MAJOR naval exercises - should we be paying attention?

[Minstrel Boy]

Lots of major exercises. It could be nothing. Though, with the US bracing for an expected hit, it could be getting major assets out of harbours which could be struck by WMD, or it could be part of setting the chessboard in anticipation of an event. (I think of the major wargames before 9/11, US and UK, which placed military assets close to Afghanistan.)

I realize that summer is an optimal time for exercises, but I'm wondering about the scale here, and the conjunction with a seemingly anticipated, imminent, massive attack from, ahem, "al Qaeda."

Here are the stories. From the US:

Navy to Deploy Carrier Groups to Test Rapid Readiness

A major exercise soon to be underway will have a large part of the Navy fleet deploying out of Norfolk.

WAVY News 10 has learned the Navy is sending seven carrier strike groups out to sea.

The exercise is designed to test the Navy's new rapid deployment readiness.

...

While the Navy won't say where the seven carrier groups are going, the carriers not already deployed are expected to be gone for only one to two months.
http://www.wavy.com/Global/story.asp?S=1902088&nav=23iiNU2h

Seven carrier groups, deployed for up to two months. Is this extraordinary?

From the UK:

Marines Take off for Naval Exercise with U.S.

Five hundred Royal Marines boarded the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean today to take part in a major joint military exercise with the United States Navy.

A total of 5,900 UK service personnel will be taking part in the operation, which will rehearse the deployment of a medium sized sea-based task force.

...

Twenty Royal Navy ships, led by HMS Invincible, are heading off to take part in the exercise called Rapid Alliance, which is taking place off the eastern seaboard of the United States.

As well as the marines, hundreds of armoured vehicles including Challenger tanks, were today being loaded for the operation which the Royal Navy has codenamed Aurora 04.
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2918574

And Russia:

Russian military will have big military exercise in summer
Interim Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov informed President Putin about several big military exercises scheduled for the summer of 2004.

According to Sergei Ivanov, Russia has not had military exercises of this kind before. Big number of troops, including paratroopers and marines, will be transported by more than 50 passenger aircrafts from one region to another. Russian military is going to become more mobile.

In August-September Russian military will have exercise in Central Asia - Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Russian troops of alert readiness from the military base in Kant, Kyrgyzstan will participate. Paratroopers and special force will be examined for mobility.

"As for the Navy, in August they will go to the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea", said the Interim Defense Minister.
http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/351/12834_military.html

[DemBones DemBones]

1. As you say, summer is prime time for naval and other

military exercises. These things are planned many months in advance. That's not to say they haven't fine-tuned the plans recently, perhaps made fairly big changes. I hope they are keeping prepared. It would be insane if they weren't. I don't think they're planning another invasion; they don't have the troops for it.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. The Sino-Taiwanese War will be a Naval war

And then we'll have all those people to evacuate to the United States. That's going to take a lot of ships, you bet!

--bkl

[Minstrel Boy]

3. Speaking of which, here's a new Western Pacific deployment:

Coronado, Calif. -- The carrier USS John C. Stennis left Naval Air Station North Island Monday just after 8 a.m. on a four-month deployment in the Pacific Ocean.

Thousands of sailors said their goodbyes to family members on the dock at Naval Air Station North Island before the sun came up Monday. The carrier will lead a six-ship strike group on a deployment to the Western Pacific. The other ships are the missile cruiser Lake Champlain, the destroyer Howard, the guided-missile frigate Ford, the fast-attack submarine Salt Lake City and the replenishment ship Rainier. All of the ships are based in San Diego except the Ford and the Ranier, which are ported in Bremerton, Wash.

Although the ships are not scheduled to deploy off of Iraq, Capt. David Buss said the mission is open-ended.

"My crystal ball gets a little fuzzy as I look toward the outer months of the deployment. We're not exactly sure what our tasking will be or where we'll be asked to go," Buss told NBC 7/39. "This is deployment No. 10 for me personally, and the one thing that I've told the crew is the nine I've done before, not a single one has gone the way it was scripted the day we left homeport. Because of that, we're pretty much ready to respond wherever we're needed throughout the world."

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/3339032/detail.html

[Eloriel]

4. kick

[mmonk]

5. Ignore

the man behind the curtain.

[Dogmudgeon]

6. Kick it like Beckham

This is some major stuff goin' on!

--bkl

[donsu]

7. at the same time the bushgang is urging corporations to leave the US

as soon as possible. saying it's good business

are there dots to connect?

[donsu]

8. can I whisper a thought?

could the criminal bushgang team up with poppy's China to go after Russia's oil and water?

does poppy's China have that much power in China?

[bobthedrummer]

9. I can only pray that it's not Battlegroups Wolfowitz Rice and Rumsfeld

exploiting the war on terrorism to advance PNAC.