Category Geopolitics & Statecraft
I got to thinking about the question at the title of this post a few months ago. Being me I started doing some research and then put my thoughts down in what ended up being a fairly long paper for… Continue Reading →
I will admit that when I first got the request to review Pearl Harbor: The Missing Motive I was skeptical. After finishing it I remain skeptical but will admit that the author makes a well-written, if not necessarily compelling case… Continue Reading →
An explanation of the history and organization of the UN. Given that the UN plays such a large role in contemporary international relations I thought it worthwhile to talk about what it is and what it does. Download this episode… Continue Reading →
Decision Points is a book I have put off reading for several years but finally got around to. I mainly put it off because I have essentially avoided reading any histories of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars as they hit… Continue Reading →
This episode discusses sanctions. Both types of sanctions, diplomatic and economic. More importantly it discusses their usefulness and I give you my answer to what I consider the central question; do sanctions work? Download this episode (right click and save)
A fairly rambling discussion about NGO’s and what they really accomplish. I will admit upfront that I don’t have a very good opinion of NGO’s. It seems to me that after 150 years of digging wells in Africa we should… Continue Reading →
Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It by Marc Goodman is one of those non-fiction books that is both scary and reassuring at the same time. I picked this up mainly because… Continue Reading →
House of War: The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power is one of those books that when you are done reading it you cannot quite decide if it was worth reading or not. If you want to know what… Continue Reading →
I apologize in advance for the blatantly political tone of this piece but I am flabbergasted by what I see happening on the eastern periphery of Europe and the anemic reaction to state on state aggression by the rest of… Continue Reading →
Full disclosure: I consider the NYT to be a gang of flabby, post-modernist girlymen who stroke each other(‘s egos) all day long, and try to get an emotional response out of their dwindling readership. So today I saw a comment… Continue Reading →
You are on a hill, a commander. Your troops are aligned in a phalanx. Your commanding officer is guarding the bridge on the opposite side of your fortress. He sends his messenger to you: By ths rdr ttck t th… Continue Reading →
Obama: Nuclear deal blocks Iran’s path to bomb In an ironic twist showing that the 60+ years since World War II have only fostered institutional amnesia the US and five other powers buckled and agreed to appease Iran in talks… Continue Reading →
If there is one book in the realm of history or political science any informed person needs to read this year then Niall Ferguson’s The Great Degeneration: How Institutions Decay and Economies Die is it. In this short book Ferguson… Continue Reading →
 Video shows Islamist rebels executing 11 Syrian soldiers:  Yet for some unfathomable reason the Administration is talking about providing support to the rebel groups in Syria.  The video is below (Warning, it is graphic). After watching just contemplate that these… Continue Reading →
The Center for Strategic and International Studies has just released Beyond the Last War: Balancing Ground Forces and Future Challenges Risk in USCENTCOM and USPACOM.  The report makes for interesting reading.  What I found the most interesting aside from the scenarios considered… Continue Reading →