Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks at the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy to discuss the U.S. military in a time of geopolitical strain in Penn Pavilion at Duke University, Durham, N.C., Nov. 5, 2018. Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Dominique A. Pineiro/Department of Defense
National Interest: The US military's top officer says Russia and China present different challenges — but they both can rival US power
* The US and its allies are in a period of heightened tensions with Russia and China.
* Despite the increased strain, it's not like the superpower showdown in the latter half of the 20th century that raised the risk of nuclear war, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said.
* But things could escalate, and the chairman encouraged further communication.
In September, Russian armed forces, joined by Chinese and Mongolian troops, gathered in the country's east for Vostok-18, an "unprecedented" military exercise that Russia said was the largest since 1981.
In October and November, all 29 NATO members and Sweden and Finland massed in Norway for Trident Juncture 2018, a regular exercise that this year was the largest version since the Cold War, according to NATO officials.
Joining Trident Juncture was the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which sailed into the Arctic Circle west of Norway on October 19, becoming the first US aircraft carrier to do so since the early 1990s.
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Update: Dunford warns that Russia, China are near-peer military competition (UPI)
WNU Editor: More proof that we now live in a multi-polar world.
2 comments:
I figured this out a long time ago. It's nice to see the general is finally catching on. In fact, given the tendency of US leadership to overestimate our abilities and our will while underestimating the will and the abilities of adversaries and potential adversaries, a more accurate statement may well be "Russian and Chinese military capabilities exceed ours."
Again, it is nice to see that at least this general is catching on. Time permitting I will fully read the article but I would say this is a step in the right direction.
After reading this article, it is refreshing to see that a top general is finally starting to realize that Russia and China are "peer" military powers meaning they are, at best for America, on the same level as us. Unfortunately the praise for the general has to be tempered.
He states that the situation now is not as bad as during the first Cold War. He is incorrect. IMHO the situation with Cold War 2 is far worse than during Cold War 1 for, at a minimum, the following reasons. 1.)America has neglected its nuclear deterrent for a number of years while Russia has expanded and modernized theirs placing us at a disadvantage. We are having to catch up. 2.)The Russian and American "cold warriors" while adversaries generally respected each other. After all many of them had fought on the same side during World War 2. Today not only do the Russians not respect us but they appear to hold us in utter contempt. This is going to make it harder to defuse tensions than it was during Cold War 1. 3.)America has foolishly expanded NATO into Russia's "backyard." This was bound to needlessly ratchet up tensions and NATO=America. For a country already stretched to thin militarily this is going to be problematic to keep such commitments without further undermining our already precarious position as far as being able to defend America from invasion. I don't think our warriors of Cold War 1 would have behaved so recklessly. Some evidence indicates that part of the agreements that ended the first Cold War included an understanding that the US/NATO would not expand into eastern Europe. There actually would be a very good reason not to do this with little to no upside in actually doing so. As such, I would suspect such an understanding actually existed.
In summary, while the general is correct in finally beginning to recognize the military power of Russia and China relative to America he is flat wrong about Cold War 2. The situation is far worse than it was during most of Cold War 1. At least a step in the right direction is being made by the general's at least partial recognition of reality.
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