The fact that the White House is seriously weighing the option of using military force against North Korea is an obvious deviation from what President Donald Trump said during the election campaign. He promised that the US would keep away from local conflicts. According to him, Iran was the main geopolitical foe. Now, this concept…
Chinese strategists suggest that the country’s focus on the Atlantic has been insufficient. One of the unintended consequences of pushing hard against Chinese claims in the South China Sea and the East China Sea (including Taiwan) is that these contested zones have given major impetus to China’s growing maritime ethos. What was once a rather…
The Pacific Ocean is large. Since World War II, weapon systems operating in this theater have required special provisions regarding extensive range, long duration performance and relative self-sufficiency during operations. From America’s Gato-class submarines and PBY Catalina flying boats used to fight the Japanese and reassert American hegemony across Asia-Pacific during WWII, to America’s continued…
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January, both China and the US have kicked off a massive naval buildup, and both cite fears of the other’s increasing maritime military power as the reason. Are we to see another arms race between the rival powers? According to media reports, China is about to secure a massive…
The foreign-policy issues confronting the United States are vast and complex. They range from terror groups such Islamic State and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to Russia’s attempt at re-exerting its status as a major world power. One issue, competition to control the South China Sea, pits mainland China against its lesser rivals: Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei,…
President Donald Trump’s oft-repeated slogan of «America First» is not a substitute phrase for American isolationism but a call to arms for aggressive unilateral military action on a global scale. Unlike the pre-World War II «America Firsters», among whose ranks could be counted Trump’s father, Fred Trump, Donald Trump’s administration and the ranks of his…
