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Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
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Originally Posted by OICU812
I agree, it''s the libs and progs who tell us bigger government is always better, they are the ones who should be crying in their milk over fewer government workers.
Nah, it's the CONs and regressives who claim government is THE problem and GROW it when it suits their agenda.
They have more to protect, so of course they'll spend more.
So? It's a Free Market....if you cannot compete, find something else to do.
"Traditional world order?"
Could you possibly be more ethnocentric? I think not.
The "traditional world order" was traditionally centered on the Indian Ocean Basin.....that's where it will it be after it flows full-circle.
That seems reasonable.
I'm guessing you're not hip to the Chinese and Japanese negotiations on a regional unified Asian currency.
All is fair in Love & War.
So, uh, the Chinese army is going to walk on water across the Pacific to the US?
All of them? Or just some of them?
Or are you suggesting they will swim across the Pacific?
Of course you can.
I nominate you as Secretary of Defense.
Your national security can always spy on Americans....that is what they do best, right?
Mircea
World Order: Given the force-projecting capability of the West during the Columbian era (defined as 1492-2000) and the length of that dominance, it's not unreasonable to be termed "traditional". Ethnocentric? Well, yes. But that doesn't erase the dominance of the Euro-American West during the period. I don't see the point of ascribing a value judgement to that facet of history. Before colonial imperialism, no state or group of states could enforce a world order. Regional orders existed. The most sophisticated (in my opinion) regional did exist in East Asia. But writing of a world order pre-colonisation seems rather revisionist to me.
To those worrying about China: relax...for the time being.
Much of what passes for public discourse on China in the US is based primarily on perception rather than material reality. Perceptions of China include: rich, populous, radically different, more assertive, on the up-and-up, hold a massive mortgage on the US.
Reality: China's banking sector is up to the hilt in bad debt. Economic growth is slowing. Foreign expert opinion is divided on whether or not it's a "good" thing. The Chinese Communist Party's social contract with the Chinese people, an element of what is referred to as the Beijing Consensus, had been "we provide economic growth, you don't challenge our authority". The amount of major protests in China is now reckoned at over 100,000 per year. Pollution, if it continues unchecked, will create a public health catastrophe. All those STEM majors they crank out? Mediocre to worthless without exposure to the cutting edge technology, laboratories, or techniques available in the West. Internal political tension is significant, and Beijing's grip on the provinces, especially the extremely rich outward looking coastal provinces (Guangzhou, Shanghai, Fujian, etc) is tenuous. Given the the extreme challenges of ruling 1/4 of the planet's population and the lack of "blue water" naval capacity, China is limited in how it projects power. Sabre rattling in the region is about it, and largely serves domestic consumption purposes eg "We will not be cowed by the Japanese...again". The no-strings-attached trade/resource extraction agreements with the global south make for far more interesting and nuanced gambits.
This is not to say write off China as a basket-case or a country that will continually fail to live up to its potential (like India). The Chinese Communist Party has demonstrated an almost bacterial affinity for adapting and surviving in politics.
Truman did the same thing after WW II and we almost lost the Korean War. This is what Democrats do when they get into power. I think there is a strong need to bring most if not all troops home from overseas bases, but these very deep cuts are a disaster.
Maybe Truman should not have gotten involved in the Korean War at all. They there would have been no danger of losing.
We should close ALL bases outside of the US or make them a profit center. Then cut military spending by 50%.
Ask your average American whether the defense budget should go up or down in 2013, and by how much, and they’ll tell you to cut spending by a whopping 18 percent. Ask your average member of Congress the same question, and no matter which party they’re from, you’ll likely hear that defense spending should barely budge from where it is right now.
Fine with me, you can start with the NSA base at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire which links directly with Fort Meade in Maryland and which listens in for terrorist and other threats against the US.
Then we can close the Ballistic Missile Early Warning Bsse at Flylindales in Yorkshire which is linked to Cheyenne Mountain and the Aerospace Defense Command at Peterson Air Force base in Colarado and which gives you 15 minutes warning of nuclear attack.
Then we will help you could close down Croughton in Northamptonshire a relay centre for CIA clandestine and agent communications. It has also now been named in documents leaked by the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden as playing a key support role in embassy-based spying.
Then you have the Joint Analysis Center, which is the Headquarters of USAF Intelligence in Europe at Alconbury in Cambridgeshire, where they reside in bunkers behind three or four layers of razor wire, and then you have Naval Security Group Detachment at Digby in Lincolnshire where cryptography and joint signals are carried out.
The only actual combat units in the UK now that the Americans have moved out of Fairford is at Mildenhall a base used as a transit and support base for US operations world wide (especially to the middle east) and which houses a fleet of tankers to refuel US Aircraft. It also houses spy planes. None of which is essential to UK Defence.
The other base being Lakenheath where a dwindling number of F-15's reside, however just up the road are two RAF base at Marham with Tornado GR4's soon to be replaced by F-35 Lghtnings and Conningsby a major Eurofighter Typhoon base.
There are no US Soldiers based in Britain and very little US Navy. Indeed the bases in Britain are more for Americas own benefit that any one elses.
Finally lets not forget the new US Embassy at Nine Elms in London which I a quite sure will be full of secret departments and CIA Operatives.
As for Europe as a whole, a lot of the troops in Germany support US Operations world wide in terms of logistics, whilst the US Military Hospital in Germany takes casualties from Afghanistan and other US led conflicts, whilst USAF bases in Europe also support US Operations globally and the US Naval Support Facilities in Italy support the US 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Indeed most remaining US bases in Europe are more fr Americas benefit than for European Defence.
What, England can't run bases in their own country? Aren't they our Ally?
What, England can't run bases in their own country? Aren't they our Ally?
A lot of those American Intelligence bases have little parliamentary oversight and are unaccountable. I couldn't see the same situation being allowed in the US.
I think it's a great idea IF t means the reduction of similar facilities and activities along with getting rid of a lot of administrative headquarters.
Total overseas force structure, including bases, personnel, everything is about 30% of our total military spending in fy2012. That accounts for about 150 billion dollars.
Builds lots of roads.
And that's per year. Congress likes to look at 10 year stretches.
1.5 trillion over 10 years.
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