Posted on 01/14/2010 11:05:29 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
A funny thing happened in the skies over Norway last month. On Dec. 10, as U.S. President Barack Obama geared up to deliver his acceptance speech before the Nobel Prize Committee in Oslo, spectators outdoors were treated to a spectacular display of spiraling light. The cause was not a UFO, as some contended, but a failed test of the Bulava, Russia's newest sea-launched intercontinental ballistic missile.
The episode was a telling reminder of the shifting strategic balance between Washington and the rest of the world. To understand the significance, one need look no further than Russia's military modernization program. That initiative, launched in the early days of Vladimir Putin's presidency, has charted major gains over the past decade under the watchful eye of Putin (now prime minister) and his handpicked protégé, President Dmitry Medvedev.
And while the effort is certainly not perfect, as the latest failure of the Bulava underscores, Russia can now boast upgrades to every leg of its strategic triad (submarines, bombers and ballistic missiles). In addition, Russia has made progress on advanced technologies related to missile countermeasures, hypersonic glide vehicles and electro-magnetic pulse - all systems designed to defeat U.S. defenses.
Nor is Russia alone. Over the past two decades, China has embarked upon a massive, multispectrum military modernization. The most immediate goal is to increase China's ability to dominate Taiwan in the event of a conflict, but the threat posed by this effort extends far beyond the Asia-Pacific.
"The PLA Navy is currently developing the JL-2, a submarine-launched ballistic missile, to be deployed on the navy's newest nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines," the latest report of the congressionally mandated U.S.-China Economic & Security Review Commission outlines.
(Excerpt) Read more at afpc.org ...
Liberals dont like America being a superpower...much less a lone one...
They are busy rectifying that...
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