific WASHINGTON: Amid persistent warnings about China's growing military clout, the US military said on Tuesday it would hold one of its biggest naval exercises in the Asia Pacific this summer. The large-scale operations will involve several carrier strike groups, each of which includes at least three warships, an attack submarine and a support ship. Four carriers would be involved in three military maritime exercises - one of them touted as the world's largest - between June and August in the region, Commander of the US Pacific Fleet Admiral Gary Roughead said in Washington. Two of the exercises are expected to be largely confined to US forces and held in the Western Pacific while the third involving navies from at least eight countries, including Australia, Chile, Japan, South Korea and Peru, would occur near the Hawaiian Islands. While the war games would boost bilateral and multilateral cooperation and improve military preparedness, it "also provides a deterrent for anyone who would wish us ill," Roughead told a forum organized by the US-based Asia Society, which aims to bridge ties between the two sides of the Pacific. A major Pentagon review of US military strategy earlier this month singled out China as the country with the greatest potential to challenge the United States militarily. The Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR), conducted every four years, said a key goal for the US military in the coming years will be to "shape the choices of countries at a strategic crossroads". The QDR report noted China's steady but secretive military buildup since 1996. Some analysts also see recent Sino-Russian rapprochement as a sign of a desire to wrest military and economic power in the Asia-Pacific region from the United States, which is linked by half century military alliances with Japan and South Korea. It has been at least 10 years since four aircraft carriers have operated in the Pacific Ocean at one time, the Hawaii-based Roughead said, adding that the increased activity was in line with findings of the QDR released on February 6. His spokesman Navy Captain Matt Brown said it could be the largest combined aircraft carrier operations in the Pacific since the Vietnam War. Aside from the Japan-based Kitty Hawk, the other carriers to be involved in the exercises are the San Diego-based Ronald Reagan and one more each from the Pacific and Atlantic fleets. "I think for an East Coast carrier to be operating in the Pacific - probably Vietnam was the last time we had East Coast ships operating up in the Western Pacific," he explained. Elaborating on the exercises, Brown said, "As the QDR mentioned, it is important for us to be focusing on the Pacific, to be working with friends and allies in the Pacific. "And we think that the carriers are a capable multimission platform for gaining familiarisation for forces operating in the Western Pacific." afp -- -------------------------------------------------------- http://cyberjournal.org "Escaping the Matrix: how We the People can change the world" now available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0977098303 on Amazon.UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977098303 Posting archives (now up-to-date): http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?date=01Jan2007&lists=newslog Subscribe to low-traffic list: •••@••.••• ___________________________________________ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.