or likelihood of america having -- [inaudible] as it does today is a shrinking likelihood. >> now, misha, let me -- so let me push back at you with the favored theory of offshore balancing. this is, this is increasingly popular as a construct for american national security. it is this notion that somehow we can pull back and look inwards when we need to and yet we can leap out when we are urgently called upon, but when we're not urgently called upon, for example,ing when it isn't a war between japan and china, we can really allow countries to manage their own neighborhood, and we can actually subcontract to regional powers, even regional powers with which we don't agree. the management of their own area. so russia, eastern europe, china, asia. i think people fail to think through what the implications are, and i wonder if you could just play that out for a moment. because our asian allies have not failed to think this through. >> absolutely. and, briefly, i think there's two problems with offshore balancing. one is the political, and one is the practical. everything you said is absolutel