... and it is almost ten years since 9/11. What has changed since?
As a student of security and defence affairs back then, my first reaction was, So, they had no bio-chemical weapons after all. It came as a huge relief, as we were worried about some rogue nuclear warhead finding its way to some terrorist organisation determined to destroy NYC or DC.
then, there was a film depicting just that. Peacekeeper or something like that. That was unfortunate, as Hollywood treatment on serious security issues tend to trivialise them. People would react, when we pointed out the possibility of terrorist strikes, by saying, isn't that movie?
But then another worry back then was of course China. Just before 9/11 there was an incident involving US and Chinese military planes that raised tension in the Southern China Sea. Well, the world has been distracted by 9/11 for ten years and now back to that problem again.
China being a country that would try to overawe other countries rather than attacking them outright, talks of Chinese invasion of other Asian nations are usually nonsense. Yet, what is worrying is the possibility of accidental border clash, some rogue elements in China or other Asian countries initiating their own business ventures.
In the mid 90s, there was a talk of under-paid Chinese sailors moonlighting as pirates or selling their weapons to pirates. Hopefully, the PLA has a firmer grip on their soldiers and sailors today. With booming economy, surely they do?
As for Al Qaeda. Mostly neutralised and irrelevant today. Is it because the vigorous pursuit by the USA to hunt them down? With the help of hindsight, I feel my gut instinct ten years ago was right: they were already spent force even in 2001 with or without the USA starting the War on Terror thing. The sudden outbreak of "Arab spring" seems to demonstrate it.
What should the West do? It is busy with its own economic and financial crises today. The good news is, we don't have to worry over new, clear and present danger. China's rise is mostly about economic and diplomatic relations, not security (don't let their new aircraft carriers startle you); the Arabs hate their own rulers than the West at the moment. This is time for us to regroup, and, if necessary, to reconstruct our economy. When we sort out our own mess, the world looks like a fairly nice place to live.
As a student of security and defence affairs back then, my first reaction was, So, they had no bio-chemical weapons after all. It came as a huge relief, as we were worried about some rogue nuclear warhead finding its way to some terrorist organisation determined to destroy NYC or DC.
then, there was a film depicting just that. Peacekeeper or something like that. That was unfortunate, as Hollywood treatment on serious security issues tend to trivialise them. People would react, when we pointed out the possibility of terrorist strikes, by saying, isn't that movie?
But then another worry back then was of course China. Just before 9/11 there was an incident involving US and Chinese military planes that raised tension in the Southern China Sea. Well, the world has been distracted by 9/11 for ten years and now back to that problem again.
China being a country that would try to overawe other countries rather than attacking them outright, talks of Chinese invasion of other Asian nations are usually nonsense. Yet, what is worrying is the possibility of accidental border clash, some rogue elements in China or other Asian countries initiating their own business ventures.
In the mid 90s, there was a talk of under-paid Chinese sailors moonlighting as pirates or selling their weapons to pirates. Hopefully, the PLA has a firmer grip on their soldiers and sailors today. With booming economy, surely they do?
As for Al Qaeda. Mostly neutralised and irrelevant today. Is it because the vigorous pursuit by the USA to hunt them down? With the help of hindsight, I feel my gut instinct ten years ago was right: they were already spent force even in 2001 with or without the USA starting the War on Terror thing. The sudden outbreak of "Arab spring" seems to demonstrate it.
What should the West do? It is busy with its own economic and financial crises today. The good news is, we don't have to worry over new, clear and present danger. China's rise is mostly about economic and diplomatic relations, not security (don't let their new aircraft carriers startle you); the Arabs hate their own rulers than the West at the moment. This is time for us to regroup, and, if necessary, to reconstruct our economy. When we sort out our own mess, the world looks like a fairly nice place to live.
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