COLBY MUCH IN THE DEFENSE NEWS RE UKRAINE, NATO, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA AND AUKUS. 2/8 The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, by Elbridge A. Colby.
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 13 July 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
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Summary
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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batchew with Elbridge Colby, the author of the new book, |
| 0:10.0 | The Strategy of Denial, American Defense in an Age of Great Power conflict. The great power of concern is China, |
| 0:17.1 | the People's Republic of China, aggressive, predatory, and non-transparent. |
| 0:23.3 | What is the purpose of the U.S. strategy in this conflict, in any larger conflict here in the |
| 0:28.3 | 21st century? |
| 0:29.8 | Bridge, you make it very clear that the U.S. government must provide security, freedom, and prosperity. |
| 0:38.3 | And in doing that, they construct a coalition in Asia or around the world against the |
| 0:46.3 | hegemon or the potential hegemon of China. |
| 0:49.3 | So in constructing that, is it appropriate for the U.S. to have other filters for other countries in the coalition? |
| 0:59.0 | Must those other countries be secure, free, and prosperous? |
| 1:03.2 | Must they be democracies? |
| 1:05.8 | No, actually, not at all. |
| 1:07.6 | I mean, I think the goal of policy is to promote Americans' security, freedom, and prosperity. |
| 1:14.0 | And that may require affiliating with countries that are not themselves, Republican systems |
| 1:21.6 | like ours. |
| 1:22.6 | I mean, obviously, I think we all wish for other countries to be governed in a civilized and kind of liberal and |
| 1:30.8 | Republican way. |
| 1:32.6 | But that's not the goal of American foreign policy. |
| 1:34.6 | And I really try to root my argument. |
| 1:37.0 | One of the things that I've been very frustrated by over the last generation, I would |
| 1:40.9 | say is that American foreign policy discussion has become very attenuated in its connection to concrete American interests. |
| 1:48.3 | I mean, you know, we're talking here about a war with another superpower, the most powerful state to emerge in the international system, the United States itself, a war with could be apocalyptic. |
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