CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan Lavin – Public Domain

The biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) war games, the largest naval exercise in the world, is scheduled to take place in the ocean around, the air above, and on the ‘āina of Ka Pae‘aina O Ka Moananui (as Kekuni Blaisdell taught us to call Hawai‘i) from June 24 to July 31, 2026. The U.S. Pacific Fleet announces that “a multinational force of approximately 40 surface ships, 5 submarines, 140 aircraft and more than 25,000 personnel” will descend on Ka Pae‘aina. [1] In light of recent global developments, now, more than ever, we must oppose RIMPAC.

The intent of RIMPAC, as with the entire U.S. military posture in the Asia-Pacific, is to prepare for war against China. In order to encircle China, the U.S. arms and/or maintains military bases in the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia.

Similarly, the U.S. sought to encircle Iran by placing military personnel and bases in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. Fifth Fleet was based in Bahrain. Al-Udeid in Qatar was a major USAF base. These Arab monarchies bought U.S. weapons and were led to believe that the U.S. military presence would protect them against Iran. However, on February 28, U.S. and Israel launched a joint assault on Iran, beginning with the war crime of an incendiary missile strike that killed 168 schoolgirls in Minab. After shrapnel from the first Tomahawk missile killed many, surviving girls gathered in the prayer room. The second Tomahawk ignited its unspent fuel, incinerating all. Iran retaliated against the U.S. bases, rendering them inoperable. The monarchies in the Persian Gulf thus discovered that the presence of U.S. bases, far from providing protection, actually made them........

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