Quote:And your source for that is? The US army has exceeded its re-enlistment target goal for the last five years, so if they have reduced that goal it's not because they were having difficulty meeting it. Conditions in Iraq are not deterring enough people from re-enlisting.
Eh... but it seems as if those figures are from after the army decreased its target goals..
Even if the US sat out a second Korean war, Japan wouldn't. It would, at a minimum, remilitarise, and arm itself with nukes, which China doesn't want and cannot prevent short of invading Japan - and that would be folly.
It's also far from certain that North Korea would win. The South has a technological and organisational edge, being both richer, and a democracy. China doesn't want to risk North Korea losing. It will stick to the status quo for as long as it can.
If China does start a war, it will be at a time of its choosing, not North Korea's. Since China has some of the same problems with waging war as North Korea - defeat would bring the government down but victory could give the generals too much power - it will be reluctant to start any war.
They'd be even more reluctant if the US had used nukes in Iran. It might use them on Peking too, given half an excuse, and China isn't capable of launching a pre-emptive first strike.
There isn't any need for the US east asian troops in these plans anyway. It doesn't need to occupy Iran anymore than it did Serbia; it would be enough to bomb the nuclear sites every year or two, stopping Iran from getting anywhere.