Decades ago, Richard Bernstein opened Time magazine’s first bureau in Beijing. He was later New York Times bureau chief at the UN, in Paris, and in Berlin.

He spent a few years as the Times’ National Cultural Correspondent and as a Times book critic. He’s also the author of a list of incisive books including on China and France.

He recently wrote a provocative op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. It’s about what he calls the “Midway Measures Trap.” That’s when the U.S. is caught between two contradictory imperatives: to respond to a threat, but also to limit the response so as to contain costs and limit risks. The result is often mission failure – and that has consequences.

He joins host Cliff May to discuss not going the distance, not sticking to our guns, being in for a penny but not a pound, and other related topics.