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Posted on 04/06/2014 1:30:46 PM PDT by Olog-hai
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged warning to Asia Pacific nations Sunday, announcing that the U.S. will send two additional ballistic missile destroyers to Japan to counter the North Korean threat, and saying China must better respect its neighbors.
In unusually forceful remarks about China, Hagel drew a direct line between Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea region and the ongoing territorial disputes between China, Japan and others over remote islands in the East China Sea.
“I think we’re seeing some clear evidence of a lack of respect and intimidation and coercion in Europe today with what the Russians have done with Ukraine,” Hagel told reporters after a meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera. “We must be very careful and we must be very clear, all nations of the world, that in the 21st century this will not stand, you cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation whether it’s in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
What in the he** is a “ballistic missile destroyer”?
Now I understand. The Trident frigates with 24 Trident missiles on them.
It's not really a bluff when you have the biggest and most advanced equipment inventory in the world. It's nations like Russia that are playing with a weak hand and basically bluffing. It's not like Obama has to exert himself to order the Navy or the Air Force into battle. By any measure, he's got a straight flush. The only question is whether he wants to be in the game.
Good thing we’re building up the size of our navy.
/s
OK folks here is a chilling thought. How long before we see a USS Obama?
this is a response to a complaint by japan regarding our military response to Russia.
There's already a USS John Murtha…
It is a bluff if you don’t intend to use it. It’s one thing to have the weaponry (and its relative effectiveness can either way be called into question) and yet another to use it. And still another thing to use it to great effect.
The way China sees it, China has scores to settle (Opium Wars, conned out of resources by empires, etc.). China sees the Yellow River flowing out to the sea, then the ocean and the world.
“in the 21st century this will not stand, you cannot go around the world and redefine boundaries and violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation whether it’s in small islands in the Pacific or large nations in Europe.”
Like on our southern border.
Meanwhile, Red China has no problem conning central Africa out of its natural resources and acting in an imperial manner there.
Might Makes Right...Always has, always will.
You think Hitler was defeated just because he was “Wrong”? It took greater might to defeat him.
Right after the USS Harvey Milk (and that will happen)
It's not a bluff in the sense that he's anteing up a little before folding despite having a straight flush. He doesn't want to be in this game, but has to show some interest lest he be accused of being weak on defense issues. The game he wants to be in involves getting this country as close as he can to the Swedish welfare state. Getting involved in foreign wars would divert money from his domestic priorities.
Wars start when weak men try to act like they’re tough.
I don't think Obama is weak at all. He's stuck with his domestic policy commitments through thick and thin. He just doesn't care about foreign policy. As far as he's concerned, if Russia (or anybody else) overran Europe or the rest of the world, that would be fine with him, as long as he did not get blamed for it. He's the left-wing equivalent of Charles Lindbergh (meaning nations should prepare their own defenses or suffer the consequences) except he makes the usual noises about alliance commitments without meaning it.
Folding is a demonstration of inner weakness. Even worse than bluffing, which is supposed to make your opponent fold.
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