6/8: How to prepare for a 2023 Kremlin attack on #NATO: 6/8: The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, by Elbridge A. Colby @ElbridgeColby.
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 January 2023
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Borodino 1912
@Batchelorshow
6/8: How to prepare for a 2023 Kremlin attack on #NATO: 6/8: The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, by Elbridge A. Colby @ElbridgeColby.
https://www.amazon.com/Strategy-Denial-American-Defense-Conflict/dp/0300256434
Elbridge A. Colby was the lead architect of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, the most significant revision of U.S. defense strategy in a generation. Here he lays out how America’s defense must change to address China’s growing power and ambition. Based firmly in the realist tradition but deeply engaged in current policy, this book offers a clear framework for what America’s goals in confronting China must be, how its military strategy must change, and how it must prioritize these goals over its lesser interests.
The most informed and in‑depth reappraisal of America’s defense strategy in decades, this book outlines a rigorous but practical approach, showing how the United States can prepare to win a war with China that we cannot afford to lose—precisely in order to deter that war from happening.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This episode is brought to you by Slack. With Slack, you can bring all your people and |
| 0:05.9 | tools together in one place. It's your digital HQ where you can increase productivity, |
| 0:11.1 | enable flexibility and automate workflows. Plus, Slack is full of game-changing features |
| 0:16.8 | like huddles for quick check-ins or Slack Connect, which helps you connect with partners |
| 0:21.0 | inside and outside of your company. Slack, where the future works. Get started at |
| 0:27.0 | Slack.com slash DHQ. |
| 0:35.0 | This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Boucher with Elbridge Colby. His new book is the Strategy |
| 0:40.6 | of Denial, American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict. The PLA, theoretically, |
| 0:47.6 | the supposition has invaded Taiwan and taken control of Taiwan. The coalition has not yet |
| 0:56.2 | dislodged or recaptured or driven back the invasion force. In other words, the Denial |
| 1:02.8 | Defense has failed. There follows a limited war. What is to be done? |
| 1:08.1 | Bridge, what is horizontal escalation? What is vertical escalation? |
| 1:12.9 | Horizontal escalation is basically the idea that instead of contesting the kind of the |
| 1:17.7 | direct battle that you're thinking about. So I think Taiwan here or an earlier year, |
| 1:21.3 | I think of Korea in 1950, instead you attack your enemy in some other geographic location |
| 1:28.4 | or some other area that's not militarily connected to the direct theater. So if we, in the |
| 1:34.4 | case of Taiwan, if we attack the Chinese in Xinjiang or we attack their base in Djibouti, |
| 1:40.6 | vertical escalation is basically increasing the intensity of the conflict. So at the |
| 1:44.8 | highest end, it's the use of new per-weapons at scale. But it could be terror bombing |
| 1:49.9 | or large-scale conventional bombing or attacks designed to impose more costs and increase |
| 1:55.6 | the intensity of conflict. |
| 1:57.6 | The China horizontal escalation choices. From your list, they don't look attractive to |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.