July 9, 2021
GOOD MONEY AFTER BAD:
This American Strategy Didn't Work On the Soviet Union and It Won't Work On China Either: The lesson is don't overestimate your opponent. (Michael Peck, 7/09/21, National Interest)
If it turns out that China's naval power has been overblown, and American defense dollars were better spent elsewhere--perhaps on aircraft, or drones, or cyberwarfare--then the Chinese navy will have won a victory even before the first shot is fired.Back in the 1980s, a war with the Soviet Union seemed like a naval nightmare.Fiction writers like Tom Clancy and John Hackett painted a future where Western navies faced hordes of Red bombers, cruise missiles, submarines and surface warships. Naturally, in these novels the Good Guys won, but only at tremendous cost.In hindsight, some of this looks silly. We know now--and some suspected back then--that the Soviet Navy was undercut by major deficiencies in technology and training. It was no paper tiger, but neither was it some aquatic beast that would have devoured Western fleets.
A bear and a dragon walk into a bar....
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 9, 2021 7:42 AM