I'm John Batchel with Jim Fennell and Brad Thayer. Their new book is Embracing Communist China,

America's greatest strategic failure, while the PLA Navy is demonstrating its threat against the

ally, Taiwan, and the whole of Western Pacific threatened by the PLA Navy,

including our allies in Japan and the Philippines and Australia.

We look to 1919, as Jim and Brad have identified, as a moment when the British Empire lost

the Second World War.

Why? Because Germany was in ruins,

nothing to worry about. In fact, let us help them as best we can with our diplomats,

but not too much. Let them sort it out. Let them use the Weimar and the parliament and their own disorder with communism.

And we can take confidence of the 10-year rule.

Jim, what was the 10-year rule that the British Empire employed in 1919 that led to the defeat of

1940?

I'm going to let Brad answer that one.

Well, I'm happy to.

Jim, the 10-year rule was put in place by defense planners in the United Kingdom.

And the idea was that for the next 10 years, there would not be a major conflict that would involve the UK.

So as a consequence, you didn't have to spend money, right?

That money would not be spent by the exchequer on defense, but would be spent on other

priorities.

Now, that was overturned in the early 30s when the British recognized that the world had changed, the distribution

of power had changed significantly, but that lost decade, more than a decade, that had a profound

effect, really, in hindering what was often called the fourth arm of defense. It's not just the Navy,

...