Why America's next war may begin on a small tourist island

The Economist
The Economist
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Published 2024-01-11
Guam, an island in the northern Pacific, is just 48km long and has a population of about 170,000. So why is it so important to America’s strategy to defend Taiwan from a potential Chinese invasion?

00:00 - Where is Guam?
00:13 - Why is it so important?
01:00 - What makes it vulnerable?

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Guam, where America’s next war may begin: econ.st/47lP9WN

America is lavishing attention on Pacific island states: econ.st/47of0xd

How the Pentagon thinks about America’s strategy in the Pacific: econ.st/3tG49RG

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All Comments (21)
  • @guru47pi
    Don't forget that America isn't defending the area alone. They're allied with Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and many others. There are bases all over latter two, and Taiwan has been preparing for invasion since the 50's. The story is much more complex, and the American position much more secure than just "guam vs China"
  • @passurlamer
    America’s last big war began on a small tourist island.
  • @DardanellesBy108
    I think Okinawa and mainland Japan are going to be more important than Guam as far as US military bases are considered. They’re lots closer and are going to get lots more attention from China. Having said that I hope we don’t go to war and can just F’in get along. We have more than enough wars as is.
  • @khaluu2000
    Served in Guam, yeah we were pretty annoyed when north korea shot IBM towards Guam for show. It killed the Japanese tourism but for some reason saw an increase in South Korean tourism lol. Anyways yes we’re a stepping block for the pacific fleet mainly to move around for the Navy. Interesting if there will be a bigger air force presence
  • @DBGE001
    Guam is the perfect place to take on the roll that Pearl Harbor did in WW2. According to a Gallup Poll taken after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 97% of Americans approved of declaring war. Less than 25% were in favor to enter the war (WW2) before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Public support for entering a war is always enforced using this tactic. A great tactic to prevent or mitigate public resistance for war participation is to finance the war through borrowing money instead of finance it through taxes.
  • @BoatsCop
    I’d hardly consider Guam a tourist island.
  • @_al_c2638
    why are we discussing this? what is the purpose? there is basically no objective information here
  • @CHAM0RRITO
    Guam is the eastern most part of the USA. It is in the eastern hemisphere.
  • @MalfosRanger
    Wouldn't be the first time. Guam was where the US fired its first shot of WWI on SMS Cormoran II in 1917.
  • @jont2576
    Poor guam,how many wars have they been involved in involuntarily
  • @neelpatel097
    Plaaf source video is actually a mixture of scenes from transformers and Pearl harbour
  • @narayansingh9407
    There should never be war. But yet we are here in wars in Gaza, Ukraine 😢
  • @jackma1548
    US must not abandon Ukraine just like US abandon Afghanistan and South Vietnam before, US Should support Ukraine 300 billion dollars to build economy and infrastructure and another 400 billion dollar to fight proxies wars with Russia. We Thank you US to support Ukraine.
  • @nulnoh219
    Free Guam. No representation colony.
  • @Connectingdots100
    Hi Economist did not see you post any videos lately on South Africa’s submission to ICJ on Israel’s Genocide! I thought you guys are big on rules based order?!