Middle East demands are testing America's Pacific presence

The USS George Washington's deployment from Japan to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln will leave the U.S. without an aircraft carrier in the western Pacific — just as adversaries in the area are flexing their military power. Why it matters: Temporary carrier gaps are not uncommon, but the absence of a striker ship in the Pacific highlights how the Middle East is once again dictating American military policy. It also has raised questions about how the U.S. can sustain a…