Dennis Blair and Kenneth Lieberthal
From Foreign Affairs, May/June 2007

Summary: Those who worry about the vulnerability of the world's oil shipping lanes should calm down. Oil tankers are more resilient than often presumed, and only the United States has the capability to seriously disrupt maritime traffic -- which it will not do.

Dennis Blair is former Commander in Chief of U.S. Pacific Command. Kenneth Lieberthal is Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan and served as Senior Director for Asia on the National Security Council from 1998 to 2000.

The dangers facing oil tankers carrying their vital cargo over long distances haunt leaders worldwide and animate their discussions about naval procurement. Military analysts in countries such as China and India have begun to assert that their countries need their own blue-water navies to protect tankers on their journeys from foreign terminals to home ports ......
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