Changing The Guard

The times they are a-changing.

Pax Americana is abruptly over. Beaten down by decades of excessive taxation, excessive litigation, and excessive regulation, the US economy was weak and the policies of the last five years have the US mired in a Depression that has no end in sight. In those last five years the strongest military force in history is in notable decline. The US is politically more divided than any time since the 1850s.

German taxpayers are wearying of having to carry the euro. That weariness is tempered by the knowledge that if the euro collapses, the revived deutschmark will be so strong against every other currency in the world that German exports will be priced out of even upscale markets and the export-driven German economy will implode. Hare-brained energy policies are forcing Germany into a high-cost structure under any circumstance. As a result, the German economic dominance can only be on the wane.

Nobody else can pick up the slack. Decades of building a culture of dependence on government has debilitated Britain, France and Italy. They have lost confidence in their own culture and they are being taken over by immigrants. Britain and France have no history of assimilating immigrants and the immigrants coming there have no use for British, French, or Italian culture.

America and Germany are abandoning their posts and I don't see any relief in sight.

The western Pacific is facing a similar situation. Pax Americana has been trying to recede for years. The US has maintained token forces in the region only because Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea have been subsidizing that presence. but that money only talks so much. As more and more US carriers, cruisers, and submarines get tied to their piers for long periods, army readiness is slashed dramatically and US air dominance is built on forty year old aircraft the outlook for a US presence west of Anderson AFB is questionable.

The good news is that Taiwan and South Korea have robust economies. Japan less so after their Lost Decades. All three could develop solid defenses in five years.

As Europe is menaced by Russia and Eurabian infiltration, the WesPac powers are menaced by China. China has big economy and still views itself as the Middle Kingdom. Fortunately the WesPac powers have a moat. China, like Russia is a frankly continental power with no maritime history since the seventeenth century. It is hard for the Chinese to put their huge army on any of those three island nations. Of course, the Chinese could swamp them under waves of missiles if those missiles can hit their targets. But The Chinese would have to win quickly. Moreso than Germany, China is utterly dependent on exports and an air/sea war with any one of the three WesPac powers essentially closes Chinese ports for the duration.

Yes, America is abandoning both posts. The Germans are tired of carrying the rest of Europe economically. There is no relief in sight. In the WesPac, at least they have economic vigor and understand the tempest that Taiwan has been riding out for over half a century. With a little national will, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan can keep the Middle Kingdom boxed in against Russia and the Himalayas.

 

Feel like playing Total War after trading this.....

Not that I disagree, it's just all pretty crazy

 

ax Americana?

Considering the number of wars america has been in, supported or ignored in the past 75 years, I'd hate to see what bellum americana would do to the world.

"'It became necessary to destroy the town to save it".

 

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