02-05-2017, 08:20 AM
(02-05-2017, 03:35 AM)Warren Dew Wrote: Somehow, the result was not the Philippines building their own supercarriers, but instead China building artificial islands to control the South China Sea.Why? What trade routes on which the US is one end point pass through the South China Sea? The purpose for our far-flung military power (what the folks at AntiWar call "the empire") is to maintain the globalization project. I thought Trump ran against this. Doesn't he want to scale back trade from that area of the world. Another reason for our military posture was to ensure the free flow of Mideast oil to Europe. Were oil routes to be threatened, prices would rise like in 1990, which would kick US domestic production into high gear and complete the transition to energy independence. Isn't that what Trump's base wants?
Honestly, there can only be two results from this:
1. Our existing adversaries take over the abandoned territory.
2. Our current allies develop strong militaries and, with the associated power, chart their own geopolitical course independent of ours, becoming adversaries.
Neither seems a good result for us.
Seems to me he could in a fit of pique take his ball and go home. Put the troops on the border to keep the bad guys out. And he will have achieved a giant step towards making American (economically) great again like it was after WW II. All he needs is a way to run away while looking strong, the way Reagan did it in 1983.