“Axis of Democracy” Flexes Its Military Muscles

As new economic powers emerge in Asia, nations that border the Pacific jockey for new agreements on security. The US and Japan have convinced India to join a joint military exercise in the Pacific this month. Japan and Australia, India and the US, and India and Japan, have various forms of bilateral agreements addressing security. For “Asia Times, Hisane Masaki writes that China holds suspicions “that the real US motive for the sweeping overhaul of its military's global posture might be what some call the ‘soft containment’ of its rapidly ascending military and economic power.” All parties insist that the military scrambling is not aimed at China, but serves as preparation for disaster relief, peacekeeping, and prevention of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. – YaleGlobal