Nice to get a perspective from someone who is obviously very skilled at the persuasion skills required to encourage execution on goals that need time and persistence to be done properly. Loved the basic discussion about how China invading Taiwan is not inevitable...deterrence in the indo pacific by putting new operational challenges in front of the CMC/PLA so that Xi wakes up and thinks, no, not today, it's too risky/it's not a short sharp invasion scenario/we might be drawn into a quagmire/we'll lose all of our standing and influence in the world we've acquired in the last few decades.
I'm less concerned with issues like force posture, resources, and alliance commitments, than I am about America's domestic political situation and the basic fabric of our society. Will our military servicemembers obey orders from a Democratic president? And will Americans fight a cold war or a hot war with China the right way for the right reasons? As we've seen in the Ukraine war, uncountable human factors can be critical. Another concern is the bigger non-military, political dimension. If America doesn't clean up its act and start rebuilding its moral legitimacy, world opinion will start tilting away from America and towards China. And that could embolden Xi Jinping to start a war, more than any calculations of military strength.
You would think a show with war in the title would have a working knowledge of war. Did you know that the last time America won a war was in Grenada? America is the best in the world at bullying countries weaker than it...along came the Russian Federation.
