And I would avoid comparing Asian defense spending to a Cold War-type arms race. After reading the report, I feel that the future the world will be more stable (the report says that it's unlikely that there will be a major conflict between the powerful nations...contrast this with the situation at the start of the 20th century) because of increased regionalization; as the world becomes more globalized and interconnected, major conflict has the potential to hurt everyone, hence the incentive not to start a stupid war over something like Taiwan.

Both India and China will be competing for a share in the global market over the next 15 years and I see them butting heads from time to time. I don't expect them to start a huge war, however, as their economic growth might collapse. Just look at what happened to Japan and Mexico when their growth suddenly stopped in the 1990s...

The report did say, however, that the U.S. will have to pay a greater price in future military actions as other nations become more modernized. In other words, don't expect easy victories like Desert Storm or even Iraqi Freedom.

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