@akkartik “deterrence by denial” means you keep a serious force around ready to fight and defend. it’s expensive.

“deterrence by punishment” means you can leave a nice basically undefended border, and buy security by the capacity to cause massive harm if it is violated. deterrence by punishment is cheaper.

it’s best to do both, but if you slack off on denial you may actually have to punish. Then you end up with Gaza, and our many dilemmas surrounding Ukraine.