OptimisticCynic

Seizing territory isn't the hard part. Holding it is. In Strait, the U.S. doesn't have air superiority at lower altitudes, and conducting ground ops without it is very costly (see Ukr). "Secure uranium stockpiles" also assumes we know where they all are and can reach them.

NEW: China has stationed 200+ converted J-6 attack drones at six air bases near the Taiwan Strait five in Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province. Designed to flood air defenses in a first-wave assault, flying like cruise missiles. Per Mitchell Institute satellite imagery.

Why did we stop building cities like this?

What's something that experts/practitioners in your field universally agree upon, but that remains a "hot take" among the general public?

Trump is considering moving troops out of Germany. Just do it, stop considering. We don't need the US, we need a more integrated European Defence. A superpower doesn't need another superpower within their borders, especially when they are sometimes openly hostile.

NATO members are obliged to support one another if attacked, not to join wars of choice. That stipulation was made at the demand of the US, which also insisted that the commitment be territorially limited. “The treaty does not cover the entire world,” said Dean Acheson. “It applies only to the North Atlantic area.” He made clear that this had been the key American condition. “We deliberately avoided any implication that we were undertaking a global military commitment.” The Senate, worried about being dragged into European colonial wars, had threatened to refuse ratification unless the limitations were explicit. As John Foster Dulles put it: “If it were made global in scope, it would not be acceptable to the United States.” Despite all this, the only time that NATO has gone to war was indeed out of area, at the request of the US after 9/11.

PRESIDENT TRUMP: NATO wasn’t there for us. We send billions of dollars to them every year to protect them. We would have always been there for them. But based on their actions, I guess we don’t have to be, do we? Why would we be there for them if they’re not there for us?