Militarisation of the Pacific - strategic hot-spots

Abstract

Introduction I would like to talk about the Pacific from the military point of view, to show why the military powers are making it very hard for the Pacific people to achieve either a nuclear-free or an independent Pacific. I am going to ignore the military forces bordering the Pacific and concentrate on those military forces on or within the Pacific rim. This paper is based on a three year study of foreign bases carried out by SIPRI, although the conclusions are my own. I shall look at the strategic nuclear forces first - that is, the long range, powerful, nuclear weapon systems intended for waging global nuclear war. Then I will look at the tactical, nuclear and interven- tionary forces those intended for waging limited wars and other forms of aggression against particular countries, especially Third World countries.