A fundamental military problem

[ThomWV]

Have you noticed that everyone we fight is someone that we have armed? Seems like a fundamental problem to me. Wait until the day we come up against Israel.

It might not be such a bad idea if we just put a halt to giving out military aid of any kind. I wouldn't even care if we kept on giving the same dollar value in foreign aid, just no more military aid. Make it all humanitarian aid if necessary.

This is something different, but its military related and just doesn't make any sense at all. I'm real curious as to how anyone else reads this military detachment we're going to send south. We put 2,000 marines in Australia. Never before had I thought of Australia as a nation of pussies, unable to defend themselves from the likes of Indonesia or New Zealand. You know, I might be able to understand why we'd have a small Air Force contingent somewhere in the great outback, probably running some sort of super secrete satellite based spy system. Maybe such a thing could only be located in one particular spot on earth to work right and maybe we were sharing it all with the Australians, and who knows what else. But Marines? What in hell is that all about. We're talking grunts on the ground here not the militaries' brain trust. And there are only 2000 of them. I know they brainwash those poor kids into thinking they are some kind of video-game super-humans but the truth is they are the same cannon fodder today they have always been and that's not a big enough force to make any difference at all in any military confrontation Australia might find itself involved in.

So I don't know what this Marine/Australia thing is, but I'm dam good and sure it doesn't have anything at all to do with the defense of either Australia or the US. Oh, and it meets a criteria that I suggest we employ to focus ourselves on the deceptions that swirl all around us. That would be that the quicker a major international event disappears from the news the more attention we should be paying to it.

[MADem]

1. It has to do with China's increasing presence throughout Asia, and particularly their seagoing

presence. It makes total sense from a strategic standpoint.

Everyone in the region--and beyond--has their eye on 'em.

http://www.japanfocus.org/-Harsh_V_-Pant/3353

[ThomWV]

3. Will China will be constrained by 2000 Marines in Australia?

Seems far fetched to me. Also, if anyone wanted to see what China's interest in the region is there would be no need to look an inch beyond the north of Sri Lanka, where China is well into the building of what is by far the worlds largest shipping port and facilities.

[MADem]

5. They aren't there to defend--they're there to do mutual training.

If you want to think it is far-fetched, well, fine.

All I can tell you is that you're out of the loop from the perspective of regional actors who are US allies in the region. They're taking China's increasing defense budget and assorted naval building enthusiams quite seriously.

How are you healing, BTW? All well? That tumor looked quite ugly.

[stuckinarut]

War is a racket.

The Brass/Administration don't want tens if not hundreds of thousands of active duty vets coming home to unemployment, and social unrest. The last thing this administration needs is a bunch of vets raising hell here at home. Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Dominate the world, and avoid outright revolution.

Otherwise, just heard the USS George HW Bush is now parked off the coast of Syria. Looks like we may fight our 4th new war this year!

[stuckinarut]

2. War is a racket.

The Brass/Administration don't want tens if not hundreds of thousands of active duty vets coming home to unemployment, and social unrest. The last thing this administration needs is a bunch of vets raising hell here at home. Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Dominate the world, and avoid outright revolution.

Otherwise, just heard the USS George HW Bush is now parked off the coast of Syria. Looks like we may fight our 4th new war this year!

[quinnox]

4. Marines in Australia

Maybe we want to scare off a possible kangaroos invasion or whatever, yea it makes little sense.

[hack89]

6. Chinese expansion into the Indian Ocean

is the reason for the bases. They would provide logistic support for naval forces operating in the region.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. The Chinese Navy has no bases ..... what a crock of shit.

seems you are buying the hype.

[hack89]

10. Google "string of pearls" and Indian Ocean. nt

[hack89]

9. Google "string of pearls" and Indian Ocean. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. Erect bogeyman. Wave flag. Demand more money. Works every time.

[Angleae]

11. If we armed them they why are they using russian made weapons?

Their rifles are AK-47s, their planes (if they have them) are Migs and Sukhois, their tanks are T-55/T-62/T-72, etc.

[hughee99]

12. We have, at one time or another, armed just about everyone.

and much of the money we supply for military aid doesn't even leave the US. It's used to prop up the military industrial complex (by buying US military equipment) and sending it to the country getting the aid. No one knows what a country with no airport will do with jet fighters, but Lockheed Martin built them and the US government paid for them, so they'll just have to figure it out.

Israel does take a ton of money from us, but designs and/or produces many of it's own weapons.