We also need Connectivity with Foreign Militaries by Thomas Barnett

ARTICLE: Tour de France - An Applauded Army About to be Downsized, By Joris Janssen Lok, Ares, 4/17/2008

Here's where our limited success in articulating a grand strategy that says, "Our Leviathan/SysAdmin force allows for connectivity at various stages along the conflict spectrum, and you (here, France) complete us here," can haunt us. A France that doesn't see its military contribution recognized and appreciated by the Core as a whole can choose to lose that capability, and once lost, end up being de facto "retired" from that tier of activity, meaning we degrade the Core's overall capacity for SysAdmin the longer we signal we're good at the first half but the second half is too complex and too hard for us or any combination of us and them.

That's why to me, it's use it (SysAdmin) or lose it (both the Core's aggregate SysAdmin capacity and our own self-deterred Leviathan).

In short, time is not on our side.