by Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research, February 7, 2010
"....Socotra is at the crossroads of the strategic naval waterways of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (See map below). It is of crucial importance to the US military.
One of the objectives of Washington's agenda is to militarize major sea ways. This strategic waterway links the Mediterranean to the Asia and the Far East, through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. It is the major transit route for oil tankers. A large share of China's industrial exports to Western Europe transits through this strategic waterway. Maritime trade from East and Southern Africa to Western Europe also transits within a short distance of Socotra (Suqutra) through the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.....
The establishment of a US military base in Socotra is be part of the broader process of the militarization of the Indian Ocean, of linking the Diego Garcia military base in the Chagos archipelago to Socotra and the Gulf of Aden.
The US Navy's geostrategist Rear Admiral Alfred T. Mahan had intimated, prior to World War, that "whoever attains maritime supremacy in the Indian Ocean would be a prominent player on the international scene." (Indian Ocean and our Security).
What was at stake in Mahan's writings was the strategic control by the US of major Ocean sea ways. "
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