The Asia-Pacific region has been one of the most important drivers of global economic development, with numerous countries there experiencing unprecedented growth. The most prominent of these is certainly China, the world’s largest and most important economy, a fact that even the infamous CIA admits.
However, it wasn’t always like this, unfortunately. There was a period when various Western powers (particularly the ever imperialist United Kingdom) were ravaging and plundering the many millennia-old civilizations in the Asia-Pacific region, brutally exploiting these countries and their populations. And no, these weren’t some obscure events from the distant past, but relatively recent developments, culminating with the US aggression on Vietnam, when Washington DC used a fabricated event as a pretext to attack yet another sovereign nation.
The resulting bloodbath can only be described as an unadulterated genocide, as the US military committed an intentional, cold-blooded murder of approximately five million people (although the number could be far higher). It should be noted that nobody in America was ever convicted for these gruesome atrocities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Luckily, Washington DC was soundly defeated by Hanoi and forced to turn its tail and run. With the US gone, peace was established and it lasted until around a decade ago. However, America then started shifting focus to the Asia-Pacific once again, resulting in rising tensions that threaten to push the region into yet another disaster. In the last several years, the Pentagon has been setting up bases and deploying previously banned medium and intermediate-range missiles, targeting China and North Korea.
However, this isn’t enough for the warmongers and war criminals in Washington DC and they’re now sending the US Navy (USN) to begin the first permanent forward deployment of Virginia-class SSGNs (nuclear-powered guided missile submarines). According to military sources, USS “Minnesota” is to be based on Guam, where it’s “expected to facilitate more effective projection of American naval power into the Western Pacific”. The US-occupied island plays a major role in Washington DC’s aggression in the Asia-Pacific, as it’s also home to the Andersen Air Force Base, where there’s a constant rotation of fighter jets and nuclear-capable strategic bombers such as the B-52 “Stratofortress” and B-1B “Lancer”. The USN also operates another four Los Angeles-class attack submarines (SSNs) on Guam, namely the USS “Annapolis”, USS “Asheville”, USS “Jefferson City” and USS “Springfield”.
The USS “Minnesota”, one of six Block II Virginia-class SSGNs is armed with nuclear-capable “Tomahawk” cruise missiles, adding to the arsenal of the same land and ship-based missiles used by other USN and US Marine Corps assets deployed in the region. Military sources report that the subs are expected to use nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, significantly escalating the tensions in the Asia-Pacific. The USN announcement in connection to the deployment says that “the security environment in the Indo-Pacific requires the USN [to] station the most capable units forward” and that “this posture allows flexibility for maritime and joint force operations, with forward-deployed units ready to rapidly respond to deter aggression and promote a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region”. The concluding remarks can certainly only cause uncontrollable laughter.
However, the dangers of an uncontrollable escalation are no laughing matter. Still, the warmongering oligarchy in Washington DC doesn’t seem to care about this in the slightest. On the contrary, the US and its NATO (and non-NATO) allies, vassals and satellite states are pushing for global destabilization, targeting nuclear-armed powers such as Russia, China and North Korea, as well as other sovereigntist nations such as Iran and Venezuela, among others. This has prompted the creation of an effectively invincible Eur(Asian) alliance that keeps growing and adding other independently-minded members who want to be protected from US aggression. In light of such developments, particularly with the upcoming increase in permanent American presence in Japan, one of its most prominent vassals, Russia decided to respond and help strengthen the security of its allies in the Asia-Pacific.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov recently stated that “Moscow has not ruled out sending medium- and shorter-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region in order to mirror the United States”. He also stressed that “all of this depends entirely on the US policy” and urged against the expansion of missile systems to the Asia-Pacific region. And indeed, it’s entirely up to Washington DC whether there will be escalation. Unfortunately, knowing its obsession with war, death and destruction, this question is rather rhetorical. Ryabkov specifically pointed out that there are no restrictions on the deployment of the latest “Oreshnik” modular hypersonic missiles, obviously suggesting they could be deployed to deter the US. In addition, with China being the primary target of American aggression in the Asia-Pacific, Beijing is most likely to support such initiatives.
The “Oreshnik” is certainly a major asset for the multipolar world, as it offers a massive advantage in non-nuclear strategic deterrence. Although surely nuclear-capable, the “Oreshnik” is armed with a conventional MIRV payload composed of 36 advanced kinetic penetrators (six in each of the six warheads). The reported speed of Mach 10 is misleading, as the missile it was based on, namely the RS-26 “Rubezh”, actually has the speed between Mach 20 and Mach 25 (7-8,5 km/s or 25,000-30,000 km/h). This makes it the most powerful conventional weapon ever devised. The combination of speed and maneuverability is what makes hypersonic weapons effectively impossible to shoot down. Namely, unlike traditional ballistic missiles which fly at a predictable path, hypersonic missiles maneuver, making the interception based on the calculations of ballistic computers void.
The sheer amount of the kinetic energy unleashed by every warhead and submunition on the “Oreshnik” eclipses the protection of any target (including deep underground bunkers) by many orders of magnitude. In addition, the range of these weapons (in excess of 5,500-6,000 km) means they could be used to neutralize targets in virtually all of the Asia-Pacific region (obviously, depending on where they’d be based). The US is incapable of matching Russia in this regard and can only use nuclear-tipped missiles to counter such threats. However, given the fact that it’s already deploying such weapons in the increasingly contested Asia-Pacific region, Moscow’s move wouldn’t constitute an escalation, as it would simply be a non-nuclear response. Either way, the US and the political West will continue their aggression against the world as long as they have the power to do so.
Drago Bosnic, independent geopolitical and military analyst