Citing a general shift in US military focus toward targeting Russia and China in “great power competition,” officials say the US will be withdrawing four Patriot missile systems from the Middle East.
The systems, in Kuwait, Jordan, and Bahrain, will be sent back to the US in the next two months for refit and modernization, and then will be moved on to other locations where they can target nations that are more fashionable targets right now.
Pentagon officials are refusing to provide specifics on where these missiles are going, but talk of targeting Russia would suggest more deployments to Eastern Europe, where the US has been participating in a protracted NATO buildup against Russia.
As far as China goes, deployments would be less clear, though this might be part of a Pacific pivot that US officials have been talking up for years on end. This may mean deployments to Southeast Asia, as presumably the Korean Peninsula will not be considered with ongoing diplomacy there.
The formerly semi-isolationist Trump has imbibed deeply of the neocon KoolAid served up by Bolton, Pompeo, Haspel, Pence and Kushner and now, intoxicated with a deceptive sense of omnipotence and bloodlust, seems to be aiming to start World War III against Russia, China, Iran and Syria. Israel would side with the US, of course, and possibly the UK if May ignores public opinion, as Blair once did. The rest of the world will sit this one out rather than join the US in its suicidal misadventure. Those that live by the sword, as the US has always done, will die by the sword. Thus empires die.
Heard it all before.
Empires do die, but people as a rule do not see it or understand when it happened. Roman empire by all objective history died 476 AD. But the illusion llasted long after in the shape of Holly Roman Empire, and when it was finally abolished, Voltaire said that it ceased to be holly, or Roman or an empire long time ago.
Damn, Bianca that was deep.America is truly in decline but,it has itself to blame because,capitalism is the system used by the world and ,everyone is gaming the system. Technology has advanced to an age where stealing corporate secrets,hacking techniques aswell as ,buying from a friendly country and ,reverse engineering makes it harder to compete.Russia finds itself in a difficult decision to sell its fighter jets to them because, the last one they did a SU-33 was, reverse engineered into a Chinese J-15 ,everyone is looking out for their own interests. Even so in decline America’s military is building up, for what?Lord knows .
Removing SAMS from the gulf region? Is Iran’s putative “missile threat” no longer the bogeyman de’jour?
So much for threat from Iran! Aren’t Iran’s missiles all the rage? Targetting Israel? Or is the removal an indirect threat, making sure these remaining allies know That Israel can get them if not obedient. This is really peculiar move.
Israel still has its four Patriot batteries, purchased from Germany in May 2015. However the Patriot missile system is an obsolete thirty-year-old system effective against aircraft but not against missiles. Israel intends to use David’s Sling and Arrow 2 against missiles, if it can get them to work properly.
Interesting timing, US removing missile defenses in the Middle East while Russia increases them. That may be an acknowledgement that Russia has secured a position there that we will not contest.
Trump said when he ran for president, other countries in the middle east would have to start footing the bill for ,its capabilities. Some like Saudi Arabia bought up huge arms systems including Patriot missile systems ,other countries followed and ,America’s massive base in Bahrain and ,airbase in Kuwait have Aegis missile defense systems aswell .America has practically the whole middle east on it’s radar with our allies. These Patriot systems will go to NATO nations that border Russia.