to Austrailia as adverse political considerations continue to grow in the Western Pacific.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25964928-911,00.html
As the INDIAN and CHINESE NAVIES inevitably grow in power and JAPAN and S. KOREA are able to become more independent and RUSSIA flexes her considerable naval potential it behooves the US to find more suitably safe sites for fleet rest, relaxation, repairs and reconstitution.
Supporting ships in possible/potential war zones is problematic.
Even GUAM while more distant from current Japanese facilities it is still quite vulnerable as WWII showed.
The Phillipines is untenable and Singapore is quite vulnerable.
OR is it also inevitable that the entire area wiil soon become untenable to the USN?
By: Distiller - 23rd August 2009 at 19:30
Those island basis are all in danger, as long as they are low in number. And a nuclear attack is not necessarily a blast/temp-oprimized attack, could well be a EMP attack.
By: rickusn - 22nd August 2009 at 16:38
“Apparently the basis for all this is a conflict versus China.”
Not necessarilly.
Although China is a major element in the region it is far from the only consideration and why I listed a view of the other players.
Not the least of which is th influence of Russia.
Indonesia and Indo-China ie Malaysia, Vietnam et al too are ever increasing their effect on the region.
Plus as mentioned political considerations play as big a part as military realities.
See Japan and S. Korea.
By: Schorsch - 22nd August 2009 at 15:03
Guam is only vulnerable if a strike occurs with nuclear weapons, at which case I think it doesn’t matter too much anyway anymore.
Apparently the basis for all this is a conflict versus China.
Australia is not that great, either, as it may be unwilling politically.
How about Rabaul or Truk?
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August 22, 2009 at 1:58 pm