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freudianslumber · 7 months

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Tiger Man

Summary: The year was 1941, bandmates and secret lovers Scotty Moore and Elvis Presley got caught red handed by Scotty’s fiancée, and this led to the young men being thrusted headlong into the China-Burma-India theater of World War II as members of the first American Volunteer Group (The Flying Tigers).

Chapter 3. Lost and Found

Pairing: Scotty Moore x Elvis Presley (m/m)

Word count: 2.4k

Warning: grieving, comfort sex, bombing of civilians

New Year 1942 brought with it new rounds of air combat for Elvis, Scotty and their squadron. They were sent back to southern Burma to reinforce the 3rd squadron there in the Battle of Rangoon. By then the Japanese had launched a full-scale campaign to take over the capital city of the British colony. To provide air coverage for the British and allied troops and to deliver ground attacks on the enemy, the Tigers had many encounters with groups of Japanese fighter planes known as “Oscars” and “Nates” and managed to come out victorious despite being outnumbered and outgunned repeatedly. In the process, the dynamic duo from Memphis was able to destroy another three enemy aircrafts with their seamless collaboration by the time spring turned around. From cousin Gene’s communication, it appeared the achievements of Flying Tigers even received a wave of publicity as part of wartime propaganda stateside, being among the few bright spots that could be gleaned from early part of the American involvement.

The overall direction of the war was not in their favor, however. The British was losing their footing in Burma to Japanese army’s advances, despite some reinforcement from the Chinese Expeditionary Force sent by the Chinese Nationalist government. After the fall of Rangoon, the Japanese ground forces began their relentless sweep northward through Burma. To aid the allies and distract the invaders, the Tigers started to take on risky missions such as carrying out air raids on Japanese bases in Thailand. Bomb racks were added to their p-40s for this purpose. In retaliation, large groups of Japanese fighter-bombers plagued the British airbases in Burma. Unsurprisingly, the Tigers began to suffer more casualties as the Burma Campaign wore on. A few good men had been lost in intense air battles or fell victim to powerful anti-aircraft artillery. Moreover, some p-40s were destroyed on the ground during enemy air raids. When their planes were damaged during battle, the parts for repair were very hard to come by. All of these factors caused the size of each squadron to dwindle and overall morale to slip. As the Imperial Army overwhelmed its ill-prepared and poorly equipped opponents during the spring months, it became more and more apparent that Japanese occupation of the entirety of Burma would be inevitable.

Despite all the setbacks in Burma and eventual retreat of his Squadron back to the southwest Chinese province of Yunnan, Elvis continued to perform well on all his missions, even managed to expand his air-to-air victory scores to five. Thus, along with Scotty who had six under his name, the former graduates from Humes High had officially become a pair of flying aces. Elvis wrote about this achievement with pride in his letters back home, jubilant over the bounty money he had earned for each kill which he would be sending to the family. Naturally he neglected to mention the precarious position the squadron was facing as the allied forces were being pummeled in this part of the world, the hardship they had to endure due to lack of supplies, or the close calls he had encountered numerous times during his air combats. He figured that Daddy and especially Mama did not need to know about these unsettling details. International mail service during wartime was shoddy at best, there was no telling if and when his folks would receive this communication. But Elvis kept writing regularly, the thought of family receiving good news like these was comforting and always served to lift his spirits.

Scotty sat on the wing of his fighter plane one day in April, inspecting the repairs the ground crew had just made to the wing guns. The Tigers were now based near the Chinese city of Baoshan, which was one of the locations near Burmese border under frequent aerial harassment by Japanese bombers and fighters. Another pilot, Joey Cooper, walked over from the direction of the barracks and stopped next to the plane, a look of concern on his face: “Hey Scotty, will ya take a look at Elvis? He got a telegram from home today, probably bad news. He was crushed and hadn’t spoken to anyone since!”

Scotty’s heart skipped a beat: “Oh no! I hope it had nothin’ to do with his Mama!!”. He jumped down from the plane instantly and ran towards the barracks. Scotty ran into two other pilots on his way there and they seemed to know automatically who he was looking for. “We tried…” One of them uttered apologetically and pointed at the entrance of the flat brick structure behind him. Scotty rushed in the door but then slowed down when he came upon the sad and lonely figure at the far end, lying in prone position with his face buried in the familiar single wire bed. His heart throbbed painfully as he started to make out the muffled sobs emanating from the young man. “Elvis, baby. What happened?” Scotty asked as he sat down at the edge of the bed.

Elvis’ shoulders shuddered for a second, then slowly he lifted his head. Tears streaming, nose running, face flushed, Elvis looked so pitiful it evoked an overwhelming sense of tender protectiveness within Scotty. He pulled his beloved over and held him tight, that was when Elvis finally made out something coherent: “Scotty, Mama is gone… I-I-I got nothin’ left no more!” He sounded so nasally it was almost like coming from another person. Scotty’s heart plunged into sorrow as the dreaded news was confirmed, he knew just how much Gladys meant to her son. He squeezed Elvis a little tighter, lightly patted his back in a soothing gesture, “I’m so sorry, baby. Life throws curveballs at us sometimes. I know it’s real rough.”

“Everyone at home were trying to keep it from me about how sick she had been. Last I heard she was amazed to hear about the Tigers in the news!” Elvis finally responded amidst a string of sniffles. He pulled back a little and that pair of large teary sapphire eyes locked up with Scotty's steely blue: “I should have seen it coming. I worried about her health but never, never thought she would leave this world so young. It’s just not her time to go.” He wiped his face messily with the back of a hand: “They said her liver and heart gave out. I know it, I worried her into an early grave!”

It pained Scotty to see his baby so lost and despondent, he had to will himself not to lean in and kiss away all his tears. He reminded himself they were in public, and anyone could walk into the barrack any time. So instead, he gently caressed the sobbing young man at the back of his neck: “Don’t think that way, honey. She was called on by God ’cause her earthly trials were done. She had been proud of you before she passed. Believe me, your Mama would want you to be strong like how she had raised you.”

With this gentle consolation Scotty stood up and walked over to the sink with a washcloth. He turned on the tap until warmth was slowly felt in his fingertips. He soaked the washcloth in water and then wrung it out before turning off the faucet. He then returned to the grieving young man who was sobbing and rambling, clasping a small, faded family picture in his hands. “Come on baby, let’s clean up your face.” Scotty sat down on the bed, nudged Elvis’ back a little and suggested. It almost felt like taking care of a small child as Scotty supported the back of Elvis’ head with one hand while using the other hand to pat his face with the slightly damp cloth. “Now there’s the flying ace Elvis Presley that I know.” Scotty joked as he tidied up the face of his flying partner and smooth out the wrinkles on his uniform.

Still looking numb and stiff from the tragic news, Elvis murmured: “I never got to see her one last time. It was all my fault, I left Satinin on her own. All those long nights she must’ve stayed up fretting for me… This is how God punishes me, he takes her away and, and I’ll never get to see her sweet face again!” His voice started to break down again while fresh tears circled in his mournful eyes.

“Listen to me, baby!” Scotty grabbed Elvis by the shoulders and shook him: “I know losing your Mama is a lot to handle, she meant the world to you. But you’ve got to toughen up for yourself and the rest of the family. You still have a lot to live for!” Staring Elvis straight in the eyes, Scotty’s tone turned from firm to tender: “I need you to be strong and brave for me, Elvis. Life is fragile, especially during wartime. Hundreds and thousands are suffering and dying all around us, but we still got each other. You are my true love; it breaks my heart to see you so heartbroken. In a few months our contract would be up with the Tigers, and we’ll get to go home then. We can go visit your Mama’s grave together and bring her flowers.”

“D-did you just call me your true love?” Elvis stammered with a stunned expression on his face. He looked so cute Scotty wished he could take him right then and there. Instead, he played it down: “You know what you heard.” “Scotty, you’ve always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. Without Mama I’m lost, but you’re such a blessing.” Elvis straightened up, took in a breath before speaking resolutely: “I promise from now on I’ll be strong for you and be worthy of your love.” His sincerity was promptly rewarded by a warm hug from Scotty, who managed to sneak in a kiss on the forehead too.

Elvis was given the next two days off for bereavement. Scotty was excused from regular duty as well, specifically tasked to cheer him up since it was obvious that only Scotty could prevent Elvis from crumbling psychologically. Both were now suffering from lack of sleep because it took most of the night for Scotty to calm Elvis’ sobbing and coax him to sleep. Elvis also lost all appetite ever since the terrible news. Far too quiet to be normal, he was noted by others to be often lost in thoughts. Taking account of all this, Squadron leader Tex encouraged Scotty to find Elvis some “distractions”. The implication was for the older pilot to take his grief-stricken partner to Baoshan city to seek some pleasure in brothels. Naturally the two lovers spent the precious time off with each other instead.

The owner of Changrong Inn smiled knowingly at the two tall American soldiers who checked into his modest hotel. Mr. Sun was fond of the foreign couple who had stayed a night here occasionally over the last month or two. They were polite and discrete, never got drunk or caused a fight, and most importantly, tipped well. He had even suggested some choice local eateries and nearby sightseeing locations to the nice young men. Business was slow over the last few years in this Chinese city under constant threat of Japanese invasion. Mr. Sun wished he had more wealthy and trouble-free tourists like these for customers, what they did behind closed doors was no concern of his. The thought was pushed aside as he handed the keys of one of his nicest rooms to the Americans.

Once inside the room and isolating themselves from the rest of the world, Scotty and Elvis were immediately locked in passionate kisses, hands going under shirts and fondling up and down bare shoulders and backs. They pressed their bodies against each other so tightly it felt like they almost melted into one. It took considerable patience and willpower for Scotty to unbutton and undress his lover properly. Elvis on the other hand was not so patient. He only managed to take off Scotty’s jacket and unzip his trousers. When guitar slinger’s already excited member popped out of his clothes, Elvis’ knees became weak and wobbly. He could feel the radiating heat and pulsing veins as he took the growing organ into his hands. With barely a push down on his shoulders, Elvis kneeled down at Scotty’s feet and kissed him on the tip. Licking along his length and lapping up his precum, there was a streak of desperation in those beautiful eyes as Elvis eagerly wrapped his mouth around Scotty and took him down as deep as he could. Scotty knew at that moment that Elvis needed him just like roses needed rain. He was the only one who could fill up the gaping hole which was in the young man’s heart, and make Elvis feel alive again.

Tears of contentment and gratification streamed down Elvis’ face as he let his lover use him any way he pleased. The more seasoned pilot kept his hands buried in those soft locks of light chestnut hair and held that pretty head still. He pushed against the back of Elvis’ throat repeatedly until a mind-numbingly satisfying release inside of his younger partner.

Twice more Scotty would spill his seeds within his gorgeous lead singer that night by the time their romp in bed was over. Elvis reached his own climax while being slammed from behind as he laid beneath Scotty. While he slipped into restful sleep for the first time since three days ago, he vaguely remembered being sponged clean caringly by his guardian angel, and the overwhelming sense that Scotty was what makes his life worth living in this lonely and perilous world.

The couple’s peaceful slumber was shattered by loud sirens as morning came around. This was soon replaced by sounds of explosion, low-flying bombers and screaming civilians as they were cut down by strafing machine guns. Scotty shouted: “Air raid!” In the blink of an eye, he pushed Elvis down one side of the bed and then rolled down himself only seconds later. As the pair huddled under the bed, their room shook for a few moments due to a stray bomb which landed within the confines of the Changrong Inn itself. A cloud of smoke and panicked cries could be heard rising out of the east wing of the little hotel. The rumbling of distant artillery suggested ground troops were not far from the city. The lovers embraced each other without words, both knowing in their hearts that Japanese army was moving closer, a full-scale confrontation was soon to come.

#elvis presley #scotty moore #flying tigers #m/m #world war ii au #elvis fan fic

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dragoneyes618 · 2 years

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“China currently holds one million Muslim Uighurs in some form of concentration camps. Six hundred thousand Syrians have died in that country’s civil war to date, and ten million have been displaced. And the Damascus regime employed poison gas against its own people, almost all civilians, as did Saddam Hussein’s Iraq against its Shiite population. The number of casualties in the Syrian Civil War is well over six times all those killed in Arab-Israel fighting since 1948.

Just over two months ago, Russia attacked neighboring Ukraine without provocation. Unable to achieve its military goals, Russia has resorted to terror tactics designed to maximize civilian casualties -- missiles and bombs directed at apartment buildings, hospitals, and underground stations, the systematic rounding up, binding, and killing of thousands of civilians, etc. And it has repeatedly threatened to introduce nuclear weapons into the conflict.

Yet nowhere in European cities or on American campuses have we witnessed huge ongoing demonstrations against Chinese concentration camps, or Syrian poison gas, or Russia’s deliberate effort to maximize civilian casualties. No calls for academic boycotts of Chinese universities, and bans on any students from China. Only Israel is singled out, even though, as Colonel Richard Kemp, former chief commander of British Expeditionary Forces in Afghanistan, has repeatedly said, no army in the history of warfare has gone to greater lengths to prevent civilian casualties than Israel.”

-- Mishpacha, Issue 910, May 2022, p. 48.

#israel #china #syria #russia #ukraine #double standard

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brookstonalmanac · 1 year

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Events 2.21

452 or 453 – Severianus, Bishop of Scythopolis, is martyred in Palestine. 1245 – Thomas, the first known Bishop of Finland, is granted resignation after confessing to torture and forgery. 1440 – The Prussian Confederation is formed. 1613 – Mikhail I is unanimously elected Tsar by a national assembly, beginning the Romanov dynasty of Imperial Russia. 1797 – A force of 1,400 French soldiers invaded Britain at Fishguard in support of the Society of United Irishmen. They were defeated by 500 British reservists. 1804 – The first self-propelling steam locomotive makes its outing at the Pen-y-Darren Ironworks in Wales. 1808 – Without a previous declaration of war, Russian troops cross the border to Sweden at Abborfors in eastern Finland, thus beginning the Finnish War, in which Sweden will lose the eastern half of the country (i.e. Finland) to Russia. 1828 – Initial issue of the Cherokee Phoenix is the first periodical to use the Cherokee syllabary invented by Sequoyah. 1842 – John Greenough is granted the first U.S. patent for the sewing machine. 1848 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto. 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Valverde is fought near Fort Craig in New Mexico Territory. 1866 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor becomes the first American woman to graduate from dental school. 1874 – The Oakland Daily Tribune publishes its first edition. 1878 – The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut. 1885 – The newly completed Washington Monument is dedicated. 1896 – An Englishman raised in Australia, Bob Fitzsimmons, fought an Irishman, Peter Maher, in an American promoted event which technically took place in Mexico, winning the 1896 World Heavyweight Championship in boxing. 1913 – Ioannina is incorporated into the Greek state after the Balkan Wars. 1916 – World War I: In France, the Battle of Verdun begins. 1918 – The last Carolina parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. 1919 – German socialist Kurt Eisner is assassinated. His death results in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich, Germany. 1921 – Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia adopts the country's first constitution. 1921 – Rezā Shāh takes control of Tehran during a successful coup. 1925 – The New Yorker publishes its first issue. 1929 – In the first battle of the Warlord Rebellion in northeastern Shandong against the Nationalist government of China, a 24,000-strong rebel force led by Zhang Zongchang was defeated at Zhifu by 7,000 NRA troops. 1934 – Augusto Sandino is executed. 1937 – The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War. 1945 – World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga. 1945 – World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front. 1947 – In New York City, Edwin Land demonstrates the first "instant camera", the Polaroid Land Camera, to a meeting of the Optical Society of America. 1948 – NASCAR is incorporated. 1952 – The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free". 1952 – The Bengali Language Movement protests occur at the University of Dhaka in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). 1958 – The CND symbol, aka peace symbol, commissioned by the Direct Action Committee in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, is designed and completed by Gerald Holtom. 1965 – Malcolm X is gunned down while giving a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. 1971 – The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is signed at Vienna. 1972 – United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations. 1972 – The Soviet unmanned spaceship Luna 20 lands on the Moon. 1973 – Over the Sinai Desert, Israeli fighter aircraft shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 jet killing 108 people. 1974 – The last Israeli soldiers leave the west bank of the Suez Canal pursuant to a truce with Egypt. 1975 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are sentenced to prison. 1994 – Aldrich Ames is arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for selling national secrets to the Soviet Union in Arlington County, Virginia. 1995 – Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, Canada becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon. 2013 – At least 17 people are killed and 119 injured following several bombings in the Indian city of Hyderabad. 2022 – In the Russo-Ukrainian crisis Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and moves troops into the region. The action is condemned by the United Nations.

#Events

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zooterchet · 28 days

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American Patriotic Wars (Mohecan, Iroquois Constitution, United States)

Seven Years War: The end of the demand of law, to be legalized, to act, instead of prohibited, under legislature's code transferred to police.

American Revolution: The referendum of slain African, as common colonies code, to declare opinion on news article of slain African victim.

War of 1812: The dominatrix, as a nurse, as having determined nation-state of origin, of attempted lodger; any refused, as having concerted citizen's rights, the American citizen on baby footprints; outside of pedophile's attempt to replace American child or teenager or adult.

Mexican-American War: The aid of foreigner, as having necessitated revolution as oppressed, instead of national border, that of army having governed; instead of foreign power, having requested.

Civil War: The prohibition of the slave, as having been governed by wage, of foreign law of talent, all forms of labor, as having been required to pay well and offer comfort of worker; otherwise, the fraud of print.

Spanish-American War: The MI-6 infantry, the Irish soldier, and the African cop's steward, as having disrupted Farsi, Hebrew, and Arabic, hence the bio-exorcist project, the Gadze merged with Gypsy, as having been the purpose of the new spy's class, the Romajin.

The Great War: The foreign expeditionary force, as the new American power; hence, any serving, as having removed the power of the common classroom, from military service.

World War 2: The war against the kin, the Japanese, to reform, and through the Italians, the Catholic, to be rendered atheist, and the German Axis, the refutation of the foreign control of British Empire, as the unique instance of narcotraffic and controlled substance as aligning, the prohibition on alcohol and marijuana as for children; outside of MI-6 syndicate.

Korean Conflict: The end to the Gentleman's Agreement, with Chinese Communists, and other ethnicities aligning, as fully impatriated American citizens, the police investment of Chinatown, inside the FBI and common campus police department.

Vietnam War: The removal of Jewish-Seminarians, to Vietnam War USMC service, and the victims Catholic of Judaism's convert, as CIA and Company service, with MI-6, as serving overseas to protect the ARVN, and the expense of the wealthy black community, as held below the African poverty.

War in Afghanistan: The common British and Russian, as conflicted, the "Great Game"; placed into play, as forebearers of American, the end to the Russian and British and Indian empires, with future interactions with China guaranteed, with Vietnam as the future trade axis of Indochina, the Dalai Llama.

The Middle Eastern Suzerein War: The engineering sector, as having become prominent, and the refusal of the common warehouse career, under the refusal of MI-6 and the Scottish, instead the Americans seizing their goals and destinies under the hatred of the British Empire.

The War on Terror: The draft of soldiers, under Canadian law, to fail, and voluntary enlistments instead, succeeding, in US Army, CIA, and NSA, those inspired by movies as having been rejected, to small suits of law, those using libraries and textbooks and courses of K-12 and collegiate instead, as having been placed on the front lines, as criminals; those otherwise, held back, married to obese under homosexual codes of Falwell.

The COINTELPRO War: The war against Law and Order, and related programs, by the FBI and CIA, the print of the Bellevue, H-Block, and Code Pink programs, as having the nature of torture of those brightly educated, upwardly mobile, and militantly creative, as victims for the bribe to politician of, television show. Those street wars, and prints of art, outside of common cabinet, instead inside courts and police orders.

The Ukraine Conflict: The support of the USMC, as divisions against the exploitation of foreign nations, and the dissolution of Europe, China, and Africa, as foreign trade pacts under ethnicity, the refusal of the Iranian "white" identity, instead as refusing Karl Marx, and Jimmy Carter, in the same.

#cia #megaman mush #batman #dc comics

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peterchiublack · 6 months

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flickr

WoW.....

SOUTH CHINA SEA (Feb. 15, 2023)

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) steams alongside the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8).

Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (NIMCSG) and Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (MKI ARG), with embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU),

are conducting combined expeditionary strike force (ESF) operations, demonstrating unique high-end war fighting capability, maritime superiority, power projection and readiness.

Operations include integrated training designed to advance interoperability between the two groups while simultaneously demonstrating the U.S. commitment to our alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region.

Nimitz is in U.S. U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. U.S. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Emma Burgess)

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xtruss · 7 months

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America Prepares For a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want! Embedded with U.S. Forces in the Pacific, I Saw the Dilemmas of Deterrence Firsthand.

— September 16, 2023 | By Zuri Linetsky | Foreign Policy

A view from the cockpit shows a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown, Australia, to Darwin at sunset on July 12, 2023. Zuri Linetsky For Foreign Policy

Flying over the Australian Outback at night in a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130J aerial refueler, the scene outside the cockpit is a featureless sea of black. The instrument panels are backlit in neon green. The radio crackles in my ear over the baritone drone of the aircraft’s four propellers. Lt. Col. Courtney O’Brien (call sign Britney) alerts me to two fighter planes approaching from the rear. The KC-130J deploys fuel lines from tanks on both wings as incoming Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II fighter jets extend their fuel probes to begin aerial refueling.

I watch as digital displays on five fuel gauges slowly tick down from 50,000 pounds to just under 20,000. As the F-35C’s disconnect and drop away, a core challenge to U.S. strategic objectives across the Pacific theater comes into focus. To operate across this vast region and prepare for a potential conflict with near-peer competitors, the U.S. military needs shrewd solutions for complex logistical puzzles of time and distance.

Ensuring the Indo-Pacific region remains “free and open” is the primary strategic objective of the Biden administration. It seeks to protect the law of the sea, maintain open sea lanes and the free flow of seaborne trade, and resist coercion against Taiwan. To this end, the United States is working to ensure its military capacities can be intermingled with local allies and partners in “integrated deterrence.” This requires sustaining forces thousands of miles from the United States, sitting at the end of intricate supply chains that China has every interest in breaking.

It’s not just that the mission is far away; the theater itself is enormous. Nearly 6,000 miles lay between the U.S. military bases in San Diego and Iwakuni, Japan—more than twice the distance from Washington to Los Angeles. The United States and its allies need to minimize travel time and maximize the time their forces can remain deployed in forward areas.

This requires systems for moving and using fuel, weapons, and other critical supplies, for repairing equipment, and for setting up and maintaining bases. Moving U.S. military personnel and equipment from Australia toward the Chinese coast, for example, requires traveling more than 5,000 miles through Indonesia, the Philippines, and on toward the Taiwan Strait. It can require aerial refueling or airstrips to land on with prepositioned fuel, ordnance, and other supplies.

But these supply chains can be perceived as offensive provocations by China. The United States accumulating access to new airfields and military bases and building up partner military forces it can integrate with seamlessly feeds into Chinese narratives that China is being contained by the United States. I saw this firsthand.

This July, I embedded for a week with a Marine Corps F-35C squadron nicknamed the “Black Knights.” I observed them conduct bilateral training with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and participate in a bilateral exercise with the Philippine Armed Forces during Marine Aviation Support Activity 2023. I watched the Black Knights, elements of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and the I Marine Expeditionary Force to which they belong test features of new logistical systems for distributed maritime operations.

Their systems are thoughtful and sophisticated—but at the same time as deterring China in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific, they may also risk provoking it.

A U.S. Marine watches as an F-35 fighter jet lands during a joint military exercise at Subic Bay in the Philippines on July 13. Ted Aljibe/AFP Via Getty Images

On a sunbathed Monday morning, I arrived at the RAAF Base in Williamtown. The base is about 9 miles north of Newcastle, a renowned coal-producing town on the east coast of New South Wales. I was escorted through base security by my host, Lt. Col. Michael O’Brien (call sign Snooki), the commanding officer of the Black Knights and one of the primary fixed-wing aircraft planners for Force Design 2030, the Pacific-orientated strategy for the Marines. (O’Brien retired from the Marines in August, after 20 years of service, and is now running for Congress in Pennsylvania.)

At Williamtown, the Black Knights operate out of a pristine two-story hanger. The hanger is part of a complex of buildings servicing two Australian F-35A squadrons. While the RAAF operates the land-based F-35A, the Black Knights fly the land- or aircraft carrier-based F-35C. The planes are outside, parked in columns under awnings to protect their delicate skin from the elements. The contours of the plane’s design, the metal composite of its panels and parts, and the radar-absorbent material coating the entire jet contribute to its low observability—its stealth. The awnings have power hookups and are Wi-Fi-enabled, allowing mechanical crews to download data from the plane to guide their maintenance work. Snooki’s executive officer, Maj. Derek Heinz (call sign Shootsbe, who left the Black Knights on terminal leave in August to work for Delta while completing his military service with the Marine Reserves), told me the aircraft is essentially several computers, with a pilot managing the plane’s systems along for the ride.

The U.S. and Australian aircraft trained together in the air twice a day while their staffs worked closely on the ground. RAAF No. 3 Squadron Wing Commander Adrian Kiely (call sign Kenny) said he trusts Marine F-35 maintenance crews to conduct unsupervised work on his aircraft. And when a 270-volt battery in a Black Knight F-35C stopped working, Kenny’s squad provided the component from one of their out-of-service aircraft.

The Contours of The Plane’s Design, The Metal Composite of Its Panels and Parts, and The Radar-Absorbent Material Coating The Entire Jet Contribute to Its Low Observability—Its Stealth.

Aircraft maintainers for the Black Knights noted that they could have procured a spare engine or munitions from the Australians if it had been necessary because of the similar aircraft systems. One said that if getting a component from the Aussies didn’t limit their ability to fight, the Marines could have any part they needed. They would then backfill it.

In this case, though, the battery could not be easily procured through the global spares pool. Kenny noted that challenges remain with the sufficiency of spares. In his view, the solution is still “maturing.” But he and Snooki demonstrated an ability and willingness to work toward solutions regarding spare parts at the unit level.

During their training at Williamtown, the Black Knights tested new systems as well. They are the first Marine fighter squadron to use Elon Musk’s Starlink internet system to log data from their aircraft computers to the Defense Department’s cloud-based logistics system. Snooki and his staff reported that the commercial Starlink system the Marines are using while they wait for a hardened version for forward operations is better than the legacy Marine option. But it was dropped at some point on their way to Australia, and the hardware did not function when they arrived at Williamtown.

The Black Knights deployed to the Pacific alongside other units working with U.S. allies and partners. The “Death Rattlers,” an F/A-18 Hornet squadron, were in the Philippines for Marine Aviation Support Activity 2023. Other Marines, including Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, were deployed in Darwin, Australia; Micronesia; Papua New Guinea; and Palau. The Marines I met were curious, funny, and content to be forward deployed. While they enjoyed their down time, they are hyper-focused on their tasks. They swarm aircraft, working like a coordinated hive.

All of these forward-deployed Marines were under the command and control of Brig. Gen. Robert Brodie (call sign Bams), a career F/A-18 pilot, to, among other objectives, test the systems that make up Force Design 2030.

The Marines, like every branch of the U.S. military, are working to counter China’s anti-access/area denial capability—the use of long- and short-range precision-guided missiles to prevent opposing militaries from operating freely within a predetermined bubble around China’s coastline. Chinese missiles are currently able to target the first island chain, including Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Malaysia, about 800 miles from China’s coast. Their range is growing to encompass the second island chain as well—a line connecting Japan’s Bonin Islands, the Mariana Islands (including Guam), the Caroline Islands, and Western New Guinea, about 1,800 miles from China. Most concerningly for the United States and its allies, this emboldens China to act aggressively in the Pacific because it provides an umbrella of protection for its military forces.

The Chinese missile force is currently capable of attacking and destroying U.S. air bases in Japan—including, among others, Kadena Air Base and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni—and is growing to include Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. According to Rand Corp. calculations, even if one-third of Chinese cruise missiles targeting aircraft hangers and open-air parking at Andersen missed or were shot down, a barrage of 53 missiles could incapacitate the base. And stationary air defenses and aircraft can be targeted and destroyed by only a few precision-guided munitions.

For the Marines to get close to China and fight, they must be able to operate within range of China’s missiles. To achieve this, Force Design 2030 conceptualizes a distributed forward operating system, operationalized through hubs, spokes, and nodes.

For the Marines to Get Close to China and Fight, They Must Be Able to Operate within Range of China’s Missiles.

This system divides Marine forces into smaller elements, distributes them at multiple locations, and sustains forward operations using pre-positioned supplies. This new system faces dire wargame projections. In a war with China over Taiwan, in the most likely “base” scenario, the United States could lose between 168 and 372 aircraft, several submarines would be destroyed, and up to 20 surface ships (including as many as two aircraft carriers) would be damaged or destroyed. China would lose more than 160 planes and as many as 140 surface ships. Both sides would deplete their long-range missile stockpiles. And at least 40,000 Chinese military personnel would die, according to one scenario. The United States could run out of sea- and land-based missiles within two weeks of fighting.

The Marine Corps is making its bases and forces more survivable. It is increasing the number of targets that Chinese rockets must hit and the number of rockets each target will require to incapacitate.

“Hubs” are the largest element in the new Marine forward operating concept. They are permanent sites where the U.S. and allied militaries have a higher level of supply and command and control capability. The Williamtown base is an example of a hub for both U.S. and Australian F-35s.

Immediately beyond a hub are “spokes”—forward bases within China’s missile range with a small temporary military presence. They rely on existing infrastructure, including airfields.

The last layer is the temporary “node.” A node has no personnel presence and likely lacks existing infrastructure. A node can be temporarily stood up in a forward area. Supplies for sustaining forward operating units can be pre-positioned at nodes, including fuel and weapons or airfield quick repair equipment. When needed, personnel arrive, stand up the node, use it, and then move on.

View from the KC-130J as it flies above the Australian Outback en route from Williamtown to Darwin on July 12. Zuri Linetsky For Foreign Policy

Sustaining military forces is not a new concern, nor is it unique to the Pacific. In the initial months of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, its weak logistical systems were exposed and destroyed. The tyranny of distance—the demands of sustaining a military force far from its home bases—even in the relatively small European theater, has been Russia’s undoing.

Napoleon’s campaigns across Europe pioneered new systems for supplying, feeding, and therefore moving La Grande Armée. But they failed him in 1812. The Nazi Afrika Korps under Field Marshal Erwin Rommel cannibalized its equipment and resources because it was operating beyond the reach of its supply lines. The North Africa campaign collapsed as a result.

In the Pacific during World War II, logistics shaped battle planning. Allied capabilities west of Pearl Harbor were determined by shipping capacity. It required the same amount of merchant ship tonnage to move two men to the Southwest Pacific as five men to England. The Battle of Midway was fought over two uninhabited islands, Sand Island and Eastern Island, because the United States and Japan both needed a way station to advance their military forces in the Pacific.

Today in the Pacific, U.S.-led integrated deterrence—introduced by the Biden administration in its 2022 National Defense Strategy—requires the U.S. military to intermingle its capabilities with those of its allies and partners, across air, land, sea, cyberspace, and space, in all manner of conflicts. This intermingling creates forces that work together seamlessly and easily exchange information, equipment, and weapons systems.

At the heart of this, as in World War II, are the U.S. Marines. They’re an expeditionary force—their job is to get close to the enemy and fight as soon as a conflict breaks out. But behind the fighting Marine at the front has always been a vast infrastructure of support and logistics, one that has only grown more complex with modern technology. Force Design 2030, a controversial overhaul of the Marine Corps’ structure, is part of the force’s effort to deter China’s growing military capabilities. Force Design 2030 reconfigured the Marines into three distinct Marine Expeditionary Forces, two of which are focused on the Indo-Pacific. It stresses distributed forward operations and related logistical capabilities as well as preparing military installations for a contested Pacific theater.

A Marine F-35 unit is in a particularly complex position. The F-35 is the cornerstone of U.S. and allied country airpower. It is such an advanced platform that China stole its design information to inform the development of its own fifth-generation fighter, the Chengdu J-20, for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force. It costs about $42,000 per flying hour, compared with legacy Marine aircraft such as the F/A-18 Hornet, which costs about $50,000 per flying hour. But across the U.S. military, according to government reporting, the plane is unavailable at high rates, spare parts are not tracked effectively, and its cloud-based logistics system is still being refined.

The F-35’s complexity makes it a template for military-to-military collaboration between the United States and its allies and partners. The Defense Department and Lockheed Martin developed a global shared pool of spare parts located at bases and on aircraft carriers around the world to maintain U.S. and partner aircraft. Watching the Black Knights and the RAAF train together demonstrated how logistically demanding modern weapons systems are—and just what it takes to keep something like the F-35 functioning in the field.

A U.S. Navy photo shows an F-35B getting refueled by a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 4, 2022. Airman 1ST Class Moses Taylor/U.S. Navy

Getting to hubs, spokes, and nodes requires either air- or sea-based transport. The Black Knights do not fly alone. Fighter aircraft require a constellation of logistical support to stay aloft. Fighter planes need aerial refueling to move long distances. The F-35C burns about 700 gallons of fuel an hour. This figure varies based on the type of flying and altitude. And in addition to relying on the global spares pool and partner military forces, the Black Knights travel with two 747s’ worth of spare parts and other cargo.

Aerial lift and seaborne cargo are provided for all branches of the U.S. military by the Air Force and Navy, respectively. But coordination between the Black Knights and the Air Force was limited while I was with them. As a result, the Boeing 747s carrying cargo to Williamtown for the Black Knights were privately contracted, and they used contract shipping for all seaborne cargo.

Getting to out-of-the-way places in an F-35 is easier than in other fighters because the F-35A and C have a range of about 1,400 miles. This exceeds that of an F-35B and the legacy F/A-18 (both about 900 miles). Unfortunately, in the Pacific theater 1,400 miles is not far—the distance from Hawaii to Japan is about 4,000 miles. So they aerially refuel, or “tank,” from Marine, Air Force, and allied and partner nation planes. But aerial refueling from non-Marine aircraft can be a complicated process.

The F-35A and C Have a Range of About 1,400 Miles—But That’s Not Very Far in The Pacific Theater. And Aerial Refueling From Non-Marine Aircraft Can be a Complicated Process.

Traveling to the Williamtown hub, the Black Knights tanked off Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers—the most common Air Force aerial refueler. According to Snooki and Shootsbe, less experienced F-35C pilots struggle to refuel from Stratotankers. F-35B and C variants have intentionally delicate aerial refueling probes to protect the plane if there is a problem during refueling.

The Stratotanker refueling assembly must be kinked at a 90-degree angle by the F-35 fuel probe to initiate refueling. This is not an easy process. It is common for probes to break off inside the Stratotanker refueling line. A broken fuel probe grounds both an F-35 and its aerial refueler. Snooki and Shootsbe oversaw when, where, and if less experienced pilots refueled from KC-135s. On the way to Williamtown, knowing that Stratotankers would be their refuelers, not all the Black Knights’ young pilots flew their planes, out of an abundance of caution. They flew as passengers on KC-130J’s.

The F-35 faces other challenges at spokes and nodes. Both the F-35A and C need approximately 6,000 feet of runway for landings, primarily for landing on wet surfaces. Runways must be free of foreign objects and debris, such as rocks and birds, which can cause catastrophic damage to the aircraft’s single Pratt & Whitney F135 engine. Before landing on a runway, a Marine Wing Support Squadron must sweep it for foreign objects and debris and check it for viability and security.

Not all spokes and nodes are created equal. While 6,000-foot-long runways exist across the Pacific theater—such as at the air base in Butterworth, Malaysia—some are easier to use immediately, while others require time, effort, and human power to prepare. U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and its various military elements conduct regular regional surveys to move runways from red (unusable) to green (the military can land fighter aircraft). The key is local security, removing foreign objects and debris by getting sweepers and vacuums to austere locations, and, most critically, distributing fuel to nodes.

Despite being designed to operate from aircraft carriers, the Black Knights’ F-35C’s are dealing with corrosion. Ferrous metal in the planes’ stealthy skin reacts with salt water. Williamtown’s awnings helped mitigate this. But this infrastructure is not available at spokes and nodes or on aircraft carriers. While the Marines are working toward a solution, corrosion has been an issue with stealth fighters for more than a decade.

Armed Death Rattler F/A-18s sit on the tarmac at Subic Bay on July 13. Zuri Linetsky For Foreign Policy

After being exposed to the Williamtown hub, I traveled with several Black Knights to Subic Bay in the Philippines for the end of Marine Aviation Support Activity 2023. The planned itinerary was a test of two spokes in the Philippines. And, from Snooki’s perspective, it was a visual demonstration of how an alliance contributes to deterrence. It served as a stress test of the F-35 global spares pool as well.

On a bright Wednesday morning, I boarded a Marine KC-130J commanded by Britney (who happens to be Snooki’s wife, and the Marines rank as one of their top pilots). Britney leads the “Raiders,” the Black Knights’ sister KC-130J squadron. The flight was the first leg, or about half the distance, of the nearly 5,000-mile journey to Subic Bay, where the Black Knights were scheduled to join the Death Rattlers for an aerial strike demonstration.

The KC-130J is a turboprop plane that plays a vital role in everything the Marines do. It can ferry personnel and carry tons of F-35 spare parts or other cargo, such as ordnance. It can land on any surface and requires only 3,000 feet of runaway. Britney said it’s “formatted for the distributed operations concept.” For this flight, in addition to people and cargo, it carried more than 60,000 pounds of fuel for aerial refueling fighter aircraft.

Two hours after Britney’s plane lifted off, it turned back. One of the two Black Knight F-35s making the journey north was unable to take off because of an issue with an onboard computer. After fueling the KC-130J again and a maintenance delay for the F-35, we set off again. The aircraft flew north, toward the setting sun and the RAAF Base in Darwin. During the five-hour flight, Britney tanked Snooki and his wingman, Capt. Christian Scroggs (call sign Dory).

A U.S. Navy photo shows a crew member directing a Black Knight F-35C on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier somewhere in the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 8, 2022. Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Michael Singley/U.S. Navy

A U.S. Navy photo shows a Black Knight F-35C as it launches from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Philippine Sea on April 19, 2022. Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Javier Reyes/U.S. Navy

After a night in Darwin, I boarded a second KC-130J to Subic Bay. The passenger list was augmented by Bams; Col. William J. Mitchell (call sign Skull), an F/A-18 pilot and Snooki’s boss; and several enlisted personnel. During the flight, Bams and Skull discussed the importance of allies and partners for navigating the tyranny of distance in the Pacific and sustaining deterrence vis-à-vis China. “Every day that a near-peer competitor wakes up and senior leadership decides not to escalate, that’s a win [for U.S. deterrence],” Bams said. He noted that exercises with allies and partners are critical to this mission, that they build “sets and reps.” In his view, exercises build relationships and expand U.S. access in the region, which facilitates forward operations in both the first and second island chains.

The flight to Subic Bay covered about 2,500 miles (nearly the width of the continental United States) and took more than six hours. It highlighted the importance of regional partnerships for the U.S. military. The United States and Indonesia have a strategic partnership. They conduct bilateral military exercises. But the United States does not have unrestricted access and overflight rights in Indonesian airspace. All overflight requires lead time and coordination. Snooki told me that while the Black Knights transited over Indonesian land, our KC-130J could not. Britney referred to the flight path as “the snake around Indonesia.”

We arrived in Subic Bay by Wednesday afternoon, without the Black Knights. Snooki and Dory turned around after a new Air Force KC-46 Pegasus refueling basket failed to deploy.

The following rain-soaked day, parts of several 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing squadrons were gathered in a nondescript airplane hangar in the Subic Bay airport serving as a command and control center. Other areas in the local airport temporarily hosted Air Force and Army Special Operations Aviation aircraft, drones, cargo, and personnel.

For the upcoming aerial strike demonstration, four Death Rattler F/A-18s and two Black Knight F-35s would fly 15 miles off the Philippine coast and strike a vessel towed into place by the Philippine Armed Forces. A fifth F/A-18 would fly to an air base in Palawan province to demonstrate the Marine ability to refuel and rearm aircraft at a separate spoke.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. local time, the Black Knights circled the airport and landed. It was still raining. Snooki and Dory taxied around the airstrip as the Death Rattlers’ planes were armed with ordnance. The rain intensified. The F/A-18s waited for the rain to abate to start their strike. An hour later, the Death Rattlers pilot scheduled to fly to Palawan climbed out of his plane. Something had gone wrong. While he could fly in an emergency, he would not fly in the rain that day.

I met Snooki again at 3 p.m. He was animated. The bad news was his plane was out of service. He and Dory flew through an intense storm to get to Subic Bay, which damaged several parts in his plane. The good news was, despite the storm, they had conducted valuable auxiliary surveillance during their flight.

Both Snooki’s broken plane and Dory’s aircraft were parked in Bams’s command hangar at approximately 3:30 p.m. They sat alongside two privately owned Gulfstream jets. Dory helped me determine that both planes were fractionally owned by U.S. holding companies. The hangar’s director of flight operations told me that one is owned by a Filipino. The other is owned by someone in Singapore, who rumors circulating among the Marines suggested is Chinese. One of the challenges of working from spokes is they are not exclusively for U.S. use, and it is difficult to secure a stealth aircraft while hangar staff snap photos.

Snooki’s aircraft took four days to be repaired. It was guarded 24 hours a day while it was out of service. A Raider KC-130J ferried parts, a RAAF 28-volt battery, and people to Subic Bay from Williamtown to diagnose the damaged plane. Then a Raiders plane flew to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, where an F-35B squadron called the “Green Knights” is stationed. Snooki served as the executive officer of the Green Knights, and he planned their move to Iwakuni. The Black Knights drew on F-35B parts, including a generator, to fix Snooki’s aircraft. There were no C model-specific parts in Williamtown, and the supply was limited in Iwakuni.

While The Marines Reported That They Learned Many Valuable Logistical and Coordination Lessons, Exactly How These Lessons Will Be Applied and Scaled for Wartime Mobilization is Unclear.

Snooki told me that repairing his plane was a success for F-35 logistics. His unit drew on a range of spare parts available in theater that they were unable to bring or ship. Lockheed Martin, Black Knights pilots observed, controls the proprietary parts of the F-35 and can slow repair troubleshooting. Pilots and maintenance crews are consistent: The major impediment for Marine operations in the Pacific is the erratic process for getting spare parts and cargo into and inside the theater, followed closely by access to fuel and the rigors of aerial refueling.

Due to the unrelenting rain and storm and the two broken planes, neither the planned ship strike nor the F/A-18 refueling flight happened.

After repairing his plane, Snooki and Dory flew to Wake Island, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, to meet their squadron. But they got stuck. There were no Air Force tankers available to move them. Ultimately, the squadron relied on two Raider KC-130J’s to move them, two at a time, back to Hawaii over five days. Britney told me that her unit takes a twisted pride in this: “We like being the ones who always find a way to get to yes.” From Hawaii to San Diego, the Black Knights contracted a private aerial refueler. This was despite an ongoing Air Force exercise in the Pacific at the time, which was ironically designed to test Air Force logistics and coordination with allies and partners.

In peacetime, the Black Knights had to navigate several logistical hurdles to fix Snooki’s plane, from diagnosing the issue to traversing the Pacific for spare parts and then making their way home. They did it on their own with the support of the Raiders and contract aerial refueling and shipping.

This is in ideal circumstances, when Marine systems do not have to cope with many different F-35s or F/A-18s breaking and being shot at once or partner and allied militaries needing all the spare parts available to them. And while the Marines reported that they learned many valuable logistical and coordination lessons, exactly how these lessons will be applied and scaled for wartime mobilization is unclear.

A J-20 fighter jet performs during the Changchun Air Show in China’s Jilin province on July 26. Wan Quan/VCG Via Getty Images

Any form of deterrence is perhaps best thought of as a psychological state, predicated on decision-makers’ emotions and perceptions. U.S. efforts at deterrence failed to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine—but the argument about whether that’s because Washington did too little or too much continues.

The United States does not know the variables involved in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s calculations about conflict in Asia. U.S. leaders trying to find an equation for when enough military intermingling with allies and partners produces sufficient integrated deterrence face an inherently unprovable problem. The success of deterrence can only show over time; its failure is more immediate and far more costly.

And it’s hard to know the impact U.S. doctrinal and tactical choices have—unintentionally or otherwise—on China. Huang Xilian, the Chinese ambassador to the Philippines, said in April that offering the United States access to military bases near the Taiwan Strait was “stoking the fire” of regional tensions. But Beijing has an inherent interest in saying any action that deters it is a provocation.

Yet surrounding any country with permanent and temporary bases that can be used to deny access to sea lanes and launch standoff fire power could reasonably be viewed as provocative—even if the countries involved welcome it. This concern is magnified by the F-35 because of how well it operates with allies, common logistical networks, its stealth, and its longer range.

Both Air Force and Marine refuelers are large aircraft that attract the attention of adversaries, especially if they are in the air for long periods of time. As the Air Force and Marines address their coordination issues (on refueling booms and refueling in general), and both employ common hubs, spokes, and nodes to support integrated deterrence, near-peer competitor security concerns might be further magnified.

It’s equally clear that elements in the Chinese leadership believe U.S. efforts to be tantamount to offensive encirclement—and thus preparation for an unprovoked war.

The sheer scale of the U.S. military is intimidating to any adversary—and might prompt worries that the United States intends to strike first.

Washington pays little regard to these Chinese concerns. And to be sure, for the last two decades China has built up military infrastructure across the South China Sea, which it continues to expand. It has armed man-made islands with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems as well as electronic warfare tools. These islands support China’s menacing of neighboring countries, against which it makes extensive territorial claims. From the U.S. perspective, even if China views U.S. actions as provocative, Beijing has built its own arguably defensive but certainly provocative military systems.

The Biden administration and the I Marine Expeditionary Force believe their tactical efforts in Asia are clearly defensive. This is demonstrated by their coordination with partners and allies. Indeed, several U.S. allies and partners in the region have expressed their preference for the United States to help deter China. But it’s equally clear that elements in the Chinese leadership believe these efforts to be tantamount to offensive encirclement—and thus preparation for an unprovoked war.

Every pilot I spoke to believed investing in deterrence is right and necessary and that allies and partners are key. Yet it’s hard to know how these systems will cope in the event of war. It is impossible to determine if all this preparation, and the costs that come with it, is deterring China—or ultimately provoking conflict.

— Zuri Linetsky is a Research Fellow at the Eurasia Group Foundation.

#United States 🇺🇸#China 🇨🇳#Pacific War #Foreign Policy #Zuri Linetsky

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thxnews · 1 year

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PM Rishi Sunak's Opening Remarks at the Council of Europe in Reykjavik

Addressing a huge crowd on the streets of Strasbourg in 1949 Winston Churchill, one of the founding fathers of this Council spoke about “le génie de l’Europe.” He was talking about what makes our continent so successful, the values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. The same spirit we’ve seen again and again that led Vaclav Havel to broadcast his messages of freedom during the suppression of the Prague Spring, that brought down the Berlin Wall and that leads Ukraine to defend its sovereignty with such valour, inspiring us to stand with them all. The Council of Europe has nurtured that spirit for three quarters of a century. And it must do so again now. Because today, we are facing the greatest threat to democracy and the rule of law on our continent since before the Treaty of London was signed. With Russia waging a war of aggression on European soil, and China growing in assertiveness the world is becoming more contested and more volatile. The challenge to our values is growing. And the moment to push back is now. Democracies like ours must build resilience so that we can out-cooperate and out-compete those who drive instability. That’s why we’re working so closely with our friends across Europe through the G7, NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force, the European Political Community and with a welcome new tone in our relations with the European Union. Friends, the UK may have left the EU, but we have not left Europe. We remain a proud European nation. And we must work together to defend the values we all hold so dear. The Council of Europe, with its huge reach, has such a vital role to play. And we need to think about how this Council should react to the realities of today. We showed great purpose in expelling Russia last year – acting decisively together within days of the invasion. Let’s bring that dynamism to the issues before us now. And let’s send a message from this hall, loud and clear that we will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will hold Russia accountable for the horrendous war crimes that have been committed. And we must also learn the lesson of this war – by being prepared to confront threats to our societies before they become too big to deal with. That includes acting on cyber security and AI and it means tackling illegal migration. The moral case for action is clear. We can’t just sit back and watch as criminal gangs profiteer on people’s misery. Illegal migration exploits the most vulnerable. It risks crowding out those with a genuine case for asylum. And it strains the trust that our citizens have – not just in our domestic borders, but in the international system. That’s why so many of us are already acting at the national level. And why we need to do more to cooperate across borders and across jurisdictions and to end illegal migration and stop the boats. The Council already plays a vital role but I urge leaders to consider how we can go further. Because we know what we can achieve together. Just look at this Council’s extraordinary legacy: protecting human rights, abolishing the death penalty in Europe, supporting media freedom and championing democracy across Central and Eastern Europe after the Cold War. So let’s take heart from that, and keep rising to the many challenges before us, true to our enduring values and certain that, as Churchill went on tell the Strasbourg crowd, the dangers before us are great… but great too is our strength. Thank you. Sources: THX News, Prime Minister's Office - 10 Downing Street & The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP. Read the full article

#CouncilofEurope #G7 #NATO #PrimeMinister #RishiSunak #Strasbourg #theJointExpeditionaryForce #Ukraine #Ukrainewar #WinstonChurchill

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severegardenerllama · 1 year

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China, imperial: 6. Yuan dynasty period, 1279–1368

Now now kids, learning rhyme not reason.

Abstract

Foreign imperialist powers extended their economic, political, and cultural influence in China through a series of “unequal treaties” (1842–1917), so called because they granted privileges to foreign nationals and foreign-owned businesses while conceding China's sovereignty. The foreign powers used gunboat diplomacy to impose the treaty system, resulting in a series of conflicts on Chinese soil between 1839 and 1901. Foreign-administered enclaves emerged in the towns opened to foreign trade and residence, which were known as “treaty ports,” thus compromising China's territorial rights. These treaty ports fostered a vibrant commercial and political culture. In the face of rising Chinese nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, combined with the growing threat from Japan, Western powers gradually retreated from China, a process that culminated with the Chinese Communist Party's rise to power in 1949.

Foreign powers initially came to China to trade rather than to conquer and therefore, with a few notable exceptions such as Hong Kong, they extended their influence through a series of treaties instead of through direct territorial control. These treaties, signed between 1842 and 1917, are often referred to as the “unequal” treaties because they granted privileges to foreign nationals and foreign-owned businesses while conceding China's sovereign rights. The foreign powers usually used gunboat diplomacy to impose the treaty system, resulting in a series of conflicts on Chinese soil between 1839 and 1901. As a result the foreign powers expanded foreign trade and exerted control over key political and economic institutions. Foreign-administered enclaves emerged in the towns opened to foreign trade and residence, which were known as treaty ports, thus compromising China's territorial rights. In the face of rising Chinese nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s, combined with the growing threat from Japan, Western powers gradually retreated from China, a process that culminated with the Chinese Communist Party's rise to power in 1949.

Building the treaty system

The latter half of the 19th century saw a rapid expansion of foreign influence in China achieved through a dual-pronged approach of gunboat diplomacy and unequal treaties. By 1917, the treaty system had opened 92 ports to foreign trade and residence, ceded Hong Kong and Taiwan as British and Japanese colonies respectively, and established long-term foreign leaseholds over territories such as Weihaiwei and Port Arthur. The process of foreign expansion began in 1839 with the outbreak of the First Opium War, a conflict that had cataclysmic long-term consequences for China's relationship with the West. By the early 19th century foreign merchants were increasingly dissatisfied with what they saw as the excessively restrictive conditions of trade in Canton, the port to which the Qing had confined all Chinese trade with the West since 1757. Furthermore, the huge growth of illegal opium imports carried to China on foreign ships in the 1820s and 1830s put unbearable pressure on the Canton authorities’ attempts to monitor foreign trade. Concerned about the social and economic costs of drug addiction, the Qing government launched a crackdown on the importation and sale of opium in 1836, which culminated in the seizure and destruction of opium stockpiles held in foreign warehouses in 1839.

In response to the lobbying efforts of China trader William Jardine and several Lancashire textile firms intent upon gaining access to the China market, foreign minister Lord Palmerston sent an expeditionary force to Canton in 1839. After reaching the southern coast of China in the spring of 1840 this naval force, which included four steam-powered gunboats, blockaded Canton harbor and the Pearl River Delta before proceeding north and taking the island of Chusan (Zhoushan). The conflict culminated with the British occupation of the Yangzi River city of Nanjing and the signing of China's first unequal treaty with the West in August 1842. The treaty ceded Hong Kong to Britain, levied a punitive indemnity on China, opened five ports to foreign trade and residence (Fuzhou, Amoy, Canton, Ningbo, and Shanghai), and made provisions to establish a low customs tariff on foreign trade.

An important addendum to the Nanjing treaty was the Treaty of the Bogue signed with Britain in October 1843. This supplementary treaty established the principle of extraterritoriality, whereby treaty-power nationals accused of committing crimes were tried by representatives of their home countries rather than in Chinese courts. It also granted Britain “most favored nation” status, according to which all treaty privileges extracted by other foreign powers would be automatically extended to Britain. Anxious not to be out-competed by Britain in the China trade, America and France followed suit with similar treaty demands, thus laying the foundation for the multinational penetration of China.

There is considerable debate about the significance of the First Opium War to China's historical trajectory. The orthodox narrative in the People's Republic of China maintains that the conflict began China's “century of humiliation” at the hands of foreign powers. Yet, although the treaties signed in 1842–1843 undoubtedly established the major pillars of foreign imperialism in China, the immediate effects were not far-reaching. Nor were the “unequal treaties” unprecedented. The Nanjing Treaty was modeled on an unequal treaty signed between China and the central Asian Khanate of Kokand in 1835. Extraterritoriality was part of a long-held tradition of granting legal autonomy to merchant enclaves, rather than a clear affront to Qing sovereignty. Moreover, despite the opening of new ports, foreign trade did not increase substantially and opium imports were still illegal. Therefore, by the 1850s foreign powers were once again dissatisfied with the conditions of trade on the China coast.

A pretext for forcing further demands upon China arose in 1856 when the Chinese authorities in Canton boarded a Chinese-owned and Hong Kong-registered ship named Arrow and arrested its crew on suspicion of piracy. British officials erroneously claimed that the ship had been flying a British ensign and that the Chinese authorities’ actions therefore violated the terms of the Nanjing Treaty. After negotiations broke down, British naval forces bombarded Canton, marking the beginning of the Second Anglo-Chinese War (also known as the Arrow War and the Second Opium War). France soon joined Britain's campaign, motivated by the execution of a French missionary found guilty of illegally proselytizing in Guangxi province, while the United States provided naval support. This set a precedent for joint military interventions by foreign powers eager to share in the spoils of war. Two major treaties resulted from the four-year conflict, in which Britain, France, Russia, and the United States gained wide-ranging privileges. The Treaty of Tianjin, signed in 1858 after the belligerents captured the Dagu Forts, opened ten more ports to foreign trade, permitted the establishment of diplomatic legations in Beijing, allowed foreign vessels to sail on the Yangzi River and foreigners to travel inland, and levied another indemnity upon China. Fighting broke out again in 1859 after the Qing refused to allow military forces to accompany the British and French envoys to Beijing to establish legations. As the Anglo-French force neared Beijing the emperor and his court fled to Chengde, while foreign troops looted and burned the imperial Summer Palace as a punitive gesture. The conflict eventually ended with the signing of the Beijing Convention in October 1860, which ceded the territory of Kowloon to Britain, permitted Christian missionaries to proselytize, and finally legalized the opium trade. While the effects of the Treaty of Nanjing could be accepted within the usual framework of Qing foreign relations, the 1858–1860 treaties dealt a much more devastating blow to China's sovereignty. Besides the fact that foreign people, ships, and Christian evangelists could now roam freely in inland China, the treaties established a permanent diplomatic presence at the heart of Qing power. Thus, foreign diplomats were now able to pressure the imperial court directly. baked in mulan...

When Khubilai created the Yuan Dynasty in 1279, after almost seventy years of campaigns by three generations of Mongol leaders, he reunited all of China for the first time in over three centuries. This was, however, the first time that non-Chinese ruled China in its entirety. The Yuan state also forever changed China's social, political, and geographic landscape, not least because it was a hybrid of nomadic and Chinese customs and institutions. But Khubilai's completion of the conquest of China and his adoption of the Chinese dynastic model for his new state also spelled the end to the idea of a united Mongol Empire, already largely a fiction in his own lifetime.

The Mongol Yuan dynasty is sometimes described as another in the long string of Chinese dynasties, albeit as one of the non-Chinese “conquest dynasties.” But it is doubtful that the man who set in motion the events that led to its creation, Chinggis (Genghis) Khan, leader of the great Mongol confederation, ever envisioned the conquest of all of China, let alone setting up a Chinese-style dynasty ruled by his descendants in royal splendor! Chinggis's first military campaigns in China were meant to force the submission of the Jurchen Jin emperor as part of a broader strategy of securing the resources of the Tangut and Jurchen states south of the Mongol steppe for booty and promises of supplying future Mongol military campaigns with men and matériel. Although the Jurchen emperor surrendered and Mongol forces sacked the Jin capital at Kaifeng in 1215, it took another 20 years for the Mongols to gain full control of northern China.

The nomadic Mongols were initially not interested in governing north China and proposed destroying the agricultural infrastructure to make the area into grazing land. With the help of Chinese and Jurchen advisors, however, they learned they could extract far more from the land and its residents by taxing them as they continued to farm and live in villages. But neither Chinggis nor his successor Ögödei ever set any specific political goals for the former Jin territory they now controlled. In those first decades of Mongol rule their most urgent need was military personnel and resources, and they enlisted local Chinese military leaders to govern their areas for the Mongols and to contribute manpower to military campaigns when requested. Even though the Grand Khan Ögödei (r.1229–1241) gave more sustained attention to China than his father had done, overall Mongol objectives in China consisted almost exclusively of exploiting the local population, not establishing a lasting state. He did revive Jin and Chinese administrative practices that concerned tax collection. He also initiated one of the most important demographic changes wrought on China by any conquering group, the permanent relocation to China of many Central and West Asian personnel working as administrators.

Until Khubilai defeated Southern Song in 1278, China was divided between the non-Chinese north and the Chinese Song state in the south, as it had been since the fall of the Tang state in the late 9th century. Large swaths of north China had been ruled in succession by Khitan and Jurchen nomads. By the 1230s the area of the former Jin state was connected to the Mongol steppe or heartland, ruled by Chinggis's youngest son Tolui, and part of his khanate. Tolui's eldest son, Möngke, began the final push to conquer Southern Song China after he was elected Grand Khan in 1251, but it was his younger brother, Khubilai (r.1260–1294), who saw that to its final satisfactory conclusion. It is surely one of the great coincidences of history that of all men, it was the Mongol Grand Khan most interested in and familiar with Chinese culture and traditions who finally conquered the Southern Song state, perhaps unexcelled in China's long history to that time for its cultural and economic vitality. That convergence had a huge impact on both Mongol and Chinese history down to the present.

The Southern Song state governed around 100 million people at the time of their conquest, and boasted the wealthiest, most highly cultured society in the world, including an unmatched commercial and industrial economy. Song's strength was epitomized by the cosmopolitan culture of its capital-in-exile at present-day Hangzhou, so grand even after it went into decline after the Mongol conquest that it was lauded by Marco Polo as a city without parallel. Even disregarding his own personal interests, Khubilai's chief concern as leader of the great Mongol confederation was, just as his ancestors, to use China's vast resources for his own ends. It would not have been in his interest to destroy the Song state or its economy as was done in the north. Likewise, if he intended to set the Mongols in place as permanent rulers rather than as simple conquerors, he had to win the hearts and minds of the southerners.

Khubilai's treatment of Song was also due to his upbringing and appreciation of Chinese culture. Beginning in his mid-twenties, Khubilai had been given his own landed estate in northern China like many other Mongol princes. His Chinese advisors and tutors not only helped him govern his estate, but they also introduced him to Chinese culture and traditions. It was due to that experience that he recognized the problems inherent in the Mongol traditions of allowing troops to plunder, and the practice of granting large estates to Mongol leaders as booty. They caused general economic decline that prevented the state's collection of a sustained revenue stream, and they prevented the Mongols from generating a loyal base among the local population. It was out of that experience that he determined to set a different example in his governance of southern China.

Even before he had commenced the final campaigns against the Song, however, once he had secured for himself the position of Grand Khan in 1260, Khubilai set about implementing a Chinese-style administrative and tax system that was more thoroughgoing than anything established by his predecessors in China. Ögödei had already adopted the Jin Central Secretariat (zhongshusheng) as the leading bureau of Mongol governance in north China. But until Khubilai's era that bureau's chief function was to coordinate secretarial duties for the Grand Khan, an important but limited evolution in Mongol governance practices over a rapidly growing empire that included more and more people who spoke and read different languages. Khubilai's deep understanding of Chinese imperial administration, however, caused him to change the nature of this bureau to direct all civil functions of government, not only those duties that pertained to writing and transcribing orders. Once the Song state was brought into the Mongol Empire it was more imperative than ever to Khubilai that a rational bureaucracy be set up with the Mongols at the center. In response to that need, he adopted the classic Chinese civil service structure with nine ranks of offices, each divided into senior and junior levels that assigned the status and real power of each office, and the salary and perquisites of each position. Khubilai's expanded Central Secretariat oversaw the workings of the entire imperial state, divided among six principle ministries (personnel, revenue, imperial rituals, war, punishments, and works).

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