An empire needs a frontier. It collapses without one. So what is the U.S.' next frontier project? Biden alluded to it a bit in his speech today, but is there any particular spot in the world that looks ripe for state department ghouls to conjure an existential threat to Freedom, Baseball and Applie Pie?

I mean unless it all just shifts to brinkmanship with China. But I think actual conflict with China runs up against the interests of too big a slice of the capitalist class to make anything more than saber-rattling a possibility in the short term.

  • polinoas235 [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    My bet is that is that it ends up not being a specific country and instead they double down on naval control of global shipping lanes. The attempts to stop China, Cuba, Iran, etc from trading with each other will get more desperate and aggressive and there will be a general sense the US needs to grab whatever power it can before China's navy is fully developed and hypersonic missiles proliferate.

    • Owl [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I went and did some actual research and I'm pretty sure this one is right.

      The defense contractors all have public-facing industry news sites to talk about the things they're working on and want to sell in the future (plus investors relations, fluff pieces about women in STEM, and one article on horse therapy). I went through the news pages of the top five, and the most consistent theme is missile defense systems, with a focus on naval missile defense systems. The point of war is to justify giving money to these companies, and this is what they're selling, so this is the kind of war the US will be looking for.

      Other common topics are space stuff, trying to un-fuck the current state of military aircraft (won't happen lol), and the same vaporware about quantum computing and unified command and control systems that they were trying to sell 20 years ago. Also General Dynamics recently secured a contract for a bunch more tanks, so but it's on a scale that can be sent off to oppress Palestine some more.

      • StellarTabi [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        industry news

        I love the industry news that leaked out about China's 350~ boats. The US Navy embarrassingly has only 295 ships! (that are mostly better ATM)

        "We have to build more to remain competitive!"

        https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2020/3/9/eagle-vs-dragon-how-the-us-and-chinese-navies-stack-up

        The U.S. Navy currently has 69 submarines.

        nice

        https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2021/04/12/chinas-navy-has-more-ships-than-the-us-does-that-matter/

        While China’s fleet size, emboldened posture and rapid growth are cited by some U.S. military leaders as key reasons why the U.S. Navy needs to grow and further invest in the Indo-Pacific, the PLAN still lags the United States in certain key areas.

        “Modern naval warfare is missiles, and China has a lot more platforms capable of shooting and a lot more missiles.”

        based

        Damaged U.S. ships would “have to limp to Japan, Australia or all the way home,” Herzinger noted. “And we lack the shipyards.”

        :sicko-wholesome:

        “We’ve got a Navy that we’ve worn out bombing trucks, weddings and huts in Afghanistan for 20 years,” Herzinger said. “Our Navy is ‘better’ in some ways, but it might not necessarily be those ways that make the difference in a peer war with the Chinese. Numbers definitely matter.”

        cyp

        “Having said that, a major caveat that I have to stress at every turn is that it is not in the interests of the U.S. or China to have a maritime conflict,” he added. “It’s not good for them or good for us.”

        always got to sneak in one of these antiposadist propaganda pieces at the end :dean-frown:

        • Owl [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          The F-35 was supposed to be a unified plane that could do everything for every branch of the military, ended up horribly over budget and behind schedule, and is a barely functioning death trap. The long/expensive development process displaced the R&D budgets for anything else, so they're stuck with it until the next generation of aircraft. Also various branches of the military are contractually obligated to buy lots of them.