I had no comment on the number of engineering graduates - others on the thread have addressed that issue quite well, esp. post #3 (quantity vs. quality paradigm). I am openly wondering (rhetorically; I think we all know the answer) why, exactly, they would specifically contact this Australian with an offer of $100 million salary to complete his research there. And why are we not taking the Chinese threat seriously? Though less imminent it is, to my thinking, even more serious than the WOT for the long haul.
My bad, I wasn't meaning to reply directly to you, was intending to reply to the thread in general.
Of course we are. This is why our procurement budget alone is bigger than the entire Chinese military budget. It is why we're going ahead with major upgrades to our aviation and naval assets despite mostly infantry focus of our campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rumsfeld is criticized for his focus on not expanding the ground forces, but I think his options were limited. He simply did not have the dollars he needed to prepare for the bigger long-term threat - China - by getting upgraded air and naval equipment *and* simultaneously expand the ground forces. He could do one but not both. So he chose to prepare for the eventuality that threatened us with a higher total body count - a conflict with China.