Originally Posted by
GlobalNav
Sounds a bit like the “impregnable” Maginot Line
Not hardly.
It is if anything, (1) an attempt at a deterrent, and (2) a distributed defense in depth ... but it relies on a proposed coalition that may not want to play as a cohesive whole.
Thailand is one of China's neighbors, for example, and whatever the US does or does not see as important, Thailand has to live in this neighborhood.
Go back to the Protests in the 70s and 80s over US medium range surface to surface missiles in Europe, and the political friction in that coalition.
That's the far better analogy.