China continues to expand its naval power, while we continue to shrink our defense budget. At some point, and this is beginning to happen, the other nations in the region will have to expand their own naval capability, especially Japan and Australia.

Of course, a big reason why our actual defense capability is eroding is our continued insistence on throwing good money after bad in Afghanistan. Ralph Peters writes again about our lack of a clear strategy, despite the fact that a few people, including our ambassador in Kabul, understand the problems we face.