Preparing For War
As Japan (after gaining access to raw materials in Asia) and Turkey( as a pivot point of three continents) gain strength in the mid 2000s they will start to perceive the USA as one of their existential threats even though they would not be ready to resort to war openly. However, the author believes that even though Japan and Turkey might stimulate conflicts with the USA, America will never risk its prosperity and well being. The author compares the future situation to the one during WWII where the weaker actors intentionally launched preemptive wars before the other side was ready to redefine the balance of power.
As for relations between Japan and Turkey, they will be united by a common rival - US, however, will not be likely to share technologies with each other. The author believes that by 2050 Turkey will be involved in a Balkan crisis while Japan will have built a strong military and space machine and will try to attack US unexpectedly, for example, on Thanksgiving. Judging from the Pearl Harbour case, unexpected attack is one of the most important strategies in Japanese perception of warfare.
Conclusion
We can see that predictions regarding the army of the future are already coming true as the technology and availability of trained intelligence personnel continues to play a more important role than physically strong manpower. Judging from US-Japanese cooperation today for me it is hard to see the logic behind the assumption that Japan will try to attack US in the future. However, Turkey’s conflict in the Balkans is quite possible as a potential for conflict has been in the region for more than 50 years.
References
Friedman, G. (2009). The Next 100 Years. New York, NY: The Doubleday publishing group.
