As the debt crisis worsens...oh,wait a minute, you thought the debt crisis was over? Well, it isn't over for us, of course, but the crisis I am referring to is happening in Europe.

Meanwhile, as the aforementioned debt crisis worsens, numerous commentators are turning their attention to the looming defense cuts that will automatically kick in if the debt ceiling bill is not superseded somewhere down the road (it will be, by the way).

Peter Brookes says these proposed cuts risk disaster, while Arthur Herman compares them to the weakened state of the U.S. military in the 1930s.

On the other hand, Fareed Zakaria believes the cuts are long overdue.

In my estimation, these cuts are inevitable. Since we will not see a large enough political coalition for actual cuts in entitlement programs, nor will we see a coalition powerful enough to raise taxes significantly, the only other option to ameliorate the deficit spending situation is to cut defense. This is the way the other declining empires of the past did it, and this is how we will do it. Of course, those empires got into big trouble by following that course, and so will we.