For Mearsheimer “freedom” and “prosperity” are simply weapons of great power politics rather than aspirations sought by the Ukrainian people.
The Invasion of Ukraine is Russia’s Fault
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NATO
NATO Summit Ahead!
Tomorrow, the NATO summit in Warsaw starts. What do we expect, other than jet-lagged Steve being more incoherent than usual? Lots of decisions to be announced, none to be made. These summits are...
NATO Ministerial FAQ
This week is another NATO ministerial. What is that? Here's a handy guide to the basics and why NATO is run like an academic conference. What is the NAC? Nope, not these guys. The North Atlantic...
The Most Important Corpses: Eastern Front Edition
I was on twitter talking with some folks about what Canada might promise at the Warsaw Summit, with the focus on who is going to provide the troops for the four battalions that will be based in the...
More NATO Posts
Russia’s Return to Afghanistan
The participation of four Russian counter-narcotics agents in a US/ISAF raid on four heroin labs in Afghanistan has left many pundits wondering whether the war in Afghanistan as well as US/NATO/ISAF--Russian relations are entering a new phase. However, before one can speculate, there are a few misconceptions in news reports that I think should be clarified and corrected in order to place the story into its proper context.First, several news papers have adopted the narrative that the Soviet military was "defeated" in Afghanistan. The NY Times report (10/29/2010) states,"The operation, in...
Zombie NATO? Or, the Poverty of Realism
A great many bloggers and policy wonks, motivated by the upcoming Lisbon Summit, are weighing in on NATO's future. NATO faces a number of challenges and difficult issues, including:The inconclusive war in Afghanistan that has led member after member to reduce (or eliminate) its commitment to ISAF;Whether to take on a missile defense as part of a broader "territorial defense" mandate;The future of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe;Continuing divisions over how to engage the Russian Federation; Turkey's growing "neo-Ottoman" focus; andRecession-driven defense cuts that threaten to eviscerate...
“Courageous Restraint” Medal
NATO is considering a medal for soldiers who display "courageous restraint" in their use of lethal force to save civilian lives. According to CNN,"Although no decisions have been made on the award itself, the idea is consistent with our strategic approach," Sholtis said. "Our young men and women display remarkable courage every day, including situations where they refrain from using lethal force, even at risk to themselves, in order to prevent possible harm to civilians. In some situations our forces face in Afghanistan, that restraint is an act of discipline and courage not much different...
Brutality and Counter-insurgency
Recently, while discussing the war in Afghanistan with a conflict studies program in the mid-west, I had a rather odd debate with a leftist professor who was devil's advocating what he claimed was a "neo-conservative" position (based on some of his recent interaction with naval officers and RAND researchers).His main argument revived the "stabbed in the back" hypothesis from the Vietnam era. The argument essentially posits that counter-insurgency is a cumulative body of knowledge first pioneered by the Britons. According to this position, Americans have been remarkably successful at applying...
Battling a Straw Man and Still Losing
[I don't mean to rail on the Washington Post's coverage of the war in Afghanistan two posts in a row, but the coverage is honestly a bit dismal this week. In my last post, I showed why Rajiv Chandrasekaran's article "At Afghan outpost, Marines gone rogue or leading the fight against counterinsurgency?" completely misunderstood the strategic importance of the town of Delaram from which the report was written.]An Op-ed article in yesterday's WaPo by Michael O'Hanlon and Hassina Sherjan, "Five Myths About the War in Afghanistan" poorly argues the case for "toughing it out" in Afghanistan. Since...
Operation Moshtarak
Operation Moshtarak ("Together" in Dari), which is slated to move into a more active phase any day now, has been billed as the largest ground battle in Afghanistan since 2001 and the largest air assault since the Iraq War in 1991. The planned attack, which will be centered around the towns of Marjeh (Marjah) and Nad-E'ali (Nad-e-Ali) in Helmand Province, was announced in a press conference by the Pentagon last week. Villages have been leafleted and village leaders have been informed of the coming attack.It is not uncommon to advertise a planned offensive in the Afghan war, but the usual...
The Short Career of Hakimullah Mehsud
In the latest round of the ongoing blood feud between the US military/intelligence agencies and the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan or TTP), it appears that the TTP's leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed by a Predator drone attack in mid-January. The assassination was apparently in “revenge” for the murder of seven CIA operatives at a forward operating base in Afghanistan by Hakimullah's associate and Jordanian double agent, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi. Of course, Al-Balawi had claimed that his suicide bombing was in retaliation for the assassination of the former leader...
Before they disappear into the ether
I've been fairly prolific lately. This state of affairs stems, in part, from what I've been working on for the last couple days: copy editing page proofs, which amounts to one of the dullest things I've done in furtherance of my career. Ever. Moreover, as I'm sure is the case for at least some of our readers, my mind has been colonized by two pressing developments: the final innings of the 2008 US Presidential campaign and the potential collapse of the neoliberal economic order. Both are doing their part to tap into my "outrage" receptors, and blogging seems to be the only effective way to...