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To be expected to react to an invasion or an attack or a blockade. We've talked about

punishment to get Taiwan to bend its knee. However, there is also brute force, also known

as conquest, something Napoleon practice to set up a puppet government with his brother

on the throne in Spain, for example. And there's also faded complete, so overwhelming,

brute force plus coercion that the peoples of Taiwan have no choice except when you're

using theta-complete versus coalition, which is the case here. This is not Taiwan isolated.

This is not Taiwan as Czechoslovakia in 1938. This is Taiwan in an anti-China coalition.

This is fascinating to me, bridge because you've thought through what happens when China

takes on a coalition, which I can presume Beijing has thought through. They're going to

move against the edge of the coalition. That is Taiwan. What advantage does that give

them? What does that mean for the coalition?

Exactly. I think you put your finger on it, John. Beijing's strategic problem is to collapse

the coalition without precipitating the very large war that would, in due battle, leave

you very costly and risky and that they very well might lose. Normally being a cause of

it's Vienna, and in this context, the direct application of military force is the most

attractive. If you can just defeat your opponent, that's the best thing to do. As Napoleon

...