To be honest Red Sword I think it would be a disservice to not recognise and comment upon the unusual when it happens.
Palau is after all a nation with a very close association with the US and interestingly positioned with regard to Guam. It is a nation that still recognises the ROC and not the PRC and it does occupy a truly commanding position in the Western Pacific in relation to every other nation from Japan to Australia.
In short If an Intelligence/Military Planner had to find a location of particular interest and usefulness for future operations, Palau would unquestionably come high in any list of worthwhile candidates produced.
We then have the casualties on both sides, which itself is highly unusual. Unusual for a Fisherman to be shot dead and unusual for a Coast Guard plane involved in the incident to go down in "unspecified circumstances".
The reaction from all sides is also quite unusual. China has been surprisingly quiet about one of its citizens being shot dead and others detained (remember the Japan incident and Rare Earths?) While Palau has been very relaxed about the loss of its two coast guards and the US incredibly quiet about the loss of its Citizen who was the pilot.
Unusual may simply be all that it is, but then again it may be unusual for "other" reasons and again; I would stress, that if there were ever going to be a list of places where the "unusual" would not come as any surprise, Palau would be one of them and probably quite prominent.
Palau is after all a nation with a very close association with the US and interestingly positioned with regard to Guam. It is a nation that still recognises the ROC and not the PRC and it does occupy a truly commanding position in the Western Pacific in relation to every other nation from Japan to Australia.
In short If an Intelligence/Military Planner had to find a location of particular interest and usefulness for future operations, Palau would unquestionably come high in any list of worthwhile candidates produced.
We then have the casualties on both sides, which itself is highly unusual. Unusual for a Fisherman to be shot dead and unusual for a Coast Guard plane involved in the incident to go down in "unspecified circumstances".
The reaction from all sides is also quite unusual. China has been surprisingly quiet about one of its citizens being shot dead and others detained (remember the Japan incident and Rare Earths?) While Palau has been very relaxed about the loss of its two coast guards and the US incredibly quiet about the loss of its Citizen who was the pilot.
Unusual may simply be all that it is, but then again it may be unusual for "other" reasons and again; I would stress, that if there were ever going to be a list of places where the "unusual" would not come as any surprise, Palau would be one of them and probably quite prominent.
