Bases, Places and Boots on the Ground: A Review of 'Rebalancing US Forces' by Julian Snelder, Lowy Institute
The prologue of Rebalancing US Forces, a new book edited by US Naval War College professors Carnes Lord and Andrew Erickson, opens with Barack Obama's speech in to the Australian parliament on 17 November 2011. That single clue should alert Australian readers to their country's importance in America's Pacific policy.
There are a staggering 660 American overseas military sites in 38 foreign countries, so why is Australia highlighted? Lord and Erickson's essay collection will be a must-read for the entire Asian security establishment. But any Australian layperson interested in current affairs should read Rebalancing and ponder its meaning. For despite questions about America's staying power and reliability, Rebalancing's contributors describe in gritty detail a decisive, deliberate shift of US attention to the region.
Contemporary US strategy in Asia is informed by history (for an excellent Australian perspective on facing a north Asian threat see here). The US military wants never to be caught off-guard again, like it was in 1941. And having fought two proxy wars against the PRC, in Korea and Vietnam, as one congressman in 1996 warned: 'you'd sure as hell better not get us into a war with the Chinese', at least an Asian land war…