Posted by
On the Right on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 9:30:07 PM
Americans would be foolish to take our military superiority for granted.
As we content ourselves with the fallacy that never
again shall we have to fight large, technological opponents, China is
transforming its forces into a full-spectrum military capable of major
operations and remote power projection. Eventually the twain shall
meet. By the same token, our sharp nuclear reductions and China's
acquisitions of ballistic-missile submarines and multiple-warhead
mobile missiles will eventually come level. The China that has
threatened to turn Los Angeles to cinder is arguably more cavalier
about nuclear weapons than are we, and may find parity a stimulus to
brinkmanship. Who will blink first, a Barack Obama (who even now blinks
like Betty Boop) or a Hu Jintao?
Our reductions are not solely nuclear. Consider the
F-22, the world's most capable air dominance aircraft, for which the
original call for 648 has been whittled to 183, leaving, after
maintenance, training, and test, approximately 125 to cover the entire
world. The same story is evident without relief throughout our
diminished air echelons, shrinking fleets, damaged and depleted stocks,
and ground forces turned from preparation for heavy battle to the work
of a gendarmerie.