Unconventional warfare.

• Author: Keogh, Richard
• Position: Readers' Forum

* I read the article "U.S. Should Invest in Truly Unconventional Forms of Warfare" in the January 2012 issue with great interest, as it represents the sort of forward thinking we need today.

As good as the article is, I think author Russell Aldrich went seriously adrift in the second paragraph.

"If China decided to sell [U.S. Treasury] bonds and invest elsewhere, it could have potentially devastating effects for the U.S. economy."

This is a trap that more famous writers have also fallen into. Please stop a minute and ask: To whom would the Chinese sell? Not the European Central Bank, as they would not trade shaky dollars for even more shaky Euros. Maybe the Somali Pirates Retirement Fund or the Medellin Cartel Investment Trust would take a few billion, but they couldn't put a dent in the trillion that the Chinese hold.

No. The Chinese are stuck with them, as there is no possible buyer. The shoes, shirts, and cell phones the Chinese shipped over are gone forever, and all they have is a lot of engraved paper...