Asia pivot threatened

[asianobserve]

U.S., Philippines to sign 10-year defense agreement amid rising tensions

The Philippines will not be in the current mess with China had it not kicked out the Americans from Philippine bases. It was Filipino nationalists panting to nationalist voters that sealed its fate in the South China Sea. Nationalists everywhere are among the most counter-productive inflexible irrational emotionalists. They have no sense of strategic grasp only shortsighted appeal to centuries old grievances underlined by misguided sense of national pride. The same pride is now swallowed by the Filipinos who have now offered to the Americans practically their whole country as a US military base. Tragic but totally unavoidable if you ask me (the American military could have continued to stay confined in well defined spaces in the Philippines has their bases agreement been extended in the 90s).

 

[W.G.Ewald]

President Obama's pivot to Asia will lack a crucial military underpinning next year, when for four months, the Navy will not have an aircraft carrier in the region.

Defense cuts have helped shrink the number of available carriers, alarming GOP lawmakers who are fighting the Pentagon's plan to permanently cut the number of U.S. carriers to 10.

They argue not having a carrier in the region for months at a time will send a signal of U.S. weakness, as China seeks to make territorial claims against several U.S. allies over the South China Sea.

Obama's pivot to Asia will lack firepower | TheHill



Obama's pivot to Asia will lack firepower | TheHill

 

[W.G.Ewald]

Barack Obama's Asia tour had the look and feel of a tired, uninterested president simply going through the motions.

Other than just showing up, Obama did precious little to advance our interests or demonstrate his oft-promised "pivot" to Asia. The trip was instead overshadowed by Ukraine's continuing crisis and the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. And the visit's real legacy, the spreading impression of U.S. lassitude and weakness, is profoundly dangerous.

In particular, Obama made no progress on Asia's most pressing issue, Beijing's assertive territorial claims in the East and South China Seas, thus missing a significant chance to deter future Chinese belligerence.

Obama's Asia trip: A tired president sends a dangerous message | Fox News