Bob,

The thing is, we don't have a containment strategy anymore, but we still have the system of global military alliances which is, only in part, a legacy of containment. But the alliances aren't and weren't simply about defending against the Soviets and they serve a lot of other purposes. Again, the point I would make is that if one is going to have a global system of active military alliances (for whatever purpose), then one needs ready forces to give those alliances credibility. This isn't to suggest we are stuck with a large military - rather, we need to be cognizant of the likely effects of a reduced military force and plan our foreign policy and change our alliances accordingly.

Fuchs,

I get that you don't think intervention in Yugoslavia was necessary. Most of your neighbors in Europe disagree with you.