Carter and the “pivot” to Asia
Ashton Carter, the US Secretary of Defense, gave a speech at Arizona State University’s McCain Institute yesterday in which he renewed his support for the Administration’s “pivot” of our defense policy from the ongoing wars in the Middle East, North Africa and the Crimea to the Pacific Rim, according to the Associated Press;
The Obama administration is opening a new phase of its strategic “rebalance” toward Asia and the Pacific by investing in high-end weapons such as a new long-range stealth bomber, refreshing its defense alliance with Japan and expanding trade partnerships, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday.
“I am personally committed to overseeing the next phase of the rebalance, which will deepen and diversify our engagement in the region,” Carter said in a speech outlining the administration’s rationale for trying to devote more attention to Asia.
The article points out that President Bush had the same goal, shifting defense policy focus on Asia, but that he was distracted by the war against terror. Apparently, this administration isn’t going to allow the war against ISIS, the Taliban, Boko Haram, al-Shabab, or the Russian insurgency in the Ukraine distract them from throwing money at the Pacific. They want to invest in a long-range stealth bomber, but trash the close-air-support A-10, I guess because they don’t figure a war in the Pacific would involve ground troops.
Carter urged Congress to give President Barack Obama authority to complete a free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation accord that Carter said holds “enormous promise” for jobs and economic growth in the United States. He said it is expected to increase U.S. exports by $123.5 billion in the next decade.
So what are we going to export? Food stamps and Toyotas?
Category: Big Pentagon
I had pretty high hopes for Ash, because he is such an incredibly intelligent person.
Oh well… :-\
Yep, he started pissing away credibility when he started talking about letting transgenders serve, lowering enlistment standards and “bolstering” the retirement system.
I’m starting to think Darth Cheney was the last good SecDef
It’s the last name kicking in, Nicki. (smile)
When he took the job, he should have had a pretty good indication of the POTUS’ end states, intents, and limits. Just a quick look at the NSS, speeches, and priorities indicate where the military is being driven. If the new SecDef didn’t want to be complicit, he didn’t have to take the job.
Ahh yes just what the nation needs another “free” trade agreement, at least this trade agreement includes a few nations who could actually buy some US products…with trade partners who represent 40% of the total global economy as part of this deal (which currently does not involve China) a chance to actually gain a presence in Asia in spite of Chinese dominance is a great idea….
But it’s the Obama administration and its cronies negotiating this claptrap….I remain quite wary the final product won’t be much better for the US than the NAFTA agreement or China’s favored nation status…we don’t really need another agreement that creates a decades long trade deficit.
It seems that the easiest way to finish the war against the terrorists in the ME and Africa is to ignor them and pretend. That they are not at war with us. The best way to do that is going to be pretend that there is a serious defense problem in an area where there is no problem so that it easier to claim victory over the pretend issue that never existed anyway..
Now, I know that North Korea is a problem, but I think there is more of a danger of getting killed by an Islamic radical than by a North Korean.
Priorities,,, please find them and address them in order before my children have no country to grow up in.
Note: there should be no period behind “pretend”. Don’t know how it got there.
So how does this explain the troops that are deploying to Iraq this year?
Or is it just a layover on the way to China?
What the fuck is the SecDef talking about trade agreements for? Thought his job was to make sure we know where the bad guys are and have a plan to kill them.
This.
Bingo.
What is it about fools named Carter….
As far as a war in the Pacific supposedly not requiring ground troops (the USMC and several Army divisions would beg to differ), at least according to the Glorious Leader’s lackeys, it would logically stand to reason that there should be a focus on rebuilding the Navy’s surface combat fleet. Doesn’t look to me like they’re doing that, with the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Perry-class frigates being retired with no replacement. Hey, third-world navies tend to have destroyers as their largest combatants, and third-world status seems to be the Glorious Leader’s goal for everything else…
They’re keeping the LCS, which appears to be a lemon in every possible way (is it true that the LCS hulls are dissolving in salt water?). They’re going ahead with the Zumwalt-class, despite the fact that they cost more than a carrier and are said to be slightly less survivable than canoe in a hurricane. They name a ship after Cesar fucking Chavez (even his own family called bullshit on that), and they want to reduce the number of ships in a fleet that’s already overdrawn like my ex-girlfriend’s checking account.
China has a bigass navy. Maybe not a good one, but definitely a big one. If they are “shifting focus,” should they be trying to maximize the US Navy’s ability to turn them into reefs?
Just me thinking out loud here. Then again, I think they should dust off the blueprints for the Montana-class battleships, replace the aft turrets with VLS launchers while keeping the forward big guns, and building four or five of those beasts. What do I know?
Our Carrier Strike Groups, what I used to know as Battle Groups depend on those small boys (Cruisers, Frigates and Destroyers) for Surface and Air Protection.
I don’t understand the reasoning behind putting those Carriers and Sailors at that sort of risk. That stupid ‘Peace Dividend’ (1990’s) plan that started the cuts in the first place was a bad idea.
Intellectual exercise. No concept of the practical effects of their actions to strip the USN of its power. None. Pretty much par for this admin.
“What do I know?”
Apparently, a hell of a lot more than Barack Hussein and his equally moronic underlings.
C’mon folks, the “pivot” to Asia is just the Regime’s way of saying that John Murtha’s idea of getting out of the Mideast was a great idea. After all, as others here and elsewhere have pointed out, what better way to end the fight against Muslime terrorism than to “pivot” away from it and pretend it doesn’t exist?
The only thing I can think of that ties “pivot”, “US”, and the “Kurrent Klown Krew”, is a crude juvenile joke about being the center pivot man in a circle jerk.
I shoulda stood in bed today.
This isn’t a pivot from what’s going on in the ME. It’s an about-face.
Does the “fight over Taiwan” right a bell to anyonse here who has attended any war college and or predictive war gaming scenerio?
2020 is just arround the corner. And China’s Navy will be ready by then.
Sadly our Navy ship end strength is at the same level as 1890’s.
So, I would not be to hard on DoD and I would not give any credit to POTUS for being a futuristic thinker.
We can blame the Clinton Administration for giving China everything for free and enabling them to steal everything else they wanted.
But what do I know?
Meant to say “ring a bell”.
“The Obama administration is opening a new phase of its strategic “rebalance” toward Asia and the Pacific by investing in high-end weapons such as a new long-range stealth bomber…”
Any bets on some Air Force Generals doing some facepalms and yelling “DAMMIT, WHO THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO ADVERTISE THAT WE’RE BUILDING NEW STEALTH BOMBERS???”