Word: asia
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Karl Haushofer to observe that, if he looked at the globe one way, the New World encircled the Old. But if he looked at the globe another way-if, for example, Germany had upset the balance of power in Europe, or Japan upset the balance of power in Asia, and these two powers joined forces-the Old World encircled the New. In this geopolitical embrace, the New World might suffer a "caress of death." So he wrote this provocative and controversial book to tell his compatriots why they must be ready at all times to fight to preserve the balance...
What he had to say was this: due to its position as a continental island between Asia and Europe, the survival of the U.S. has always depended, and always will depend, on maintaining a balance of power in Europe and Asia. Whenever that balance is seriously unbalanced, the U.S. must fight. Also, due to the U.S. geographic position, there have always been two opposed geopolitical theories as to where and when to fight. One theory is interventionism, which maintains that the fight must be fought in Asia and Europe, with the help of European and Asiatic allies. The other theory...
...position of Great Britain in regard to the European continent. . . .") America and the Transpacific Zone ("Participation in a war to preserve the balance of power in Europe against Germany means war in cooperation with the dominant naval power. Participation in a war to preserve the balance of power in Asia . . . means war against Japan, against the dominant naval power, a strategic problem of an entirely different nature...
...hopeless "without the tin and the tungsten of Bolivia, the copper of Chile and the tungsten, wool and tanning products of the Argentine, our war industries would be seriously crippled even if we could produce in northern Brazil the materials -which now come from the tropical zones of Asia and Africa...
From these dark facts Professor Spykman draws a drastic conclusion: "Hemisphere defense is no defense at all. The Second World War will be lost or won in Europe and Asia...