Western naval sources reported Friday that a Chinese landing craft, the Jinggangshan, with a 1,000-strong marine battalion had reached the Red Sea en route for the Mediterranean off Syria. According to DEBKAfile, Beijing has already deployed a number of warships opposite Syria in secret. If the latest report is confirmed, this will be the largest Chinese deployment in the Middle East in its naval history.This might provide the Chinese a chance to give their AEGIS clones a workout against our missiles, while also giving us a chance to see how well these Chinese AEGIS clones work. Here's to hoping that the Pentagon will disclose some of its findings.
By the end of next week, we'll be damn lucky if there isn't more iron sitting on the bottom of the Med, and oil still being exported from M.E.
All it would take would be for one of the parties to see a first strike as advantageous, or their only chance at survival (i.e., Syria).