US Geostrategic Weaknesses

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] a common assumption about the united states is that the country is the most strategically blessed in the world from a geographical standpoint the united states sits in an invaluable position not only is its vast territory filled with lush forests and land perfect for agriculture but it is also rich in oil and mineral wealth with internal waterways and protected harbors that give a natural advantage transporting these goods externally the us only has land borders with two neighbors mexico and canada which aside from minor threats to the u.s like the ever contentious mexican border and the seemingly unstoppable takeover of canadian pop music both neighbors currently maintain strong and close relations with washington the lack of military and economic rivals on the north american continent has ensured the us's dominance over the region if compared to europe for example the presence of evenly matched strategic states competing for the same limited resources led to numerous bloody wars the last of which ended with world war ii whereas for the us the last major conflict on the north american continent happened in 1836 with santa ana's disastrous expedition which if successful could have led mexico and not the us to dominate north america perhaps most importantly unfettered access to two oceans created the foundations of the u.s power both at the economic and military levels the u.s economy leverages its position between europe and asia of the top 15 trading countries with the us six are in asia and seven are in europe the seas had and still do play a central role in the u.s global power status having secured its land borders the u.s security can only be threatened via the seas with this extreme bubble of safety washington's focus since the second world war has been on projecting its power externally and american power projection is now second to none in the world its stealth strategic bombers can fly undetected to the other side of the globe in a matter of hours its strategic airlifters can reposition troops in a matter of days and its aircraft carriers continuously sailing through the seas can in a matter of weeks project america's clout in virtually every corner of the world however despite this strength the united states ubiquitous domination is being challenged on multiple fronts historically the atlantic and pacific oceans provided formidable obstacles to any power seeking to invade the american mainland the last notable attack on u.s territory took imperial japan years of preparation and massive resources to strike pearl harbor and that's still halfway from the u.s mainland unlike its main strategic competitors the us benefits from direct access to the open sea as you can see from a previous video china is limited by the choke points on the first island chain and russia suffers from the dearth of warm water ports however america's resilience on the seas is also its achilles heel america's main potential weakness could be caused by climate change melting ice in the arctic is opening up new sea lanes of communication from the northern atlantic into the northern pacific the northwest passage following the northern u.s and canadian coastline and the northeast passage along russia's northern shores even though the usage of these routes is still limited from may to october more and more ships are now sailing through these waters steaming through the arctic seas allows ships to shave weeks off of navigation on the northern europe asia and u.s west coast routes the majority of maps depict the americas and asia as two opposite extremes but these are pretty much only separated by the bering strait at its narrowest between siberia and alaska there's only a 55 mile gap around 89 kilometers this means that the increasingly growing trade flow through the arctic will be under the crosshairs of not only the us but also russian control and a more assertive russian naval presence in the atlantic and pacific is a main source of concern for the us this coupled with russia's increasingly assertive leadership threatens to rekindle the cold war dynamic that challenged the united states for much of the 20th century the rise of global temperature could drastically improve russia's geostrategic milieu as russia's northern and pacific fleets could gain unlimited access to the seas even during winter months in the coming decades until now the lack of warm water ports has been a major deficit in the ussr and then russian naval power projection capability limiting its surface vessel activities in the atlantic and the pacific oceans russia's navy northern fleet bases are mostly located close to the border with finland in the cola peninsula and around the white sea as the warm gulf stream guarantees ice-free waters all year round as you can see from the map this means that the majority of russia's military ships and submarines are focused on one single area roughly the size of virginia this makes these ship routes more predictable and observable by russia's opponents the area extending from the kara sea up to the sea of japan is instead much colder and prone to freeze during winter months these satellite pictures show how the pacific fleet main ports freeze during winter making the use of icebreakers crucial for military operations whereas during the cold war the only way that the ussr's pacific fleet could have threatened the u.s during the winter months was via its nuclear submarines silently slipping under the thick arctic ice now with a continuously changing environment russia can leverage on its surface fleet in the region too greatly expanding its operational capabilities the us is late to the arctic game whereas russia has been hawkish on the region since the early 2000s the us has only recently adopted measures in october 2018 for the first time in 30 years an aircraft carrier operated in the arctic circle this renewed interest from the united states is likely helped by russia's particularly assertive position in recent years moscow committed to a massive infrastructure overhaul including bringing former soviet assets back online and building new bases and radar capacity the u.s is also significantly out-tooled in this region for example icebreakers are an essential tool in the frigid arctic climate and while russia boasts approximately 50 icebreakers among its newer and its legacy vessels the u.s can only count on one operational ship climate change and the consequent ice melting happening in the arctic is shaping the u.s strategic environment opening new possibilities to its cold war competitor for russia surrounded by enemies on its european and siberian borders gaining more operational freedom in the atlantic and most importantly the pacific allows it to get more negotiation cards in its limited deck against washington [Music] if the northern arctic ice is still potentially threatening the caribbean sun-kissed tropical waters play a host to a far more direct menace to the us cuba perhaps embodies the single greatest geotopical threat to the contemporary united states for two primary reasons first its overall proximity to the u.s coast and mainland and second the danger this poses to the critical assets points into the gulf of mexico metaphorically speaking cuba is like a dagger pointed straight at the united states economic underbelly from a geographical standpoint cuba sits right at the mouth of the gulf of mexico creating two major bottlenecks which funnel the in and outbound sea traffic the first expands from cuba's northern coast up to the florida keys where the second starts from cuba's southeastern shore down to the yucatan peninsula in mexico these two choke points measure around 90 miles or around 145 kilometers and 125 miles 201 kilometers respectively distances made irrelevant by modern anti-ship missiles but why is the gulf of mexico so important strategically speaking if new orleans is the door to north america the gulf of mexico is its front yard new orleans is so strategic because it connects the ocean to the majority of the western u.s via the mississippi river complex this river which is fed further inland by the missouri ohio arkansas and tennessee rivers was central to the united states early success and is still a critical source of strategic and economic strength to the country as river barges that transport goods from the inland cannot take on the rough seas towards europe the seafaring ship's dimension won't physically allow these vessels to sail upstream thus the ports on the mississippi estuaries connect the u.s heartland with the sea making this shipping infrastructure extremely important for the u.s economy and internal health the mississippi is a direct line for huge amounts of crops minerals and manufactured goods between the u.s heartland and its ocean sea trade routes and in return it ties many of the u.s states together it has been estimated that every year around 175 million of freight are moved via barge down the river and that stopping the river's traffic for just one day would generate losses for 300 million dollars perhaps even more critically the mississippi river delta is home to extremely valuable and extremely fragile assets that underpin multi-billion dollar industries such as petroleum extraction and refining chemical production and fisheries as around 70 percent of the u.s trade is seaborn the geographic location of its main ports become a critical issue of the us top five biggest trading ports per volume in 2019 four are in the gulf of mexico ships to and from the ports of south louisiana houston corpus christi and beaumont all have to pass through the two bottlenecks created by cuba exposing all this traffic to possible disruptions for any major foreign power aiming at threatening washington's mainland security the caribbean islands offer the best possible place to implement such a plan this is also the reason that cuba has been at the center of some of the us most significant conflicts and political crises namely the catalyst for the war with spain in 1898 and perhaps most famously with the ussr in 1963 the closest the world has come so far to nuclear annihilation in the absence of challenges over land and strong rivals to attack it from the sea for any u.s competitors cuba offers the most effective way to menace the us the 1963 missile crisis is a perfect example at the time the ussr was way behind the u.s in terms of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bomber capabilities whereas the u.s could directly point its weapons at russia there was no other way around moscow which was lacking any diplomatic bargaining ship with the us saw in cuba not only a friendly communist regime but also the strategic ally that could bring soviet power directly to u.s shores though the us's geography has allowed it to have ideal geostrategic conditions u.s reliance on the seas for trade exposed its flank to possible weaknesses the major of which remains cuba and its strategic location closed to the u.s mainland and at the entrance of the gulf of mexico the second threat lies in the shift in the us's competitors geostrategic milieu caused by climate change and the consequent arctic thaw in particular russia's pacific and arctic ports usually frozen in winter could gain direct access to the sea expanding russia's operational capabilities and giving moscow one more card to play in the negotiations with washington if you enjoyed this video please consider subscribing and leaving a comment below also we've set up our official patreon page with exclusive perks available be sure to check it out as always thanks for watching and have a good one you

Channel: Kamome

Views: 370,554

Keywords: documentary, narration, voice-over, map, geography, maps video, narrated video, strategy, politics, america strategy, america's security, russia, china, cuba, gulf of mexico security, US weakness, geopolitics, united states, world map, us geography, us geopolitics, US geography weaknesses, US geography problem, wendover, caspian report, blinkov, real life lore, vox

Id: IImSZQnujWE

Length: 14min 42sec (882 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 23 2022