The Irresponsibility of Small Nations

Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts

After falsely accusing Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), Washington unilaterally repudiated the treaty. Thus did the US military/security complex rid itself of the landmark agreement achieved by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev that defused the Cold War.

Continue reading “The Irresponsibility of Small Nations”

THEY’VE GOT MISSILES TOO

I thought Kamchatka only existed in the game of RISK.

Russian armed forces and navy held large-scale drills in Kamchatka on Tuesday, part of a strategic command and staff exercise, code-named Vostok-2014 (East-2014).

S-300PS long range surface-to-air missile systems, Rubezh and Redut coastal defenсe systems, as well as Grad MLRS were deployed, firing live.

The exercises also featured 13 ships, 3 submarines, 13 supply vessels, 40 planes, 28 helicopters and 4 drone complexes. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu watched the drills

The drills are underway on September 19-25 and feature exercises all across the Eastern military district of Russia, from Eastern Arctic to Vladivostok.

Click to see other stages:

Live fire raw: Russian Arctic fleet drills, testfires multiple missile systems http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhkppZ…

Vostok 2014: Russian military successfully launches Iskander-M rockets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY_uUv…

RAW: Russian Pacific Fleet missile destroys simulated enemy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0Eb9…

Russia’s northern fleet held large-scale drills in Russian Arctic. Destroyer Admiral Levchenko and units of Pantsir-S1 (SA-22 Greyhound in NATO codification) surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapon system were involved in the exercises. The troops trained in defending Novosibirsk islands, Eastern part of Russian Arctic.

US: NO COMMENT ON UKRAINE NAZI ATROCITIES

Those damned separatists keep putting civilians in the firing line of Ukrainian Nazi missiles provided by the United States. It must be Putin’s fault.

In the past two days, Kiev’s forces have launched several short-range ballistic missiles into areas in eastern Ukraine controlled by self-defense forces, CNN reported, citing US government sources. However State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki offered no comment on the issue.

Wooden church and a nearby playground got under shelling in Gorlovka on July 29. A local woman was heavily injured as the shell also hit the bus station in front of the church. Gorlovka has witnessed fire intensification for the past days as Ukrainian army ratchets up pressure at Donetsk People’s Republic militia who are in control of the area.

CHINA & U.S. – WAR IS INEVITABLE

Why do countries go to war?

  1. One or both countries are led by maniacs (Hitler, Stalin, Tojo) 
  2. Opposing political systems (Capitalism, Communism)
  3. Necessity for resources or land (Japan, Germany)
  4. Accident due to treaties & alliances (WWI)
  5. Seccession or internal political issues (Revolutionary War, Civil War)

China is tired of playing second fiddle to the U.S. They are already kicking our asses economically. They have us by the balls as they own $900 billion of our debt. We need to issue $1.5 trillion of new debt every year for the next 5 years. We need the Chinese to buy a good chunk of this debt. The Chinese know that. They also know that Bernanke is trying to screw them by devaluing the USD.

They are converting their USD into hard assets. They are buying up natural resouces like mines and oil wells. They are signing deals with Iran, Venezuela, and African nations to tie up oil resources. They are buying gold. They have most of the rare earths in the world and aren’t sharing. Now it seems they are using those USD to build missiles and other high tech military hardware.

The US Navy revolves around their 11 aircraft carriers. We are in the process of building 3 new aircraft carriers at a cost of $14 billion each. The Chinese have perfected a new missile that will put these outmoded WWII antiques at the bottom of the sea. The US is preparing for the last war. China is preparing for cyber war using satellites, computer hackers, and high tech missiles.

China and the US both need oil. The supplies of oil are depleting. Economic tensions are already high. As oil becomes more precious, the US and China will be competing for the same supply sources. Any economic collapse experienced by either country will significantly increase tensions between the countries. These issues are a powder-keg and both countries will be lighting matches. I expect armed conflict with China to commence between 2015 and 2020, as would be expected in the Fourth Turning Crisis. World War erupted 12 years after the onset of the last Fourth Turning. A similar scenario would result in major war around the year 2017. It is our destiny.

China preparing for armed conflict ‘in every direction’

China is preparing for conflict ‘in every direction’, the defence minister said on Wednesday in remarks that threaten to overshadow a visit to Beijing by his US counterpart next month.

China preparing for armed conflict 'in every direction'

By Peter Foster, Beijing 1:30PM GMT 29 Dec 2010

“In the coming five years, our military will push forward preparations for military conflict in every strategic direction,” said Liang Guanglie in an interview published by several state-backed newspapers in China. “We may be living in peaceful times, but we can never forget war, never send the horses south or put the bayonets and guns away,” Mr Liang added.

China repeatedly says it is planning a “peaceful rise” but the recent pace and scale of its military modernisation has alarmed many of its neighbours in the Asia-Pacific, including Japan which described China’s military build-up as a “global concern” this month.

Mr Liang’s remarks come at a time of increasingly difficult relations between the Chinese and US armed forces which a three-day visit by his counterpart Robert Gates is intended to address. A year ago China froze substantive military relations in protest at US arms sales to Taiwan and relations deteriorated further this summer when China objected to US plans to deploy one of its nuclear supercarriers, the USS George Washington, into the Yellow Sea off the Korean peninsula.

China also announced this month that it was preparing to launch its own aircraft carrier next year in a signal that China is determined to punch its weight as a rising superpower. The news came a year earlier than many US defence analysts had predicted.

China is also working on a “carrier-killing” ballistic missile that could sink US carriers from afar, fundamentally reordering the balance of power in a region that has been dominated by the US since the end of the Second World War.

A US Navy commander, Admiral Robert Willard, told Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper this week that he believes the Chinese anti-ship missile, the Dong Feng 21, has already achieved “initial operational capability”, although it would require years of testing.

Analysts remain divided over whether China is initiating an Asian arms race. Even allowing for undeclared spending, China’s annual defence budget is still less than one-sixth of America’s $663bn a year, or less than half the US figure when expressed as a percentage of GDP.

However in a speech earlier this year Mr Gates warned that China’s new weapons, including its carrier-killing missile, “threaten America’s primary way to project power and help allies in the Pacific”, underscoring the difficulties that lie ahead as China and the US seek to contain growing strategic frictions.

As China modernises, Mr Liang pledged that its armed forces would also increasingly use homegrown Chinese technology, which analysts say still lags behind Western technology even as China races to catch up.

“The modernisation of the Chinese military cannot depend on others, and cannot be bought,” Mr Liang added, “In the next five years, our economy and society will develop faster, boosting comprehensive national power. We will take the opportunity and speed up modernisation of the military.”

Chinese missile shifts power in Pacific

By Kathrin Hille in Beijing

Published: December 28 2010 11:58 | Last updated: December 28 2010 11:58

A new Chinese anti-ship missile that will significantly alter the balance of military power in the Pacific is now operational, according to a senior US commander.

Admiral Robert Willard, the top US commander in the Pacific, said the Chinese ballistic missile, which was designed to threaten US aircraft carriers in the region, had reached “initial operational capability”.

His remarks signal that China is challenging the US ability to project military power in Asia much sooner than many had expected.

The US and other countries in the Pacific region are increasingly concerned at the speed with which China is developing its naval power. Japan, for example, recently decided to refocus its military on the potential threat from China.

“So now we know – China’s [anti-ship ballistic missile] is no longer aspirational,” Andrew Erickson, an expert on the Chinese military at the US Naval War College, said in response to Adm Willard’s comments to the Asahi newspaper.

Defence analysts have called the Dongfeng 21 D missile a “game changer” since it could force US aircraft carriers to stay away from waters where China does not want to see them. These include the Taiwan Strait where a potential conflict could develop over the self-ruled island which China claims.

The land-based missile is designed to target and track aircraft carrier groups with the help of satellites, unmanned aerial vehicles and over-the-horizon radar. Aircraft carriers and their accompanying ships are unable to defend themselves against such a threat.

Aware of the missile’s development, the Pentagon has already started considering ways to counter the new threat, including a new concept for more closely integrated navy and air force operations.

Robert Gates, US defence secretary, said in September, the development of such a missile would force the Pentagon to rethink the way carriers were deployed.

“If the Chinese or somebody else has a highly accurate anti-ship cruise or ballistic missile that can take out a carrier at hundreds of miles of ranges and therefore in Asia puts us back behind the second island chain, how then do you use carriers differently in the future?” Mr Gates asked.

The second chain of islands runs from the Bonins along the Marianas, Guam and Palau, forming a north-south line east of Japan and the Philippines. This line defines what China sees as its “near seas” – waters in which the US navy now frequently operates and are home to US naval bases and allies such as Japan and South Korea.

Adm Willard noted this year that China’s anti-ship ballistic missile was undergoing extensive testing and was close to deployment. Observers believe China started production of missile motors last year and that the Chinese military is preparing a nuclear missile base in the southern city of Shaoguan for their deployment.

Defence analysts have also linked several missile flight tests this year to the new weapon but no conclusive evidence has been available to date.

Adm Willard’s latest comments appear to remove any doubts. The term “initial operational capability” as used by the Pentagon indicates that some military units have started deployment of the weapon and are capable of using it.

Mr Erickson said: “Beijing has successfully developed, tested, and deployed the world’s first weapons system capable of targeting a moving carrier strike group from long-range, land-based mobile launchers.” .

Adm Willard said the new Chinese weapon was still not fully-operational and would probably undergo testing for “several more years”. The key remaining step is a comprehensive test of the entire system at sea, which is much more difficult than test flights over land.

China also needs to deploy more satellites to ensure seamless tracking of a moving target at sea. But defence experts warn that the weapon would immediately be a threat to US carriers because China could make up for a lack in accuracy by launching larger numbers of missiles.