This is CBSI on the world.

I'm John Batchel.

I welcome Cliff May, the founder and president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy,

writing most recently at the Washington Times about the American military,

its strength and its necessity of strength to continue.

Cliff, a very good evening to you.

The phrase, peace through strength, has been used so often over the last 2,000 years.

It sometimes loses meaning.

What does it mean about the U.S. military, about the way the Republic of the United States conducts its affairs?

Good evening to you.

Even to you. Yeah, peace through strength is a shorthand.

You're right.

Even the Romans understood this.

If you want peace, you prepare for war.

What does that mean?

It means that if your enemies see you as formidable, as

superior, as a force they cannot defeat, then they're unlikely to throw a punch because they'll

see the danger of that. If they think, ah, it's 50, 50, it's a fair fight, it's worth a shot,

then they will. So what you want to do, it's the most basic strategy, strange that it's a fair fight, it's worth a shot, then they will. So what you want to do, it's the most

basic strategy, strange that it's often ignored, you want to be so powerful that you can deter

your enemies. If you can deter your enemies, you don't need to fight your enemies or defeat

your enemies, which you want to have the ability to do.

...