Control exercised

America's smartest, most outspoken foreign policy thinker, Zbigniew Brezinski, bluntly describes the U.S.-Europe postwar relationship as a "hegemon and its vassals," with NATO as the principal instrument through which the U.S. controls Western Europe. The U.S. exercises similar control over Japan, "an American protectorate," in Dr. Zbig's words, through the U.S.-Japanese Security Treaty.

Military power underpins both vital strategic relationships. Removal of U.S. forces from Germany, with the inevitable reduction of power, even raison d'etre, of NATO, means declining U.S. political influence over Europe. This, in turn, will allow a united Europe to develop that is a full-scale partner, not a vassal, of the United States -- a most welcome geopolitical development. One wonders if the Bush administration's limited thinkers understand this vitally important point.

The planned withdrawal of 12,500 of the 37,500 U.S. troops in South Korea (3,500 will go to Iraq), is also logical, though the announcement's timing is poor. So, too, the reduction of 20,000 Marines in Okinawa, whose presence there is a major irritant to Japanese public opinion.

South Korea's powerful armed forces are well able to hold off North Korea's larger but obsolescent military. The U.S. 2nd Division's deployment in static defences along the Demilitarized Zone makes it -- as this writer has seen firsthand -- vulnerable and hostage to North Korea's massive artillery. Pulling the 2nd back south of Seoul makes good military sense, as does thinning U.S. troops in the south. But not when the U.S. and its allies are locked in vitally important nuclear negotiations with hostile North Korea.

The 150,000 troops stuck in the stalemated Iraq and Afghanistan wars appear fated to remain there indefinitely.

Meanwhile, the U.S. will open new bases in Bulgaria and Romania as part of America's new "imperial lifeline." They will be linked to new U.S. bases being built across Central Asia, Pakistan, Iraq and the Gulf, designed to cement Washington's hold on the Muslim world and its natural resources.

As a result, the entire armed forces are being restructured for "expeditionary warfare," (the British used to call it "the imperial mission"). This process began a decade ago, but accelerated under the Bush administration, which has relentlessly militarized foreign policy.

Army heavy tanks and artillery are being replaced by light, Canadian-made wheeled armoured vehicles. Troops are being trained in counter-insurgency operations and urban warfare. A "lilypad" concept of austere, rapidly created mini-bases will allow U.S. forces to leapfrog around the globe.

'Littoral warfare'

The navy is developing "littoral warfare" ships for coastal operations that can project fire and troops deep inland. Fleets of prepositioned supply ships deployed around the globe will keep entire brigades in the field for months.

The U.S. Air Force has developed "bare base" operations allowing it to deploy "strike packages" of attack, bomber and recon aircraft across the globe on short notice that can deliver devastating firepower. New cargo transports are being built. Constellations of spy satellites, listening devices, and swarms of drones give Washington eyes and ears everywhere.

These dramatic new deployments signal further expansion of military operations around the globe as America comes ever closer to resembling its forbear, the British Empire. Most Americans, however, remain unaware of their government's new imperial plans to rule oil and the Muslim world, and of the unexpected conflicts that lie in wait for America's increasingly far-flung expeditionary forces.