PENTAGON TURNS SCREWS ON ASIA-PACIFIC

• Navy Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, Commander of Pacific Command, recently told the Boston Globe that the biggest long-term security threat in the Pacific region is climate change. “The ice is melting and sea is getting higher,” Locklear said, noting that 80% of the world’s population lives within 200 miles of the coast. “I’m into the consequence management side of it. I’m not a scientist, but the island of Tarawa in Kiribati, they’re contemplating moving their entire population to another country because [it] is not going to exist anymore. We have interjected into our multilateral dialogue – even with China and India – the imperative to kind of get military capabilities aligned [for] when the effects of climate change start to impact these massive populations,” he said. “If it goes bad, you could have hundreds of thousands or millions of people displaced and then security will start to crumble pretty quickly.’’

• You can hear in Locklear's words how the Pentagon is viewing the coming reality of climate change from a military or "security" standpoint.  Obviously, despite all the denials from the corporations about climate change, the military industrial complex understands the problem.  Instead of showing leadership though to help move us toward rail systems, wind power, solar, home weatherization and other positive steps, the military will use climate change to ask for even more $$$ so they can bring "security and stability" to the impacted populations.

• Another example of the weapons industry never missing an opportunity to sell more "product" is the Pentagon announcement today that the Army's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) "missile defense" system will be deployed to the island of Guam in "protection of the American territory's citizens and all of the US military forces deployed there from North Korea's ballistic missile threat". North Korea is not going to launch an attack on the US, nor on Guam, nor on Japan, or South Korea because it knows it would be pulverized in a retaliatory response by the US-South Korean forces.  The only way the shooting will start is if the US keeps tightening the noose around the neck of North Korea - which is entirely possible as Obama's pivot of 60% of US naval forces are moved into the Asia-Pacific region.  THAAD is built by Lockheed Martin and has an estimated range of about 120 miles and was designed as one element in an integrated system that includes the Navy Aegis interceptor missiles for longer-range targets and the short-range Patriot missile.