Hello, this is Rusty Reno. I am at my desk, and so yes, listeners, this is the next episode of The Editor's Desk.

And I have with me, Elbridge Colby, Principal at the Marathon Initiative.

And he has served in the government on a couple tours of duty, most recently leading the development of the Pentagon's 2018 national defense strategy.

We're here to talk about morality of a strategy of denial in the October 2022 issue of first things.

Welcome to the podcast.

Great to be with here.

So, I'm going to just plunge into it.

Why China?

Why China?

Well, I mean, I think it's basically because China is huge.

I mean, it's a much, much bigger power than anybody else that we face in the international

system today or, in fact, relative to ourselves, that we have faced over the last century and a half. And, you know, the quote I used in the international system today or in fact, relative to ourselves that we have faced

over the last century and a half.

And, you know, the quote I used in the piece, power corrupts.

And absolutely power corrupts absolutely.

You can't allow such a power to become dominant.

And so because of by virtue of how powerful it is and how plausible it is that China could dominate First Asian and

the world. That needs to be our overriding focus. And a big part of the reason for the sharpness

of why I emphasize focusing on China is that we're not focusing on China. And that's a huge

strategic error that the country is making right now. And I should tell the listeners that you have a book, Strategy of Denial, that lays out,

you know, in quite in detail, you know, both why and how, why we need to deny regional

hegemony and how to do that.

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