WAR RUMOR 1: CHINA – The Long View: China is going through a period of military modernization (thanks to technology transfers arranged with the blessing of President Clinton in the 90’s) and territorial expansion – especially in the South China Sea. They are increasingly challenging the US position in East Asia. Tensions have been high with assorted confrontations between US and Chinese forces. The Short View: “Chinese and Russian navies are launching eight days of war games in the South China Sea.” The exercises will involve “surface ships, submarines, ship-borne helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, along with marines and amphibious armored vehicles.”[i]
WAR RUMOR 2: IRAN – The Long View: The US has been accomodating and providing finances to Iran though that nation continues to sponsor terror and oppose US interests in the region. Washington has done so through the nuclear arrangement, unfreezing Iranian assets and the recent ransom money paid for hostages. The Short View: Iran has been stepping up its harassment of US ships in the Perisian Gulf since the nuke deal with 31 incidents reported.[ii]
WAR RUMOR 3: RUSSIA – The Long View: Moscow and Washington continue to spar over Ukraine, Syria and US Military buildup in the nations that surround the Russian Federation. The Short View: Besides the naval drill with China, Russia has conducted massive wargames in the Black Sea / Crimea region and threatened a response to US missile modernization along its border with the West.[iii] It’s also moved dozens of units up to its border with NATO.
WAR RUMOR 4: KOREA – The Long View: The unstable, crazy, dog-eating North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Il has been starving his own people, shooting intimates for slouching at meetings, threatening South Korea with fiery destruction, modernizing his ballistic missile arsenal and conducting nuclear tests. The Short View: The North announced it can put nuclear tips on its missiles. The latest tests has seen the US respond with a fly-over the Korean peninsula by a fleet of nuclear bombers.[iv]
WAR RUMOR 5: – ISRAEL v SYRIA – The Long View: C’mon, it’s the Middle East and Syria has long been a threat to Israel. The Short View: Syria claims to have shot down an Israeli warplane. Jerusalem is denying that.[v]
[i] China-Russia launch South China Sea naval wargames, Seattle Times / AP, September 11, 2016
[ii] Tension building: Iran bullying US in the Persion Gulf, The Big Wobble, September 12, 2016
[iii] Tension building, The Big Wobble, September 12, 2016
[iv] US nuclear bombers fly over Korean peninsula after North’s nuclear test, The Guardian, September 13, 2016
[v] Israeli Warplane and Drone Shot Down Over Golan Heights by Syrian Air Defences, 21st Century Wire, September 13, 2016
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