America's Pivot to the Pacific: Selective Primacy, Operational Access, and China's A2/AD Challenge
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 This paper assesses America's recent "pivot" or "rebalance" to the Asia-Pacific. It shows that Obama's pivot represents the beginnings of a strategic choice on "selective primacy" a grand strategy rooted in Washington's worrisome economic and fiscal situation and designed to shape America's global engagement at a time of fiscal austerity, in which primacy in one theatre will be achieved through greater selectivity of commitments elsewhere. As a result, the US military will increasingly prioritize the air and naval services within its force structure, which provides the broader context for more operational joint concepts like Air-Sea Battle. Lastly, while triggered by economic and fiscal exigencies, I will show that such a strategic shift is primarily directed at China's rise as a regional military power, with particular emphasis on its growing anti-access and area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities. The paper concludes with some thoughts on the future direction of Sino-American strategic competition.
China, the German Analogy, and the New AirSea Operational Concept
Abstract This article examines the assumptions that lead China alarmists to dismiss America's ability to impose a distant blockade as an inadequate counter to Chinese A2/AD systems. It argues that distant blockade is indeed a viable, lower cost strategy that capitalizes on America's strengths and China's weaknesses.
Arab Uprisings and the Outstanding Return to Democracy: Tunisia as a Model
In the wake of the Middle Eastern crises, the Tunisian case in focus has been doted as a unique phenomenon being that it was the Genesis of the revolution that ultimately spread across the Middle East like wild fire, but has eventually heralded a new dawn as democracy has incidentally returned to the Empire. This literature therefore looks closely at the extent to which the ‘DignityRevolution’ has been instrumental in the Middle East uprisings, which have brought an end to dynastic autocracies. The literature zeros in on the Tunisian uprising which has attracted global concerns, sympathy and has sparked interests in the international arena. The literature finds that the people hold colossal prospect in the uprising and its resultant effect, as it paved the way for the revolutionist to generate, gather and disseminate information on the condition of the entire region to the international community. The people in this context were of utmost importance and played a very crucial role in the creation of awareness, mobilization of protesters and utmost determining the direction of the uprising and also ensuring a speedy return to democratic rule. The paper submits that the role of the people in ensuring that the ruins of the uprising is not left littering around and democracy restored is highly commendable and should be a model for all other Arab countries involved in the revolution.