Sabre Rattling?

If you think i'll be ranting about Sabre's (Saber) epic cuteness in a meidofuku then i'm really sorry to say that i won't. Not today. Today, we talk about mystical katana forging out in the deserts of US of A.

clickhere

Zoom in on the comment by USAF Luke Air Force Base commander BG Jerry Harris Jr.

"the [Sunny Island South of Truly Asia]AF, like the United States Air Force, is an expeditionary force..."

So they've come right out and printed something that is almost universally known but not discussed much publicly. Correct me if i'm wrong, but at least i don't remember having ever seen it in the national newspaper.

wow.

Contrast that with this:

"... to recapture an offshore island that had been occupied by an enemy force..."

Right.

Actually, "expeditionary" can just refer to operating far from home, and can refer to "friendly" and "helpful" activities like disaster relief. The juxtaposition of laser JDAMs and other things that go pew pew pew with the word "expeditionary", however, conjures up some other mental image.

Then again, the whole point of the rather extensive media coverage is to do some macho chest-thumping. Seen in that light, the use of the E-word by the media, whether deliberate or not, probably won't cause anyone in the ministry to lose sleep.

Unless, of course, someone makes a big fat deal out of it.

I did some digging on google, and the only response to the above quote was some forum post on a Hong Kong business newspaper's website, and even then the focus wasn't on the E-word. One comment on the page did go like this though:

“小國還是儘量避談"戰"字, 殺人三千自損八百已很厲害, 小國沒本錢消耗”

hehehe.

So, anyway, non-issue. Case closed.

(Though not apparent in this case, the military does not seem to exert as much influence over the government-friendly media as one would think. Always fun to dig around.)