Thursday, June 25, 2020

Djibouti Bases - Bab-al-Mandab Chokepoint

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24-2-23 Why the Closest US and Xinese Bases are in Djibiouti - T&P > .22-10-3 War in Yemen. Is Peace On The Horizon? [no] - gtbt > .
21-9-22 Countries with Djibouti Bases - ARgs > .
18-7-31 How Africa is Becoming China's China - Wend > .2021 Why Everyone is So Many Are Building Djibouti Military Bases  - KhAnubis > .
Gate of Lamentation: The Bab-El-Mandeb Strait - Galilei > .


Chokepoint: The Bab-el-Mandeb (Arabic: باب المندب, lit. 'Gate of Tears') is a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The strait derives its name from the dangers attending its navigation or, according to an Arab legend, from the numbers who were drowned by an earthquake that separated the Arabian Peninsula from the Horn of Africa.

The Bab-el-Mandeb acts as a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. In 2006, an estimated 3.3 million barrels (520,000 m3) of oil passed through the strait per day, out of a world total of about 43 million barrels per day (6,800,000 m3/d) moved by tankers.[2]

The distance across is about 20 miles (30 km) from Ras Menheli in Yemen to Ras Siyyan in Djibouti. The island of Perim divides the strait into two channels, of which the eastern, known as the Bab Iskender (Alexander's Strait), is 2 miles (3 km) wide and 16 fathoms (30 m) deep, while the western, or Dact-el-Mayun, has a width of about 16 miles (25 km) and a depth of 170 fathoms (310 m). Near the coast of Djibouti lies a group of smaller islands known as the "Seven Brothers". There is a surface current inwards in the eastern channel, but a strong undercurrent outwards in the western channel.

The British East India Company unilaterally seized the island of Perim in 1799 on behalf of its Indian empire. The government of Britain asserted its ownership in 1857 and erected a lighthouse there in 1861, using it to command the Red Sea and the trade routes through the Suez Canal. It was used as a coaling station to refuel steamships until 1935 when the reduced use of coal as fuel rendered the operation unprofitable.

The British presence continued until 1967 when the island became part of the People's Republic of South Yemen. Before the handover, the British government had put forward before the United Nations a proposal for the island to be internationalised as a way to ensure the continued security of passage and navigation in the Bab-el-Mandeb, but this was refused.

On February 22, 2008, a company owned by Tarek bin Laden unveiled plans to build a bridge named Bridge of the Horns across the strait, linking Yemen with Djibouti. Middle East Development LLC has issued a notice to construct a bridge passing across the Red Sea that would be the longest suspended passing in the world. The project has been assigned to engineering company COWI in collaboration with architect studio Dissing+Weitling, both from Denmark. It was announced in 2010 that Phase 1 had been delayed and as of mid-2016 nothing more has been heard about the project.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2020

First Island Chain - Asia

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23-5-10 US Military - New Bases to Counter China in Pacific | WSJ > .23-2-28 America predicts war with China in 2025 - Caspian > .
23-2-28 Xina & ROC war prep: martial law, nuclear emergency, wartime controls > .
Communist Attempts to Take Over Japan in the 1950s - Cold War > .

The first island chain refers to the first chain of major archipelagos out from the East Asian continental mainland coast. Principally composed of the Kuril Islands, Japanese Archipelago, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan (Formosa), the northern Philippines, and Borneo; from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the Malay Peninsula. Some definitions of the first island chain anchor the northern end on the Russian Far East coast north of Sakhalin Island, with Sakhalin Island being the first link in the chain. However, others consider the Aleutians as the farthest north-eastern first link in the chain. The first island chain forms one of three island chain doctrines within the Island Chain Strategy.

Much of the first island chain is roughly situated in waters claimed by the PRC. These include the South China Sea, within the Nine-Dash Line, the East China Sea within the Okinawa Trough. The boundary between Okinawa and China lies between Japan and Taiwan.

US General Douglas MacArthur pointed out that before WW2, the US protected its western shores with a line of defense from Hawaii, Guam, to the Philippines. However this line of defense was attacked by Japan with the Pearl Harbor bombing of 1941, thereby drawing the US into the war. The US subsequently launched the air Raid on Taipei (Taiwan at the time part of Japan's empire) and launched the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The WW2 victory allowed the US to expand its line of defense further west to the coast of Asia, and thus the US controlled the first island chain.

Between the end of WW2 and the Korean War, MacArthur praised Taiwan, located at the midpoint of the first island chain, as an 'unsinkable aircraft carrier'.

The Island Chain Strategy is a strategy first mentioned by American foreign policy commentator John Foster Dulles in 1951 during the Korean War. It suggests surrounding the Soviet Union and China by sea. The island chain concept did not become a major theme in American policy, but it has become a major fixation of both American and Chinese analysts to this day. For the U.S. the island chain strategy is a big part of the military of the United States's force projection in the Eastern part of Asia. For Chinese, the concept is used as part of their fears of encirclement by American forces. For both sides, the island chain strategy emphasizes the geographical and strategic importance of Taiwan. The primary target of the doctrine was the USSR; however, additional targets also included the People's Republic of China, Vietnam, and North Korea. After the USSR collapsed in 1991, China soon became the major target of the doctrine.

In 2014 April, the United States Naval Institute (USNI) assessed that the first island chain is the most effective point to counter any Chinese invasion. The US could not only cut off the People's Liberation Army Navy from entering the western Pacific, but also predict where they may move before trying to break through in the first place. The US and first chain countries are able to coordinate because of the US military's freedom of navigation in the first chain block. In June 2019, USNI called for a blockade of the first island chain if armed conflict broke out between China and the United States.

Andrew Krepinevich argued that an "archipelagic defense" of the countries that make up the first island chain would make up a big part of the implementation of the national defense strategy of 2018.

A 2019 report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments "proposes a U.S. military strategy of Maritime Pressure and a supporting joint operational concept, “Inside-Out” Defense, to stabilize the military balance in the Western Pacific and deny China the prospect of a successful fait accompli." The first island chain plays a central role in the report.

In 2020, the United States Marine Corps started shifting its tactics in conjunction with the United States Navy to be deployed along or near the first island chain. In 2021, the United States Marine Corps announced a goal of three additional Pacific-based regiments.

In the first island chain, Taiwan is considered of critical strategic importance. It is located at the midpoint of the first chain and occupies a strategic position.


23-2-1 US secures deal on Philippines bases to complete arc around China: The US has secured access to four additional military bases in the Philippines - a key bit of real estate which would offer a front seat to monitor the Chinese in the South China Sea and around Taiwan. With this deal, Washington has stitched the gap in the arc of US alliances stretching from South Korea and Japan in the north to Australia in the south.

The missing link had been the Philippines, which borders two of the biggest potential flashpoints, Taiwan and the South China Sea, or the West Philippine Sea as Manila insists on calling it.

The US already had limited access to five sites under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) - the new additions and expanded access, according to a statement from Washington, will "allow more rapid support for humanitarian and climate-related disasters in the Philippines, and respond to other shared challenges", likely a veiled reference to countering China in the region.
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First & Second Island Chains vs Xina

23-8-10 How Taiwan Accidentally Became an Economic Superpower - Casual > .
23-8-8 [Taiwan's Preparation for War; Military Investment] - T&P > .
23-8-2 Xi's Anti-Corruption Purge of PLA Rocket Force | PLA structure - Digging > .
23-7-29 Ream, Hambantota, Tonga Naval Bases; Australia - Focus > .
23-7-28 PLAN's Indo-Pacific Bases - Ream, Djibouti, Hambantota, Tonga - Focus > .
23-7-24 Xina's Nine-Dash Line: [Illegal Claims in South China Sea] - Geoff > .
23-7-23 Taiwan's Economic Success = Microchips, Industries | EcEx > .
23-7-15 Porcupine: Taiwan’s Strategic Approach to Survival [vs X] - Warographics > .
23-7-12 Xina prepares for war - Hudson > .
23-7-8 Taiwan citizens preparing for war with Xina - SBS > .
23-7-7 Would America Really Defend Taiwan? > . skip > .
23-6-14 [Unambiguous US-T commitments - thwarting invasion] - Hoover > .
23-6-11 US expanding presence in the Philippines = 9 bases - Binkov > .
23-6-1 PLAN 2/2 - Sex Scandals - Untold stories of Corruption - Lei > .
23-5-25 PLAN 1/2 - Untold stories and scandals - Lei > .
23-5-12 PLAN posturing: weakness vs Taiwan, USA, SK, Philippines - Insights > .
23-5-10 US Military - New Bases to Counter China in Pacific | WSJ > .
23-4-23 Japanese History, Defence Strategy & Rearmament - Perun > .
23-2-28 America predicts war with China in 2025 - Caspian > .
23-2-22 US Bases & Philippine Fight Against Xina - T&P > .
23-2-10 Why Japan's Military is Gladly Readying for War - T&P > .
23-1-20 Taiwan - Democracy and the digital world | DW Doc > .
22-12-20 US military in Pacific to prevent Xinese invasion of Taiwan - PBS > .
22-11-27 Dragon's Claw: Xina's Next 10 Years - Kamome > . skip > .
22-11-19 With weak, untrained military, can Xi reassert power? - Revealed > .
22-11-11 Fortress Xina - Xi's Plans for World Domination - laowhy86 > .
22-10-11 Condeleeza Rice - Xina and Taiwan - Hoover > .
22-10-1 Xina Battles US [Aus] for Control of Pacific Islands - Uncensored > .
22-9-21 How China’s Military Drills Could Choke Off Taiwan’s Internet | WSJ > .
22-8-21 Japan Is (Again) Becoming a Military Powerhouse - gtbt > .
22-8-15 Taiwan could repel invasion; wargamed cost high to Taiwan and US > .
22-8-15 How worried is Japan about Xina-Taiwan tensions? - ABC Aus > .
22-5-12 The Philippines - China's New Province - laowhy86 > .
23-9-21 A Xinese blockade against Taiwan 'won't work' | Tim Cross > .

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Fleeing Xina

24-1-22 Rising numbers of Xinese migrants at US's southern border - Geek > .
24-2-10 Borders: Some Countries Are Nearly Impossible to Escape - Map > .
24-1-14 How USA Brain-Drains The World - Versed > .
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sī vīs pācem, parā bellum

igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum    therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...

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