X @Nick Szabo

Why are littoral combat ships equipped with minesweeping packages being diverted to Malaysia?One of the possible, and perhaps most likely, reasons is highly problematic for the future of freedom of navigation.Minesweeping near Malaysia or Indonesia is not a useful part of deterring China from invading Taiwan. In a scenario where the U.S. is ramping up such deterrence, the most rational strategy would involve interdiction of Chinese commercial shipping, in which case we would be preparing to lay mines, or ta ...