Paper Tiger - Hidden Dragon: Can America Mobilize for Future War

摘要

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, American policy makers have made a concentrated effort to reduce the size and scope of the U.S. military and its associated Defense Industrial Base. This reduction in the United States' military might stems from three assumptions about future war. The first is that the U.S. has no need to retain the ability to mobilize for large-scale conventional war. The second is that the days of World War II - scale wars are long over and that future wars will be sanitary, high-tech engagements of short duration with weapons and armament bought 'off the shelf.' The final assumption is that there is no rival superpower on the near horizon that could threaten either the U.S. or its vital national interests. Are they right. America's mobilization history tells the story of a nation driven by political and economic factors to be ill prepared for future conflicts resulting in huge loses of national treasure and human lives. Post WW II national policies have been based on America's inherent geographical safety, future war visions that were flawed or at best misleading, and America's distain for things military in times other than war. Only once did America properly plan and prepare to fight a war against an emerging superpower, the U.S.S.R. The timely mobilization of the defense industrial base and the armed forces vastly increased the United States' elements of national power, giving her the strength to deter the spread of communism and protect her vital interests abroad. That power is waning and another potential rival superpower threat is on the horizon. The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is on the move. For over the past ten years, the government of China has committed an unprecedented amount of national treasure to the modernization and future sustainment of its military and defense industrial base. China is aligning itself with Russia for the purpose of modernizing its military.