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On today's special episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker looks ahead to tomorrow's ruling in a Hague arbitration court on the South China Sea.

Brian spends the full hour looking at how the dispute affects the region and the world. He is joined by James Bradley, the author of the book The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia and by author Patrick Lawrence, whose latest book is Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century.

Tensions have been inflamed by the impending ruling on a territorial dispute between the Philippines and China. Last week, Beijing said the U.S. military’s buildup in the region constituted a “direct threat to national security”.

Despite U.S. assertions of the need for freedom of navigation, Washington is treating the Pacific like its backyard. Is the United States also playing other countries in the region against China for their own benefit?