The Military Buildup in Asia Over Oil
This summer I read an excellent book Resource Wars: The New Landscape of Global Conflict (by Michael T. Klare ) about how all recent wars have been fought over resources, be they oil, water or diamonds. It was an enlightening read particularly since it was published in 2001, well before we entered Iraq. In a very prescient chapter on oil he saw the upcoming Iraq invasion well before most of us had even heard of neocons or WMD. The following chapter on emerging resource conflicts over oil and gas in the Asian Pacific is worth the read alone. To find signs of growing anxiety over energy access in Asia just look to China & Japan: Japan Suspects China May Be Drilling Gas in East China Sea . China & Japan have been heating up their rhetoric over the past month with protests in China over Japan war crimes and Japan reasserting their territorial claim to these gas fields.

The latest twist in the political and military jostling for position is the rapidly tightening bonds between the new Asian oil axis. On one side we have the USA, India, Taiwan, and Japan being positioned against Russia, China and Iran. Make no mistake, the new budding Asian alliances may be more significant than any current political events in the Middle East, even overshadowing the Israel vs. Islamic Middle East. It's all about the users of cheap oil maintaining their access to it.

Just in the past week these are a sampling of head lines on this topic. Taiwan Holds Military Drill Ahead Of China-Russia Wargames and Pentagon Team To Visit India and US, British, Asian Navies Stage Anti-WMD Exercise In The South China Sea and Russia Plans Sharp Military Spending Hike and Former red armies in war games challenge to America

Lastly, in the direct India & USA vs. China & Russia category. Check out the latest news on Aircraft Carriers. India has one and is looking to buy F-18 aircraft from the US for it. And China is apparently trying to (re)build one. The oceans connecting Asia to shipments of oil are of vital national interest to all. Watch for ever more military build up in the area.