Does America still have what it takes to stand up to China? Does short-term military readiness trade off with long-term strategy? What does the US need to do today to stay competitive for the rest of the century?

“Tony Stark” is the author of Breaking Beijing, a Substack examining the military dimensions of US-China competition. Tony’s Substack goes deep on subjects you didn’t know you needed to understand, like Arctic policy, and takes a refreshing step back to look at great power competition holistically. Tony is also the author of Ex Supra, a sci-fi thriller about a near-future US-China war.

Today, we discuss…

• What it will take to win the 21st century, and what America needs to prioritize in the short, medium, and long term,
• Why investing in education, basic science research, and foreign aid pay dividends in military readiness,
• Why Washington is short on coherent China strategy,
• Taiwan’s impact on global nonproliferation efforts,
• How AI could change warfare, even if AGI can’t be considered a “wonder weapon.”

Outro music: Cmon - Fred Again (YouTube link)

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