{"id":161291,"date":"2020-05-25T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T11:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=161291"},"modified":"2020-05-20T08:39:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T07:39:41","slug":"despite-the-danger-of-covid-19-the-us-military-continues-war-practice-in-europe-and-pacific-and-plans-for-more-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/05\/despite-the-danger-of-covid-19-the-us-military-continues-war-practice-in-europe-and-pacific-and-plans-for-more-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite the Danger of COVID-19, the US Military Continues War Practice in Europe and Pacific and Plans for More in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(Image by Graphic from Hawaii Peace and Justice) Details DMCA<\/p><\/div>\n

19 May 2020 – <\/em>During the COVID-19 pandemic, not only will the U.S. military have the largest maritime military maneuvers in the world, with Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) coming to the waters off Hawaii August 17-31, 2020 bringing 26 nations, 25,000 military personnel, up to 50 ships and submarines and hundreds of aircraft in midst of a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, but the U.S. Army is having a 6,000-person war game in June 2020 in Poland. The State of Hawaii has the most stringent measures to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus, with a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all persons arriving in Hawaii — returning residents as well as visitors. This quarantine is required until at least June 30<\/a>, 2020.<\/p>\n

If these weren’t too many military operations during an epidemic in which personnel on 40 U.S. Navy ships have come down with the hyper-contagious COVID-19 and military personnel and their families have been told not to travel, plans are underway for a U.S. Army division-sized exercise in the Indo-Pacific region<\/a> in less than a year — in 2021. Known as Defender 2021<\/a>, the U.S. Army has requested $364 million to conduct the war exercises throughout Asian and Pacific countries.<\/p>\n

The pivot to the Pacific, begun under the Obama administration, and now under the Trump administration, is reflected in a U.S. National Defense Strategy<\/a> (NDS) that sees the world as “a great power competition rather than counter-terrorism and has formulated its strategy to confront China as a long-term, strategic competitor.”<\/p>\n

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