Re: [OT] Sea Lanes was: Liberals

Oerjan Ohlson schrieb:
> > > Er, well... only if you count the oceans :-/ And I'm
> >
> >SLOC is the basis of world domination.

Actually, their importance may have been exaggerated.

Paul M. Kennedy, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers:
Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000

Has written:
  
The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery
Humanity Books; ISBN: 1573922781; Reissue edition (January 1998) 

He argues that British supremacy was in decline BEFORE the First World
War due to the limited industrial and population resources of Britain
compared to Germany and France.

More importantly, his main thesis is: 

Mahan got it wrong. Naval power is only relevant against an opponent
that cannot find enough resources in its own territories. A naval power
is restricted to pin-prick coastal raids against such a land power.
Napoleon, Hitler and the Soviet Union were restricted, but not brought
down by naval power. Napoleon's and Hitler's empires were toppled by
armies, not navies. The Soviet Union fell through economic problems,
not by a naval blockade.

The US now are a world power primarily because they are a large country
with a strong economy.

Greetings
Karl Heinz