S8 Ep881: Elbridge Colby explains that the binding strategy addresses the psychological aspect of war by preparing for the resolve and morale required for a larger conflict. It aims to force China into a dilemma: accept the status quo or take actions that inevita

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John Batchelor

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🗓️ 17 May 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

Elbridge Colby explains that the binding strategy addresses the psychological aspect of war by preparing for the resolve and morale required for a larger conflict. It aims to force China into a dilemma: accept the status quo or take actions that inevitably catalyze the coalition's collective resolve. By integrating the defense of allies like Japan and Australia, the U.S. ensures that a Chinese move against Taiwan precipitates a wider war China would likely lose. This strategy leverages Thumos, or spiritedness, to ensure that Chinese aggression triggers a "don't tread on me" reaction from nationalistic regional powers. (7/8)
SEPTEMBER 1932

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is CBSI in the world.
0:06.4	I'm John Batchel.
0:07.3	Elbridge Colby, the author of The Strategy of Denial.
0:10.9	This is imagining the future and a contest between the coalition led by the United States against the hegemon, China,
0:20.2	and China's aggression towards Taiwan
0:23.5	and or the Philippines and or the rest of the coalition. There is now a disaster scenario,
0:31.2	and the denial defense obliges everyone to react in dire fashion.
0:41.0	What is it that can keep the denial defense from failing,
0:46.0	or what is a predicate for the coalition after the failure or during the contest in which either side could win or lose?
0:50.3	I believe that's what we can now talk about as the binding strategy.
0:55.6	I'm very carefully reading Fonklaozsvitz because of you, Bridge.
0:59.7	And I find, thanks to your emphasis, Fonklazvitz talked a lot about psychology
1:05.8	and about the resolve, the morale, the ambition, the passion of the contestants.
1:15.4	I believe that's part of the binding strategy.
1:18.1	How so?
1:19.4	No, I think you put your finger on it, John, right?
1:21.4	The issue that Clausewoods, of course, was a master of is that, you know, the strength itself is not the only
1:29.9	sort of factor that's relevant here. The question is how much and how avidly are the combatants
1:36.9	prepared to dedicate that amount of strength, right? The France under the Bourbons in 1785 or something,
1:44.1	the fervor of the French nation was much
1:46.9	more modest, right? Whereas six, seven years later, with the Leveille-Amau
1:51.8	and the mass popular support for the revolutionary armies and the defense of the nation and so
	...

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