Does America still have what it takes to stand up to China? Does short-term military readiness trade off with long-term strategy? What does the US need to do today to stay competitive for the rest of the century?

“Tony Stark” is the author of Breaking Beijing, a Substack examining the military dimensions of US-China competition. Tony’s Substack goes deep on subjects you didn’t know you needed to understand, like Arctic policy, and takes a refreshing step back to look at great power competition holistically. Tony is also the author of Ex Supra, a sci-fi thriller about a near-future US-China war.

Today, we discuss…

What it will take to win the 21st century, and what America needs to prioritize in the short, medium, and long term,
Why investing in education, basic science research, and foreign aid pay dividends in military readiness,
Why Washington is short on coherent China strategy,
Taiwan’s impact on global nonproliferation efforts,
How AI could change warfare, even if AGI can’t be considered a “wonder weapon.”

Outro music: Cmon - Fred Again (YouTube link)

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Breaking Beijing: Military Competition with Tony Stark