Navy Strains To Handle Both China And Iran At Once. VIRGINIA BEACH, VA: Coping with China and Iran at the same time is stretching the Navy thin, and it will soon have to choose which theater to prioritize, warned Peter Daly, the recently retired admiral who now heads the prestigious US Naval Institute.
The Obama administration’s new strategic guidance said the US would boost its presence in the Pacific as it drew down in the Middle East, but subsequent statements have qualified that as a “pivot to Asia.” The first problem is the force isn’t truly fungible: it’s mainly ground troops coming out of Afghanistan and Iraq, while the Pacific requires mainly ships and long-range airpower. 8 LCSs Could Be Based in Gulf, Says U.S. Navy Undersecretary. The U.S.
Navy could eventually have a force of eight ships operating from Bahrain if plans to base littoral combat ships (LCS) in the Arabian Gulf continue as envisioned, the service’s No. 2 official said May 21. The Navy has long been planning to operate LCS ships in the gulf, Undersecretary Bob Work told an audience at the Cato Institute in Washington. The ships, able to perform several different missions when fitted out with specialized equipment packages, already are to replace U.S. minesweepers and patrol boats in the region. The four-ship minesweeper force operating from Bahrain will be doubled by next month when another four ships arrive from the U.S.
West Coast, and a total of 10 large patrol boats are eventually to be stationed there. Work did not lay out any timetable for LCS deployments, but it is likely to be late this decade before enough LCS ships will be available to be forward-based in the gulf at the eight-ship level. Navy Needs Both LCS Versions For War With China, Iran; Navy UnderSec Defends Program.
WASHINGTON: While the Littoral Combat Ship is not suited for the front lines of a war with China, it would provide vital protection to US supply lines in such conflict, said Under Secretary of the Navy Robert Work, and against Iran, LCS would be in the battle from “day one,” with eight LCSs ultimately operating out of Bahrain.
Is China Really Liquidating Treasuries? Submitted by John Aziz of Azizonomics Is China Really Liquidating Treasuries?
The news that China has become the first sovereign to establish a direct sales relationship with the U.S. Treasury (therefore cutting out the middleman and bypassing Wall Street ) raises a few interesting questions. From Reuters: China can now bypass Wall Street when buying U.S. government debt and go straight to the U.S. A Peek Inside The CIA, As It Tries To Assess Iran. Hide captionThe CIA took considerable heat over Iraq, where weapons of mass destruction weren't found.
Now, as the agency assesses Iran, it invites an NPR correspondent to its headquarters for a rare chat about the issue. Andrew Harrer/Bllomberg via Getty Images. California's Deadlocked Delta: Is Carbon Farming the Future? This is the third story in our three-part series on California's Delta.
Tules on Twitchell Island in the Delta. (Photo: Josh Cassidy/KQED) With thousands of acres of rich farmland, the Delta has a long agricultural legacy. But farming there can be a risky business. Dozens of farms have been flooded over the past half century as aging levees have collapsed. That became a reality for farmer Rudy Mussi on the morning of June 3, 2004. Mussi was growing corn and asparagus on lower Jones Tract, an island in the Delta, 10 miles west of Stockton. "Your heart stops for a second or two and then realism sets in. How did a flood happen a on a sunny day? "Once a break occurs, you know, there's no way you're gonna stop that, not with 10 feet of water on the other side," Mussi says.
The Second American Century. Despite fashionable twaddle about American decline, America’s cultural influence has never been as dominant as it is now.
Indeed, the 21st century promises to be the American Century to an even greater extent than the 20th. The American attitude to life – The American Idea – is now reflected in the universal aspirations of all humanity. Throughout history foreign observers have perceived and portrayed the dignity and majesty of the American Idea in ways that have impacted the thinking of the rest of the human race and triggered their desire to emulate the good life. Crèvecœur, a pre-independence 18th century French immigrant to the colonies, wrote about American equal opportunity, self-reliance, ingenuity, religious pluralism and uncomplicated attitude towards life. Era of a diminished superpower. Era of a diminished superpower. National and Global Security Issues. A Tour of Drought as it Unfolds Across the U.S. Last year at this time, all eyes were on Texas, where drought conditions were intensifying into what became that state’s worst single year drought on record, causing nearly $8 billion in economic losses.
Forest Service Awards One of Largest-ever Timber Contracts to Agency Insiders. For Immediate Release, May 18, 2012 Contact: Taylor McKinnon, (928) 310-6713 Forest Service Awards One of Largest-ever Timber Contracts to Agency Insiders.
Firing Alan Greenspan.