Small Wars Journal

America's 'Pacific Pivot' Craze

Mon, 07/02/2012 - 9:34am

America's 'Pacific Pivot' Craze by Max Boot, Los Angeles Times opinion piece.

The Middle East remains in turmoil. The U.S. should boost its air and naval assets in Asia but leave the other military branches free to focus on other regions.

Comments

gian gentile

Mon, 07/02/2012 - 11:15am

In reply to by Dave Maxwell

Agree Dave, and I find myself in an odd position of agreeing, at least partly with what my old colleague at the CFR, Max Boot, has to say. I differ with him though on the solution for the problems in the middle east to be potentially more american military excursions in places like Libya, Syria, Yemin, etc.

Dave Maxwell

Mon, 07/02/2012 - 10:09am

I fully concur with Max's characterization of our search for buzzwords and the latest fad with everything from Effect Based Operations and Network Centric Warfare to COIN and Irregular Warfare and now the Pacific Pivot (for those that did not get the memo – the rebalancing to Asia) and Air Sea Battle. And along the way (especially during the COIN/IW era that seems to be coming to an end for most of the force) we have created (or renamed) such "doctrine" and concepts as Security Force Assistance (SFA); Train Advise and Assist (TAA); Building Partner Capacity (BPC); Organize, Train, Equip, Rebuild, and Advise (OTERA) and myriad others all I think in a search for the holy grail of doctrine (and from a technology perspective the silver bullet response to every threat capability)

I do somewhat disagree with his characterization of Korea and the requirement for US ground forces. While the ROK forces are very capable and many (at the current time they seem to be many but not when they draw down their ground forces for political as well as demographic reasons) the complexity of the problem will require a large commitment of ground forces from the Alliance (and if possible the international community through the UN Command). We cannot wish away the Korean problem (and solution to the "Korea Question") with Naval and Air Power.