Air Force C-17 airlifters fly nonstop from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., to Kazakhstan to airdrop 500 U.S. troops from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division as well as 40 Asian troops during an exercise named Centrazbat ’97. Two aircraft airdrop cargo and vehicles. The C-17s are refueled three times en route during the 19-hour flight.
Washington and its allies face a bottomless list of tasks, challenges, and uncertainties in every region of the globe. The geopolitical outlook has seldom been so unsettled. The good news is that some answers, at least, already are clear. Nearly...

