Trouble in paradise: US plans for Pacific war

美国太平洋战争计划

The Intelligence from The Economist

2025-08-20

22 分钟
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With China as its new rival, America is reviving old wartime facilities across the Pacific. Our correspondent visits an abandoned airfield that has been given new life. The outlook for climate technology is surprisingly bright. And why the universe of Hello Kitty keeps expanding. Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+ For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account. 
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  • The Economist.

  • Hello, and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist.

  • I'm Rosie Blaw.

  • And I'm Jason Palmer.

  • Every weekday, we provide fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

  • The birth of the Cleantech Revolution has long been foretold, and failed to deliver.

  • But though the US administration isn't exactly keen on tackling climate change,

  • our correspondent reckons that the future may actually be green.

  • And few brands are so globally present as Hello Kitty,

  • but her parent company Sanrio is expanding the Hello Kitty universe at a prodigious rate.

  • Brace yourself for the IP licensing onslaught of Hello Kitty and Friends Super Cute Adventures.

  • But first.

  • If you draw a curve connecting the American territory of Guam and the rest of the Mariana Islands,

  • they form an arc that points towards Japan.

  • They're not really in the middle of the Pacific,

  • they're pretty far west, straight north of Melbourne, Australia,

  • which makes them strategically really very useful to America.

  • On one of those islands, Tinian,

  • the world's first nuclear weapons were loaded onto the bombers that would drop them on Japan.

  • At Tinian, 100 miles north, two more B-29 wings prepare for takeoff.