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Friday, July 27, 2018

2019 Military Budget, Indo Pacific Command (new), South China Shipping Lanes, Choke Points, Defense Expenditures vs. Human Capital Investments, Surrounding Russia and China (chess games), Economic Wars

The US House of Representatives has passed a whopping USD 717 billion annual defense spending bill for fiscal 2019, which among other things seeks to bolster defense ties with India and greater American commitment in the strategic Indo-Pacific region in view of the challenges being posed by China. China has been implementing a lot of bases Diijouti and Sri Lanks and has the 2nd biggest military budget and soon will surpass the USA as the biggest economy. India is a good strategic move on the US's part because in surrounding Russia, it plugs a whole. The National Defence Authorisation Bill or NDAA-2019 was passed by the House of Representatives by 351-66 votes. It now needs to be passed by the Senate, before it can be sent to the White House for President Donald Trump to sign it into law. Oh, what we could do with that money if it were invested here at home. “In the Indo-Pacific region, the United States faces a near-term, belligerent threat armed with NUKE and also a longer-term strategic competitor,” said Congressman Mac Thornberry, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. The point here is that China wants to control shipping lanes through the Indonesian Pacific region and has already been building reef Islands off the coast in the South China Sea. China is also has a naval base in Djibouti in near Aden which is a choke point to the Red Sea. “In fact, four of the five key security challenges – China, Russia, North Korea, and terrorism – reside in this new command, being established. PACOM area of responsibility. Think though that we need a separate command in this area, it would be called the Indian Ocean Command, call it INCOM. Critical to meeting all of the challenges in the region is our relationship with our allies and also with countries with whom we share interests,” he said. The USD 717 billion bill seeks renaming US Pacific Command as Indo-Pacific Command. It seeks a better defense relationship with India. The NDAA bolsters the Department of Defence’s efforts to plan for and provide the necessary forces, military infrastructure, logistics capabilities, and bilateral and multilateral training in the region through the Indo-Pacific Stability Initiative. It invests in critical military capabilities to deter aggression and respond rapidly to the crisis and supports strong missile defense systems to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, including the DoD’s development of new capabilities and efforts to provide for a layered defense of the homeland. NDAA renames US Pacific Command to US Indo-Pacific Command to emphasise the Commands’ responsibility across the Pacific and Indian Oceans and requires the Department of Defense to conduct a study on the operational requirements needed for language expertise in Korean, Chinese Mandarin and Russian and a plan to address any shortfalls. To counter aggression in the region, NDAA requires the Administration to construct a whole-of-government strategy to address China’s activities.

We are already at war with Russia and China, through trade wars, in which is the first phase of breaking them down. But in that saying, all wars are fought over commodities, choke points, shipping lanes, and economic scarcities. Oil and the petrodollar Anyway, all financing that the Federal Reserve does, they make 2% interest on financed mainly the taxpayer. It requires as assessment and planned responses to address activities by the Chinese Communist Party to include the use of political influence, information operations, use of intelligence networks, economic and military tools, and cyber activities and a US strategic communication plan to counter Chinese influence. It also highlights China’s provocative military, maritime and air activities in the Indo-Pacific region by requiring a quarterly report to Congress that may be disseminated to allies and partners.

In saying all this, we have also forgotten that the information, winning minds, PSYOPs side of fighting a war is maybe greater than actually fighting a war. Like beaming our culture into a civilization of western pop ideas, freedoms and democracies. This though seems like a Christian crusade to convert the whole world to Christianity, which will never happen. In fact, down through history no system or person has been able to control the world and if so, it has collapsed many empires from over extending the reaches of their militaries, neglecting the human capital of the empire in which is the most important part. NDAA modifies the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative by renaming it Indo-Pacific Maritime Security Initiative. It would include India as a covered country and allow for the inclusion of additional countries in the Indo-Pacific region. In an accompanying report, the House said the US should continue to “develop and deploy robust missile defense” in the Indo-Pacific region. It allows the Pentagon to conduct missile defense exercises in the Indo-Pacific region with US regional allies and partners to improve interoperability, it said.

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