ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: US NAVY / Reuters On November 5 th , Taiwan’s Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa claimed that the country “will consider” hosting US warships if Washington were to ask to use the largest Spratly Islands in the South China Sea for security purposes. Yen De-Fa was answering hypothetical questions of a member of the opposition, Johnny Chiang in the Legislative Yuan. According to the Defense Minister, US warships could also possibly be allowed to dock at Taiping island, which is under Taipei’s control for humanitarian operations. Yen told Chiang that despite the island being for humanitarian purposes, the Taiwan government would consider using it for regional security if that suited the country’s interests. “If it is based on security concerns that would affect the region, we will consider that,” Yen said. “This must also be in line with our national interests.” According to Chiang, the regular presence of US aircraft carriers in the South China Sea

The Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs released  a study on the Human Cost of the Post-9/11 US Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan . Syria was not included in the study. Neta C. Crawford carried out the research. Overall, according to the study between 480,000 and 507,000 people have been killed in all of the conflicts. These include counts and estimates of direct deaths caused by war violence. The deaths in Syria, so far, are near 500,000 more, since 2011, with the US officially joining in August 2014. From the table it becomes apparent that even with the highest estimations in Iraq, the US and its allies have lost more troops than the “enemy.” However it should be noted that there are massive civilian casualties in all conflicts, with the one in Iraq outnumbering soldier deaths by a fair margin. Thus, the chances of being killed in a war if a person is a civilian in the Middle East is higher than they are a soldier or a militant. That