By Daniel Nardini
The United States of America is a super-power in just about every sense of the world. It is obviously a military super-power which has the largest navy on earth. It has the single largest economy, and the City of New York is one of the greatest capital centers in the world. While the United States is important and an important member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for the security of Europe and the European Union, the United States is not a European country nor does it border Europe or have a maritime border with any part of Europe (strangely enough, Canada has a maritime border with Greenland, which is an integral part of Denmark and therefore an integral part of Europe).
Where America’s most important borders are lies with Latin America and interestingly enough with the Pacific and therefore with Asia. With Latin America, there in Mexico and Cuba. We share a large border with Mexico and a maritime border with Cuba. Since Cuba is a rather hostile nation under the Communist Party of Cuba, these borders are of utmost importance to America. The Pacific and Asia are no less important, but it is a little more complicated. We have to keep in mind that one of America’s states, Hawaii, is in the middle of the Pacific. The People’s Republic of China has a very powerful navy with many, many submarines that can reach Hawaii and do serious harm to the United States. Even more relevant, the United States has two territorial possessions that are very important because they are right next to Asia; Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are of particular importance because they are close to the Philippines—an American ally in the fight against China. Likewise, Taiwan is quite close to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. If China were to attack Taiwan then it most likely would have to attack Guam and the Northern Mariana islands to deny America a chance to use its military might. Additionally, North Korea could theoretically attack Guam and Hawaii because they are of strategic importance to the United States as well and they are both American territory and state. Hence, it is vitally important for the United States to protect Taiwan, South Korea and Japan because failure to do so will lead to an attack on American soil itself. This is vastly different from Europe since the United States shares no border with Europe or even a maritime border with Europe. While U.S. forces are in Europe, Europe itself is a long ways from the United States, and this has been a very vital protection for this country. No such protection exists for the United States in the case of Latin America or the Pacific if U.S. armed forces are attacked in these regions. The very American hinterland would then be exposed to foreign aggression. So the greater danger to the United States would come from where most Americans least expect it to come from.
America: The Super-power for the Americas and Asia
By Daniel Nardini
Where America’s most important borders are lies with Latin America and interestingly enough with the Pacific and therefore with Asia. With Latin America, there in Mexico and Cuba. We share a large border with Mexico and a maritime border with Cuba. Since Cuba is a rather hostile nation under the Communist Party of Cuba, these borders are of utmost importance to America. The Pacific and Asia are no less important, but it is a little more complicated. We have to keep in mind that one of America’s states, Hawaii, is in the middle of the Pacific. The People’s Republic of China has a very powerful navy with many, many submarines that can reach Hawaii and do serious harm to the United States. Even more relevant, the United States has two territorial possessions that are very important because they are right next to Asia; Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands are of particular importance because they are close to the Philippines—an American ally in the fight against China. Likewise, Taiwan is quite close to Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. If China were to attack Taiwan then it most likely would have to attack Guam and the Northern Mariana islands to deny America a chance to use its military might. Additionally, North Korea could theoretically attack Guam and Hawaii because they are of strategic importance to the United States as well and they are both American territory and state. Hence, it is vitally important for the United States to protect Taiwan, South Korea and Japan because failure to do so will lead to an attack on American soil itself. This is vastly different from Europe since the United States shares no border with Europe or even a maritime border with Europe. While U.S. forces are in Europe, Europe itself is a long ways from the United States, and this has been a very vital protection for this country. No such protection exists for the United States in the case of Latin America or the Pacific if U.S. armed forces are attacked in these regions. The very American hinterland would then be exposed to foreign aggression. So the greater danger to the United States would come from where most Americans least expect it to come from.