As US Scales Back in Mideast, China Could Step in by LOLITA C
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FACES MILITARY PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Drake, The Weeknd, UFO sightings Mickelson makes Pink are big winners are a security history as oldest at Billboard awards worry in DC golfer to win major Page 17 Page 4 Page 24 Former Air Force employee pleads guilty to $1.1 million theft ›› Page 6 stripes.com Volume 80 Edition 27 ©SS 2021 TUESDAY,MAY 25, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas Navigating troubled waters Navy says it’s charting a new course after rash of problems with ship design, maintenance BY DAVID SHARP newest aircraft carrier had problems lays and cost billions of dollars. They fense analyst at the Lexington Institute. Associated Press with the system that launches aircraft. come as tensions are growing in the Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval oper- BATH, Maine — The Navy’s speedy On top of that, embarrassing photos of South China Sea, Russia’s navy is em- ations, insists the Navy is now on a “posi- littoral combat ships had propulsion fail- rusty ships online have underscored de- boldened, Iranian speedboats are ha- tive trajectory” but the Navy will have to ures. The gun on its stealthy destroyer is lays in maintaining warships, made rassing vessels in the Persian Gulf. rebuild confidence under congressional a dud because of expensive ammo. Its worse by the pandemic. “Are we ready to meet the threat from The Navy’s troubles have caused de- China? No,” said Loren Thompson, a de- SEE TROUBLED ON PAGE 5 The guided missile destroyer USS Stout shows rust as it returns to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., from a 210-day deployment on Oct. 12, 2020. JASON PASTRICK, U.S. NAVY/AP General: As US scales back in Mideast, China could step in BY LOLITA C. BALDOR While traveling through the Middle East pivot to Asia means they will be left without RELATED Associated Press over the past week, Marine Gen. Frank the troops, ships, aircraft and other military RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — As the United McKenzie, who heads U.S. Central Com- aid they need to battle Iranian-backed mil- Space Command leader: States scales back its military presence mand, fielded a persistent question from the itants attacking their people. across the Middle East to focus on great pow- military and political leaders he met: Is the If the U.S. is slow to respond, they may Chinese are America’s er competition with China and Russia, it U.S. still committed to their country and the look elsewhere for help. risks giving those two countries a chance to region, and what more support can they get. “The Middle East writ broadly is an area primary challenge on fill the gap and expand their influence From the dusty battlefields in Syria to the of intense competition between the great surface, in space around the Gulf, the top U.S. commander for rocket-pummeled neighborhoods in Iraq the region said Sunday. and Saudi Arabia, they worry that America’s SEE MIDEAST ON PAGE 3 Page 3 PAGE 2 • STARS AND STRIPES • Tuesday, May 25, 2021 BUSINESS/WEATHER Suez Canal’s claim over stuck ship referred by court EXCHANGE RATES Military rates South Korea (Won) 1125.49 Associated Press The appeals chamber of the Is- the canal about 3.7 miles north of Switzerland (Franc) .8959 Euro costs (May 25) $1.19 Thailand (Baht) 31.35 CAIRO — An Egyptian appeals mailia Economic Court referred the southern entrance, near the Dollar buys (May 25) 0.7976 Turkey (NewLira) 8.3921 British pound (May 25) $1.39 court said Sunday it lacks jurisdic- the case to a lower court to decide city of Suez. Japanese yen (May 25) 106.00 (Military exchange rates are those available tion to look into the Suez Canal Au- on the legality of the seizure of the Since it was freed, the Panama- South Korean won (May 25) 1100.00 to customers at military banking facilities in the Commercial rates country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger thority’s demands to uphold finan- ship until the settlement of com- flagged vessel, which carries car- many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Bahrain(Dinar) .3770 For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur cial claims that led to the seizure pensation claim between the Suez go between Asia and Europe, has Britain (Pound) 1.4163 chasing British pounds in Germany), check with Canada (Dollar) 1.2053 your local military banking facility. Commercial of the cargo ship that blocked the Canal Authority and Shoei Kisen been ordered by authorities to re- China(Yuan) 6.4216 rates are interbank rates provided for reference Denmark (Krone) 6.0839 waterway in March. Kaisha Ltd., the ship’s Japanese main in a holding lake mid-canal Egypt (Pound) 15.6705 when buying currency. All figures are foreign The authority and the ship’s owner, according to Hazem Bara- as its owner and the canal author- Euro .8181 currencies to one dollar, except for the British Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7654 pound, which is represented in dollarsto owner disputes who was at fault kat, a lawyer representing the ves- ity try to settle the compensation Hungary (Forint) 284.58 pound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.) Israel (Shekel) 3.2526 when the Ever Given ran aground sel’s owner. dispute. Japan (Yen) 108.78 INTEREST RATES in the canal linking the Mediterra- The Ever Given was on its way The money would cover the sal- Kuwait(Dinar) .3007 Norway (Krone) 8.3440 Prime rate 3.25 nean Sea and the Red Sea and how to the Dutch port of Rotterdam on vage operation, costs of stalled ca- Philippines (Peso) 48.08 Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75 Poland (Zloty) 3.67 Federal funds market rate 0.09 much compensation should be March 23 when it slammed into nal traffic and lost transit fees for Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7504 3month bill 0.01 paid. the bank of a single-lane stretch of the week of theblocked the canal. Singapore (Dollar) 1.3285 30year bond 2.33 WEATHER OUTLOOK TUESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST TUESDAY IN EUROPE WEDNESDAY IN THE PACIFIC Misawa 63/53 Kabul Seoul 77/51 71/49 Baghdad 95/73 Drawsko Osan Tokyo Kandahar 72/49 69/60 Mildenhall/ Pomorskie Busan 97/60 Lakenheath 56/53 57/42 65/60 Iwakuni Kuwait City 65/62 Bahrain Brussels Zagan Sasebo Guam 105/85 95/87 Ramstein 59/52 68/62 55/46 56/46 84/81 Riyadh Lajes, Stuttgart 109/81 Doha Azores Pápa 65/62 57/46 110/84 Aviano/ 59/52 Vicenza 61/53 Naples 71/63 Okinawa Morón 80/77 89/60 Sigonella Rota 85/53 The weather is provided by the Djibouti 77/61 Souda Bay American Forces Network Weather Center, 94/76 73/65 2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. TODAY IN STRIPES American Roundup ...... 11 Classified .................... 13 Comics .........................16 Crossword ................... 16 Faces .......................... 17 Opinion ........................ 14 Sports .................... 18-24 Tuesday, May 25, 2021 • STARS AND STRIPES • PAGE 3 MILITARY General: ‘Our pacing threat is the Chinese’ In Tokyo, Space Command efforts to build their own space sta- tion. leader deems Beijing top A previous version of Space Command existed from 1985 to challenge on, above Earth 2002 when its personnel and mis- BY SETH ROBSON sions were absorbed by the North- Stars and Stripes ern Command and the Strategic YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Command. China is the primary challenge not “Those mission sets have come only on the surface but also for U.S. back to the Space Command,” said forces preparing to fight and win in Dickinson, who called on new IN- any future conflict in space, ac- DOPACOM chief Adm. John Aqui- cording to the chief of the U.S. lino on his way to Japan. Space Command. Space Command has an impor- “Our pacing threat is the Chi- tant role in a theater where the tyr- nese, so we are watching how they anny of distance is a factor, he said. are growing their space capabili- In Tokyo, on his first overseas ty,” Army Gen. James Dickinson, trip since the coronavirus pandem- who oversees the command based ic began, he met with Defense Min- at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., ister Nobuo Kishi, Minister of State said during a stop at the home of for Space Policy Shinji Inoue, Ja- U.S. Forces Japan in western To- pan Self-Defense Forces Joint kyo on Saturday. Staff leader Gen. Koji Yamazaki The Army’s senior air defense and Japan Air Self-Defense Force artillery officer has led the mili- chief Gen. Shunji Izutsu. tary’s 11th and newest combatant AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/Stars and Stripes “It is quite an accomplishment to command since August when he Army Gen. James Dickinson, right, who oversees U.S. Space Command, reviews Japanese troops during a stand up a Space Operations took over from Gen. John Ray- visit to the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo on Friday. Squadron,” he said, referring to the mond, the Space Force’s chief of establishment of such a unit by Ja- space operations. istan in recent decades, or the Ha- less countered by effective inter- ations, Dickinson said. pan last May at Fuchu Air Base, a The Space Force, established in waii-based Indo-Pacific national opposition, according to China shot down one of its own few miles east of Yokota. December 2019, gets plenty of at- Command, responsible for an area the Union of Concerned Scientists. satellites in 2007. Since then “it has Dickinson, who also met U.S. tention but the Space Command, of operations that covers more than “Space is very important right continued to test kinetic counter- Forces Japan commander Lt.