7th October, 2020
From the Defender 2020 NATO military exercises back in March, the biggest since the 90s- carried out incidentally in the midst of a supposedly deadly epidemic, to this grandiose scheme to maintain US naval superiority in the China Seas the contours of war are clearly delineated under the shadow of covid panic. Whilst the people’s fear remains focused on covid, this is the truly frightening bit. Trump has fired Esper but will Trump survive: the anti-Trump coup means the military/industrial complex moves to centre stage, the deep state becomes the state and, in Europe, the EU rather than just living under the shadow of NATO becomes NATO.”If we can assemble the collective will and determination to see it through, I’m confident Battle Force 2045 will maintain our maritime superiority far into the future and ensure the United States Navy remains the greatest in the world for generations to come,” he said.The new plan, which matched a document Defense News first obtained and reported on last month, marks a significant increase in the 355-ship fleet the Navy has been working toward. Esper acknowledged the U.S. will face challenges in building a 500-plus ship fleet under tightening budgets. But he stressed the buildup is necessary, citing China’s troubling and “brazen destabilizing” actions in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as Beijing’s plans to modernize its force in the next 15 years and field “a world-class military by 2049.”
In These New Times 