Leon Panetta: US to move 60% of navy fleet to Pacific

[Poll_Blind]

Source: BBC

The US is planning to move the majority of its warships to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has revealed.

He said that by 2020 about 60% of the US fleet would be deployed there, in the clearest indication yet of the new US strategy in Asia.

Mr Panetta told a regional security meeting in Singapore that the shift was not aiming to contain Chinese power.

Beijing has indicated it is unhappy with the US boosting its presence.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18305750

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Much more at the link!

PB

[freshwest]

1. Leaving the Middle East, so it isn't all bad. Pretty sure the Chinese won't put up with a war.

JMHO.

n/t.

Oh, and N/T.

[MADem]

2. Not surprising, really. Gotta go where the action is!

&feature=fvwrel

[daleo]

3. The Pacific is the biggest ocean

But all these war toys are ultimartely unaffordable and unsustainable.

[Bozita]

4. a Friday night news dump ... in June!

If a splash occurs in the ocean and no one hears it, ...

[underpants]

5. Oh crap! Virginia LIVES off that Uncle Sucker money

A substantial part of the whole economy (especially in Hampton Roads) is based on DoD cash.

[Frank Cannon]

6. I knew it! We're going to invade Hawaii.

Maybe at last, we can get our hands on our socialist Muslim Kenyan President's REAL birth certificate.

[byeya]

8. I believe that would be re-invade Hawai'i

Don't forget how the USA got Hawai'i in the first place.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Apparently we intend to have a war with china.

We will lose that war.

[Yavin4]

9. Yes, War With China

Once we they loan us the money, it's off to war we go!

[BadtotheboneBob]

11. I don't believe so...

... in either case.

[KG]

10. but, y'know, china shouldn't view this as sabre rattling or anything

[Anarcho-Socialist]

12. it is likely posturing rather than a genuine security concern

A response to the growth of Chinese power.

Neither can afford to go to war with the other. The US needs China's cash to keep domestic inflation down and China needs the US' consumers to buy their things.

[hunter]

13. A bold plan to stop the migration of radioactive tuna...

[jmowreader]

14. I'm thinkin' North Korea rather than China is the current worry

The entire Kim dynasty is crazier than a pack of shithouse rats, they've wanted to annex South Korea by force for decades, and they've got The Bomb.

At present they're going to have to FedEx the fucking thing to its target if they want to use it, but they still have one and eventually a North Korean rocket scientist (one who knows how to make a working rocket, that is) will emerge. Alternatively, there are nations like Iran who also hate the US, who have good rockets, and who really wouldn't mind hooking up whichever Kim is running the show this week.

I don't think China will attack the US, or any country aligned with the US, because it's not good business to drop bombs on your largest trading partner. China is mainly a threat to its own citizens.