The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan conducts joint drills with the South Korean navy, October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Tim Kelly
Peter Apps, Reuters: The truth behind the U.S. show of force in Asia
As President Donald Trump tours Asia, three U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier battle groups are exercising together in the Pacific. It’s an awesome display of U.S. military power and reach, a reminder of Washington’s unparalleled ability to project global force. At the same time, however, it’s also a sign of how stretched those forces have become.
Getting three carriers to the Pacific has been an intrinsic part of Washington’s strategy to intimidate North Korea. But to do so required pulling forces from a host of other potential conflict areas, including the Gulf.
The ever-increasing demand for military resources in a growing number of places is causing increased concern in the U.S. military. In June, a report by the U.S. Army War College described America’s military clout as “fraying” and bluntly concluded that the era of U.S. global military primacy that followed the fall of the Berlin wall was over. America’s armed forces have a variety of strategies to tackle that decline but the truth is that coming wars will look very different from the sort of military deployments taken for granted in the recent past.
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WNU Editor: It is not cheap to manage the world affairs .... especially when you do not have the resources and the military necessary to do so.
