By James R. Holmes
Today I was the Knight Who Says Ni Conference.
The Naval Diplomat took part in aconference! A conference in a fair city where people appeared to be having agood time!!! (Click here to sample the Monty Python-esque flavor of official policy toward conferences.)
These are sad times when passing ruffians can say conference within earshot of meek U.S. government officials. But fear not, brave folk: no taxpayer dollars went to fund the iniquities of international-relations scholars. Nor did I enjoy myself.
On to serious matters. I chaired a panel on International Cooperation composed of a trio of bright Ph.D. candidates from places like Oxford and Toronto. Good stuff. Later I presented a paper titled "The Death and Life of Surface Fleets," basically an amalgam of arguments familiar to Naval Diplomat readers (see here and here for a recap). Underlying the nuts-and-bolts of naval development and strategy, though, is a fundamental question: does China accept the U.S.-led order of liberal trade and commerce, or would it prefer to see that system abridged or overthrown?
Read the full story at The Diplomat