Brits in panic?

[David Guyatt]

I don't think the US wants to put boots on the ground in Syria or get into a serious shooting war with Russia, but it might not mind a few skirmishes that show the lauded Russian anti-aircraft systems aren't up to snuff against the latest stealth technology.

Hmm, the question is what happens if they are up to snuff and down a US plane over Syria. My guess is it will be painted as an unprovoked aggression and the first step to full war with Russia.

The defense industry needs Russia as a long-term bugaboo that North Korea and Iran can't be because their technology is generations behind. A shoot-down of a new stealth aircraft would really mean that defense contractors who consumed hundreds of billions of dollars to develop underperforming stealth technology would be given fat new contracts to improve it.

I doubt that. The F-35 is a flying lemon but will cost over it's lifetime a staggering $1.6 trillion. Who needs another non-performing money sucking flying bucket that is the very definition of NFG?

However, quite apart from that, the whole thing with Syria is that it's predicated on two essential things. Firstly it is about the Qatari (for which read Exxon) plan to run their gas through Syria to Europe as a means of making sure that Europe is not dependent on Russian gas supplies. Secondly, it is to do with the far more dominant and longer term project to make sure that no other power in the world can develop to compete with the US - as stated in the Defence Planning Guidance for FY 1992-4 that became known as the Wolfowitz Doctrine.

Put another way, following the end of the cold war the US set itself to be the only allowable world power and will go to almost any lengths to ensure that other nations are supplicant to it or face a damaging war should they consider trying to establish a competitor status that opposes the US.

The relevant excerpts from the DPG are as follows:

Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power. These regions include Western Europe, East Asia, the territory of the former Soviet Union, and Southwest Asia.

There are three additional aspects to this objective: First the U.S must show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order that holds the promise of convincing potential competitors that they need not aspire to a greater role or pursue a more aggressive posture to protect their legitimate interests. Second, in the non-defense areas, we must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. Finally, we must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role.

A Thousand Reich...