World Affairs Brief, April 17, 2015 Commentary and Insights on a Troubled World.
Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution permitted. Cite source as Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief (http://www.worldaffairsbrief.com).

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KEEPING A MUZZLE ON CHINA CRITICS IN THE US
I’ve had US intel personnel admit to me off the record that they are continually warned against saying anything in public that would appear negative about Russia cheating on treaties or Chinese rearmament. Now we have a case of muzzling a high ranking US officer for criticizing China. The AsiaSentinel.com has the story:

 Intelligence chief sidelined for warning China is preparing for war with Japan. American naval officers who publicly raise concerns about China’s military capabilities and intentions can find themselves sidelined, their careers stunted. That is the case of Capt. James Fanell, formerly the chief of naval intelligence for the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

 Fanell was recently reassigned from his sensitive intelligence post. His remarks at several forums that China is preparing for war with Japan were embarrassing to the navy’s leadership, which is focused on building ties with a newly assertive China’s military.

That report also confirms what I have said numerous times: that in spite of Chinese aggression in the Far East, the US policy continues to be one of appeasement. Note in this Bloomberg piece how US Admiral Locklear (an old pro-China hand) comments on China’s taking of more land for bases in the East China Sea and yet says nothing about intervening to stop it. Instead, he’s always pushing for more “joint military exercises” with China to show “friendship.”

China claims about four-fifths of the South China Sea, home to some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, under a so-called nine-dash line drawn on a 1940s map. Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei also claim territory in the waters. China’s island building program in the South China Sea may result in it gaining control of some of the world’s most important waterways, the U.S.’s most senior military commander for Asia said.

“If this activity continues at pace, is that it — those would give them de facto control” of the maritime territory they claim, Admiral Samuel Locklear, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, told the U.S. Senate. Locklear said China could install long-range detection radars, base warships and warplanes on the islands, potentially giving it the ability to enforce an air defense identification zone.

Satellite photos this month showed images of Chinese dredgers at work at Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands, a feature also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan. President Barack Obama said April 10 that the U.S. is concerned that China is using its “muscle and power” to dominate smaller countries in the region.

But neither threat any action to stop this aggression. And the Chinese are already building their first long runway on the Spratleys —not just dredging.