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from the trying-to-take-focus-off-domestic-problems? dept.
Three US Navy carriers deployed to Indo-Pacific waters:
The Trump administration deployed the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Nimitz to the region, with each containing more than 60 aircraft.
[...] The Chinese government, which has also increased its military presence in the region, responded swiftly, warning that “countermeasures” could be taken against the US.
[...] The USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Theodore Roosevelt are currently patrolling in the western Pacific, while the USS Nimitz is in the east, according to US Navy press releases.
It’s an unusual move; the last deployment of US aircraft carriers in the Pacific of this size was back in 2017, when tensions with North Korea over nuclear weapons were peaking.
The US launched the deployment on June 4, after a coronavirus outbreak forced the USS Roosevelt into port in Guam in March, which saw more than 1000 of the ship's nearly 4900-member crew test positive for the virus.
[...] “Carriers and carrier strike groups writ large are phenomenal symbols of American naval power. I really am pretty fired up that we’ve got three of them at the moment,” said Rear Admiral Stephen Koehler, director of operations at Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii.
[...] “By massing these aircraft carriers, the US is attempting to demonstrate to the whole region and even the world that it remains the most powerful naval force, as they could enter the South China Sea and threaten Chinese troops on the Xisha and Nansha islands (Paracel and Spratly Islands) as well as vessels passing through nearby waters, so the US could carry out its hegemonic politics,” the Global Times report quoted Li Jie, a Beijing-based naval expert, as saying.
It also noted that Beijing could hold drills in response to show off its firepower.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @12:57PM (3 children)
It seems surreal that the US and China can buy cool stuff from the other side and also be in a position to blow them up.
A US admiral is "..really am pretty fired up that we’ve got three..". I'd rather he be concerned but ready.
The US and USSR were old hands at conducting shoving matches at sea. China's Navy is not experienced at this dangerous game. (This is not clubs with spikes.) Stuff happens and there is no guarantee for a good ending.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 19 2020, @06:55PM
Irans navy might intervene... by making everyone laugh to death.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 20 2020, @08:40AM
Even during the height of the cold war there was various kinds of trade between the US and Russia. Even right now today I can find items labelled 'Made in Russia' on the store shelves of the ethnic specialized grocery stores here.
For all of our talk of nationalism and superiority, free trade has always flowed in all but the most direct conflicts. It may be tariffed or restricted or unduly burdened with regulations, but it almost nevers stops completely, even if they make it hard on one country's exports income.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Saturday June 20 2020, @08:04PM
This is what really rankles me in quotes like this. I guess the bluster plays well with idiots, but I don't want our military commanders itching for a fight. Instead of bragging about who has the biggest dick, or the most aircraft carriers, or the best missiles or whatever, they should be shutting the hell up and thinking "if I get us into a war, how many thousands or millions of deaths will be my fault?"
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"