CHINA RISING – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  Sorry I'm a little late this morning.  I'm still trying to find someone who remembers Obama's State of the Union speech.  No luck.  If you know someone, e-mail me. 

The president didn't devote much time to foreign policy, and for good reason.  Not many gold medals there.  Our own Department of Defense is worried that China, recently known for making iPods, may become more militarily powerful than in the United States during the next president's administration.  From the Washington Free Beacon:

China’s recent test of a new ultra-high speed strike vehicle highlights growing concerns that Chinese military advances will overtake those of the United States in as few as five years, a senior Pentagon official told Congress Tuesday.

Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing that he is concerned by large-scale cuts in U.S. defense spending that are undermining efforts to maintain U.S. military superiority.

“On hypersonics, this is a good example of an area of technology that is going to move forward whether we invest in it or not,” Kendall told a hearing on the United States shift toward Asia. “China is doing work in this area.”

The Pentagon is investing some resources in two forms of hypersonic arms: a ballistic missile boost glide vehicle and a jet powered, atmospheric cruise missile, he said.

Kendall said the threat of such hypersonic vehicles to the United States is that they are difficult for missile defenses to counter. The vehicles travel and maneuver while flying at speeds of up to Mach 10 or 7,680 miles an hour.

“The high speed of these systems makes it much more difficult for air defenses to engage,” he said.

Kendall, in testimony on the Obama administration’s so-called “pivot” to Asia, said the Chinese development of hypersonic strike weapons is an area of technology that is likely to outpace U.S. efforts in the future.

COMMENT:  Does the president care?  Do the "progressives" around him care?  Probably not.  They regard this kind of warning as "Cold War thinking," the kind of thinking they heard ridiculed every day during their years bathing in the Ivy League. 

We learned just last week that China is building its first aircraft carrier from the keel up.  It has a carrier, but it is a rebuild acquired from elsewhere.  If China develops a carrier force, it will project power much as we do.  Meanwhile, we're cutting our Navy. 

Some would say this is a failed administration.  In the eyes of the left, though, it has many successes to smile about, including the weakening of the United States.

January 29,  2014