4 Comments

I do like that SECDEF Hegseth's first meeting with defense leadership of a foreign country was Australia and that US support was reiterated for the AUKUS agreement. I think the extra boost to submarine shipbuilding will be welcomed as will the continued participation of Australia in our Naval Nuclear Power program.

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4060571/shared-challenges-aukus-partnership-top-topics-as-us-australian-defense-leaders/

Expand full comment

The obvious challenge long term for the 21st Century is the Pacific theater. My abiding hope is that beneath the current chaos we see in the negotiations over Ukraine there lie some achievable strategic objectives affecting the Pacific. Not only might the negotiations over the war in Ukraine lead to a weakening of the developing Russia-China alliance, but perhaps more importantly they might lead to the isolation of North Korea. If North Korea can be cut off from its principal enabler, Russia, it will die on the vine. The geostrategic chessboard is very complex and it is not limited to eastern Europe!

Expand full comment

There exists an opinion that China calls the shots in North Korea and consciously maintains the Norks as a source of military and geopolitical instability in ways which serve China's long term political and military interests in the region.

Does this opinion hold water? I don't know. But it is out there and might explain some of North Korea's behavior over the last two decades.

Expand full comment

As always, terrific podcast. Many thanks, Sal.

Expand full comment