"Oh God, Not the Peloponnesian War Again" Topic

"Last Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave a major speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library on the U.S.-China relationship, so naturally one of the first questions, from the president of the Nixon Foundation, Hugh Hewitt, referred to ancient Greece.

"But we are, like Athens was, a naval power. America is a naval power. And as like Sparta [was], China is a land power. Do we not have to change how we approach defense spending to put more emphasis on our naval resources than on our Army resources?" Hewitt asked Pompeo…"

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Amicalement
Armand

Naval actions are fleeting. A strong navy works great to blockade and besiege islands. Doesn't work so well with opponents with lots of contiguous options for trade and resources.

People live on, work, fight, and die for land, not the sea, excepting Captain Nemo of course, and the villain in "The Spy Who Loved Me".

Yes but land force need stuff(oil,Food,Resources) to fight. China is presently short on a lot of these key resources.

The article, while interesting, totally misses the point. Graham Allison's "Thucydides Trap" only argues that, historically speaking, an existing superpower had never willingly ceded its pre-eminent position to a rising challenger without a fight, nothing more. Sparta vs. Athens is just one example among many.

The Athenians didn't have aircraft carriers or SSNs full of Tomahawks. Sparta's economy was not 10% selling goods to Athens and another 10% exporting to everyone else. Naval power isn't the same as it was.

I am interested in hearing someone go into Trump's plan to invade Sicily, though.

Glup!….

Amicalement
Armand