tyb
Thousands of US troops will shift to Asia-Pacific to guard against China
Facing what a Trump administration official recently called "the most significant geopolitical challenge since the end of the Cold War" in the Indo-Pacific theater, the U.S. military will embark on a realignment of its global posture. Several thousand of the troops currently posted in Germany are expected to redeploy to American bases in Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Japan and Australia.
Priorities have changed. During the Cold War, American defense strategists thought it important to maintain a massive land force in Europe to keep the old Soviet Union at bay. In the 2000s, the focus was primarily on the Middle East as the U.S. waged its "war on terrorism" in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the game planning centers on China. Countering the "two great-power competitors" of Beijing and Moscow means that "U.S. forces must be deployed abroad in a more forward and expeditionary manner than they have been in recent years," wrote Robert O'Brien, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece late last month.
Toward this end, the administration will reduce its force permanently stationed in Germany from 34,500 troops to 25,000. The 9,500 who are leaving will be reassigned elsewhere in Europe, redeployed to the Indo-Pacific region, or sent back to bases in the U.S.
On the Indo-Pacific, O'Brien wrote: "In that theater, Americans and allies face the most significant geopolitical challenge since the end of the Cold War."
Beijing continues to pour money into its forces, for instance. The Japanese government's defense white paper estimates that China's true defense spending exceeds its announced annual budget and amounts to roughly triple Russia's. Analysts see three trends afoot in the U.S. military's global operations. One is the geographical shift from Europe and the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific. Second is the shift from land-based combat to the Air-Sea Battle concept announced in 2010. The third, and perhaps most characteristic to Trump, is a desire to hold down defense spending. O'Brien's redeployment proposal touches on all three aspects.
Geographically, the shift away from the Middle East has been spurred by the shale revolution. America's interest in the Middle East has declined as its dependence on the region for energy has shrunk. In 2011, the Obama administration launched a policy of rebalancing, or pivoting, to Asia, based on the acknowledgement that a focus on the Middle East had created the Asia-Pacific vacuum that enabled China's rise. In terms of strategy, the U.S. military has been shifting focus and resources to the Navy and Air Force. The threat of a large-scale ground attack in Europe has receded. In an Asia-Pacific faceoff with China, it will be the amphibious Marines as well as maritime and aviation capability that prove crucial. This is because the main battlefield is expected to be in the waters of the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Pacific and Indian oceans.
The U.S. military understands that the crux of the Chinese defense strategy is anti-access/area denial, or A2/AD – an effort to keep American ships and fighter jets from approaching the shores of China. Toward this end, the Chinese have been strengthening their precision missile systems and sophisticated radar capabilities. Costs are the third trend. Trump has consistently expressed frustration over the massive expense of deploying U.S. troops around the world and has pressed host nations to shoulder more of the financial burden. He has been especially critical of Germany, which he says is not keeping its promise to spend 2% of its gross domestic product on defense.
"So Germany's delinquent," Trump said in mid-June, explicitly linking this to the troop drawdown. "They've been delinquent for years, and they owe NATO billions of dollars, and they have to pay it. So we're protecting Germany, and they're delinquent. That doesn't make sense." Meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda recently, Trump revealed that part of the German contingent will be moved to Poland. The Eastern European country has expressed a willingness to pay much of the stationing costs.
The U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific was down to 131,000 troops as of 2018, from 184,000 in 1987. While that reduction is much less extreme than the downsizing that took place in Europe 354,000 to 66,000 in the same time frame the general trend is toward a smaller, leaner force.
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https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Thousands-of-US-troops-will-shift-to-Asia-Pacific-to-guard-against-China
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PAT44 US Army G5 from JBA on final at San Jose Int'l
PAT= Priority Air T'''ravel
Napoleon Escapes and Rothschild Makes a Killing
Napoleon escapes from his banishment in Elba, an Island off the coast of Italy, and returned to Paris. By March Napoleon had equipped an army with the help of borrowed money from the Eubard Banking House of Paris.
"When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes… Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain." — Napoleon Bonaparte
On June 18th, 74,000 French troops led by Napoleon, sizing up to meet 67,000 British and other European Troops 200 miles NE of Paris.
Nathan Rothschild knowing that information is power stationed his trusted agent named Rothworth near the battlefield. As soon as the battle was over Rothworth quickly returned to London, delivering the news to Rothschild 24 hours ahead of Wellington's courier. A victory by Napoleon would have devastated Britain's financial system. Nathan stationed himself in his usual place next to an ancient pillar in the stock market. Knowing he would be observed he hung his head and began openly to sell huge numbers of British Government Bonds. Believing this to mean that Napoleon must have won, everyone started to sell their British Bonds as well. The bottom fell out of the market. Rothschild had his agents buying up all the hugely devalued bonds.
http://www.mindcontagion.org/banking/hb1815.html