Those amateurs in the War Department are getting serious about a possible war with China…

Is the war that most fear getting closer?

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth distributed a memo in mid-March ordering the Pentagon to put its focus on preparing for a war with China, a nuclear-armed power, by “assuming risk” in Europe and other parts of the world, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

The Post didn’t publish the full memo, known as the Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance, but said it “outlines, in broad and sometimes partisan detail, the execution of President Donald Trump’s vision to prepare for and win a potential war against Beijing and defend the United States from threats in the ‘near abroad,’ including Greenland and the Panama Canal.”

The Pentagon has considered China the top “threat” facing the US since the first Trump administration, but the Post report said the memo is “extraordinary in its description of the potential invasion of Taiwan as the exclusive animating scenario that must be prioritized over other potential dangers — reorienting the vast US military architecture toward the Indo-Pacific region beyond its homeland defense mission.”

The report said that the guidance from Hegseth says the Pentagon’s force planning construct “will consider conflict only with Beijing when planning contingencies for a major power war” and leave the “threat from Moscow largely attended by European allies.”

Hegseth wrote that China “is the Department’s sole pacing threat, and denial of a Chinese fait accompli seizure of Taiwan — while simultaneously defending the US homeland is the Department’s sole pacing scenario.”

The memo also calls for the US to pressure Taiwan to increase military spending “significantly.”

For years now, the US military has been openly preparing for war with China despite the risk of nuclear escalation. It has done this by expanding military bases in the Asia Pacific, building alliances, and increasing support for Taiwan. While being done in the name of deterrence, these steps have only increased tensions in the region, making conflict more likely.

The Post report says that Hegseth’s plans to prepare a “denial defense” of Taiwan include “increasing the troop presence through submarines, bombers, unmanned ships, and specialty units from the Army and Marine Corps, as well as a greater focus on bombs that destroy reinforced and subterranean targets.” His memo also calls for increasing the defenses of US troop positions in the region and establishing more weapons stockpiles.

(antiwar.com)

We have troops stationed in the South China Sea patrolling for any abnormalities….and now the Chinese with all the news around the US designs has reacted….

Beijing started another series of joint military and coastguard drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, as experts said the exercises – which include the Shandong aircraft carrier – were intended to squeeze Taipei’s space to respond in the event of an attack.

According to a statement issued by the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, the patrols and exercises included simulated air and land strikes, as well as control of key passages to test the joint combat readiness of its troops.

“This is a stern warning and a strong deterrent to the separatist forces of Taiwan independence, and is a legitimate and necessary action to defend national sovereignty and safeguard national unity,” spokesman Colonel Shi Yi said.

Beijing views Taiwan as part of China to be reunited, by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as independent. But Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force and is committed to supplying weapons for its defence.

According to Shi, army, navy, air and rocket forces have been deployed on the multidirectional naval and aerial manoeuvres.

https://archive.vn/JCgSD#selection-1127.0-1139.123

Some of these plans scare the crap out of me…..I can smell that old thinking from Vietnam creeping into the scenario.

Hopefully Americans can remember what a debacle Vietnam was 50 years ago….if you will recall it was a minor naval engagement that lead to the debacle of the Vietnam War.

Is there any memory of that huge mistake left?

If not we are doomed to repeat our mistakes and at the cost of American lives.

Will we do it again?

The present group of amateurs are headed in that direction.

What say you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”