Bases of Confrontation: the US Military Empire
November 6, 2015
Bases of Confrontation: the US Military Empire
by Brian Cloughley
On 26 October the New York Times carried an intriguing commentary about spying. Its front page headlined a 1200 word report which included the statement that “Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the crucial undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some US military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.”
It is obvious that in the event of conflict Russia would do its best to destroy enemy undersea communications cables, just as its adversaries would try to do the same, but this wasn’t the point of the article, which somewhat lamely went on to admit that “there is no evidence yet of any cable cutting.” Of course not. The cable story was only a lead in to the deeper intention of the piece which was to add to the drumbeat of anti-Russian propaganda. The writers then hit the relevance button by proclaiming that “the concern is part of a growing wariness among senior US and allied military and intelligence officials over the accelerated activity by the Russian armed forces around the globe.”
At which you have to have a quiet smile.
The United States has special forces squads in 135 countries, according to a spokesman for Special Operations Command (SOCOM) whose commander, General Joseph Votel, stated in July that “approximately 11,000 special operators [emphasis added] are deployed or stationed outside the United States with many more on standby, ready to respond in the event of an overseas crisis. He continued that “I think a lot of our resources are focused in Iraq and in the Middle East, in Syria for right now; that’s really where our head has been,” although “I think we are increasing our focus on Eastern Europe at this time.”
This increased focus is because “Russia is looking to challenge us wherever they can,” which is an intriguing assertion from a man with 11,000 knuckle-dragging “special operators” swaggering round the world.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/11/06/bases-of-confrontation-the-us-military-empire/
