Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank Griffin who wrote (17672)	4/28/2000 12:37:00 AM
From: Dayuhan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

our military has probably never been weaker. Weaker relative to what? Obviously the US military is very different now from what it was 20 years ago. It has to be; it is preparing for an entirely different set of threats and missions. Try this exercise, to reassure yourself. Construct a table comparing navies. Compare numbers of aircraft carriers, non-carrier major surface combatants, attack submarines, and ballistic missile submarines. In one column put the US Navy, in the other put the rest of the world combined. Who are we preparing to fight? Everybody? I'm actually worried about what might happen to some aspects of defense readiness under a Bush administration. One of the most important facets of the military environment of the next decade is going to be the ability to pre-position substantial amounts of heavy hardware in friendly countries near potential hotspots. Maintaining a friendly attitude in these countries and keeping them receptive to these arrangements requires careful, non-threatening diplomacy, a real respect for multilateralism, and a rigorous avoidance of bluster. I'm not at all sure we're going to get that kind of attitude from a Cheney/Wolfowitz/Perle team. It will be interesting. But I think that the relative weakness of the US military is being vastly exaggerated, for political reasons.