The Chinese Dragon, and their incitement of a new Cold War. It's not really new that China is spending increasingly huge sums toward advancing their military, but it's increasingly looking like a bi-polar world.

China will boost military spending by 17.8 percent this year, a spokesman for the national legislature said Sunday, continuing more than a decade of double-digit annual increases that have raised concerns among the United States and China's neighbors.

This growing China, if it can overcome rampant corruption, unchecked pollution, and in twenty years its one-child-induced-top-heavy senior citizen problem, its military and economic standing will be second to none. The hurdles on the way however, make this one-man race to the top have the appearance of risk, but as with all one-man races, 1st place is guaranteed.

They learned that the USSR couldn't outspend the U.S., and is why it collapsed. China has the big capitalist beast on the leash of communism, and they know better than to let ideology get in the way of prudence. We need to get in the race, and we need some help.

We have options. 1) Hope they'll collapse on their own, and risk them rivaling or overtaking our supremacy, and 2) Bankrupt them now, and potentially ourselves in the process.

But our choice has already been made. Thanks to Korea and Vietnam, containment no longer has that allure, especially without half the world on our side. Thanks to Iraq, acting before it's do or die risks political suicide.

Even if we tried to contain China, or outspend them into the poor house, it wouldn't be another round of U.S. vs. the Soviets, it would be a game of capitalism. How do you take down a giant in the market?

With luck, we may enjoy option 3) Buy Indian. India is China's main competitor, and right now, we have an advantage. We all but control the IMF, World Bank, and most global financial centers which we can use to India's advantage. We need to get India in the game, and use the two of them to our advantage. We'll need to support China's competition, and win this war economically. And we need to do it while we still can save Taiwan.

Being my first entry here at Townhall.com, I'll talk a little about the current state of American foreign policy, partly because it's a focus of mine, and partly because it is especially significant today regarding the GWT and rogue nations like Iran.

Currently, it's a cliché to say America is threatened by terror, but that shouldn't negate the fact that America is facing challenges to its security on a daily basis. Iran, North Korea, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and many other nations have learned from Iraq and Afghanistan that facing America in traditional warfare wouldn't afford them much except life in a spider hole or six feet under.

They have learned from guerrillas in Vietnam, al Qaeda, and civilian insurgants, that the best way to defeat a democratically-willed giant, is to destroy that democratic will by pro-longing conflict, bringing the concept of victory to new levels of ambiguity, and by focusing on long term results.

This is where American leaders come in.  As much as Americans want to be represented and have their voices heard, they want and need to be led.  The American people need leadership as much as they need responsiveness.  Unfortunately, the Bush administration lacked in vital areas of responsiveness and leadership.  The president failed to adequately communicate with the people, and when the chips were looking down, simply said "stay the course."  Ironically, staying the course is precisely what America needs to do, but the American people deserve more than three little words to go off of when making judgments about their nation at war.

In all fairness, it wasn't completely the Bush administration's fault at jeopardizing the will needed to power the giant.  It was and is the extreme left, over-influencing the Democratic Party.  Political opportunity is always in abundance during war, but is never without risk.  The far left realize this.  They realized it with Vietnam, but in Vietnam they had the circumstances of the Cold War on their side to minimize such risk.  The point is that today, political opportunity means power, and to minimize risk to that power, Iraq must look like failure.  It's a Republican war, and will either be a Republican victory or a Republican loss. 

But for the rest of us, Iraq will be an American victory, or an American loss.  Patriotism has become a disposable commodity.