Think about that . . .<\/p>\n
Here are ten imminent wars the incoming Chief Executive will have to keep the U.S. out of\u2026 or prevent entirely.<\/p>\n
![\"C13\"](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/06\/c13.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n
1. China vs. Everyone in the Pacific<\/h3>\n
In 2013, China declared the Senkaku Islands (or Diaoyu Islands, depending on which side of the issue you\u2019re on) to be part of its East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. Since then, Chinese and Japanese air and naval assets have taken many opportunities to troll each other. The Chinese people see these provocations as violations of their sovereignty and anti-Japanese demonstrations erupted in China. World War II memories die hard.<\/p>\n
The islands themselves are just an excuse. The prominent ideology espoused by Chinese President Xi Jinping is that of the \u201cChinese Dream,\u201d one that recaptures lost Chinese greatness and prestige. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is a hardline nationalist, is unlikely to bow to Beijing just because of a military buildup. On the contrary, Japan\u2019s legislature just changed the constitution<\/a> to allow Japanese troops to engage in combat outside of a defensive posture for the first time since WWII.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam are all vying for control of the Spratly Islands. The Spratlys are a small, seemingly unimportant set of \u201cmaritime features\u201d in the South China Sea that would extend each country\u2019s maritime boundary significantly. They sit on trade routes. Oh, and there are oil and natural gas reserves there. China started building artificial islands and military bases in the Spratlys, which is interesting because the U.S. now has mutual defense treaties with Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan. So the next U.S. President will also have to be prepared for\u2026<\/p>\n The term \u201cpeaceful rise\u201d isn\u2019t thrown around quite as much as it used to be. That was Chinese President Hu Jintao\u2019s official ideology, but he left power in 2012. China under Xi Jinping is much more aggressive in its rise. Chinese hackers stole blueprints<\/a> for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter just before China\u2019s military revealed a homegrown design, which looked a lot like the F-35<\/a>. The People\u2019s Republic also finished a Russian-designed aircraft carrier, its first ever. It now has a second, entirely Chinese one<\/a> under construction.<\/p>\n The Chinese specially developed the DF-21D Anti-Ship missile for use against carriers and other advanced ships of the U.S. Navy. The ballistic missile looks a lot like nuclear missiles and can carry a nuclear payload. Once a Chinese anti-ship ballistic missile sinks its first U.S. carrier, there\u2019s no going back \u2013 a downed carrier would kill 6,000 sailors. This is why China develops weapons to deny the U.S. sea superiority and deter American aggression in their backyard before a war begins.<\/p>\n The expansion of NATO as a bulwark against Russian hegemony in Eastern Europe is a challenge to the status quo of the last thirty years. While the end of the Cold War\u00a0should\u00a0<\/em>have changed the way the Russians and the West interact, Russian influence is still aggressive. Russia does not take kindly to the idea of NATO\u2019s expansion into former Eastern Bloc countries like Ukraine, which resulted in the 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.<\/p>\n![\"C14\"](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/06\/c14.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n2. China vs. The United States<\/h3>\n
![\"C15\"](\"https:\/\/hcsblogdotorg.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/06\/c15.jpg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n3. Russia vs. NATO<\/h3>\n