Something really interesting will happen this week, and the western media may barely take notice. When it happens, it'll mean the first truly all-hands-in-on-this combined endeavor for the 5 Permanent Members of the UN Security Council since...I don't think ever. Not even Gulf War I had everybody on the team.
Well, the "it" referred to here is the arrival of two Chinese capital vessels with a support ship to engage in the counter-piracy operation going on off the coasts of Somalia and Yemen.
And here's why gangs of khat-chewing pirates who weigh 110 lbs. soaking wet may want to consider a new line of work -- not all those countries play as nicely as we do.
In other words, their concept of Rules of Engagement is foreign to us and they're operatingly independently...not within our command and control structure. To a pirate, that could mean quick death from a surface vessel or from a deployed Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB).
When it's the big ships with the U.S. flags waving, the pirates know exactly what to expect. They know they won't be suddenly obliterated as long as they stay within the rules. They can literally conduct at-sea replenishments right under the noses of American cruisers and destroyers.
You think China's going to put up with that?
Neither do I.
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