Presidential Final Debate - Ended at the First Debate: Romney Won!

"You mentioned....that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916.  Well, Governor, we also have fewer horse and bayonets - because the nature of our military's changed."

Obama explains his Arms Race reductions.The President is wrong on military nature!

I read in Newsweek Magazine in 2002 that the Chinese would have the largest "Deep Blue Water Navy" in the world by 2013. (That's warfare speak for "the country that controls all the shipping lanes under the ocean waters with a huge submarine fleet with an arsenal of sea to air missiles rules the world" as a super power.) It looks pretty doggone right on target in what I have read more recently.

Romney should have also stressed that it takes time, more important than money, to build ships to overtake adversaries and maintain our strategic lead. Despite our superior intelligence network, it only allows us to assess other nations operating within any regional theater, like the South China seas, not actively defend or attack aggressors. It's hardly an enviable position to find the most powerful government of the free world in to execute its agenda over foreign policies.

South China Seas - World Trade Sea Lanes

As Governor Romney hit on the point that our U.S. Navy was lacking in various warships. Many Americans are not even aware of why this region is important to the world.  It is the major sea trade route from the middle East to transport goods and services to Europe and beyond.  It passes through several national and international waters.

Why Is The South China Sea Important?

There are several reasons:

• Critical trade route: Much of the trade between Europe and the Middle East and East Asia passes from the Indian Ocean through the Malacca Strait, then up through the South China Sea to China, South Korea, and Japan. Japanese defence planners in particular don’t want this trade route dominated by China, even though the likelihood of interdiction is remote.
• Oil and gas reserves: Some of the islands are believed to contain significant hydrocarbon resources. Given that most Asian economies import the vast majority of their oil needs, mainly from the Middle East, they naturally wish to tap sources closer to home. The sea also has substantial fish resources.
• Global naval strategy: China is seeking naval preponderance in the South China Sea as part of its bid to become a global naval power. This would include projection capabilities in the Indian Ocean, which is fast becoming a zone of Great Power competition. Japan and South Korea, too, are seeking to strengthen their naval prowess.

Militarized States

Nov 22, 2010

China has recently been increasing its defense budget by more than 10 percent in most years, and building a real blue-water Navy. “The pace and scope of China’s military modernization have increased,” notes the Pentagon’s most recent report on the Chinese military. This buildup will “increase China’s options for using military force to gain diplomatic advantage or resolve disputes in its favor.”

The Nature of Modern War

As much as some nations today talk about nuclear armaments, I believe a majority of these nations really want just a saber to rattle to maintain a hegemony over other countries to rule geopolitically to sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power, the threat of the threat, rather than by direct military force. So, reasons vary in degree from persuasion to aggression too.  Obama's very technical explanation of U.S. Arms Defense to American Voters during debate.

It is true some seek bombs and want to use them, renegade regimes like North Korea and Iran are at the top of that list, other terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and al Queda do too. It seems to be that these countries are after the big payloads for missiles and the terrorist groups specialize in smaller weapons such as dirty suitcase bombs or IED, improvised explosive devices that are easier to detonate.

Hand-to-hand combat war, however, is not going away anytime soon just because of nuclear options, sophisticated smart bombs, drone missile attacks or aircraft carriers that are floating around the oceans. Conventional warfare can still be fought effectively, witness the insurgents taking down governments around the middle East.  The U.S. Marine Corps trains with fixed bayonets in case of close combat situations too.

How can President Obama and his Administration be foolhardy to claim that less and smaller defense is better in today's world?