Military & Foreign Policy

Afghan Imbroglio in Context

Last weekend, U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, representing a Taliban delegation, signed an agreement that could lead to substantive peace negotiations between all parties involved in what has become America’s longest war. In October 2001, … Continue reading

The Strategic Effect of Operation Kayla

Raids, like Operation Kayla resulting in the death of Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi and other ISIS terrorist leaders, are usually small affairs with limited results. Nevertheless, such meticulously planned and superbly executed raids also can have significant strategic implications. Roughly five decades … Continue reading

Summit Asymmetries

On June 3, 1961, barely into the fifth month of his presidency, John F. Kennedy met with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Kennedy requested the meeting in February as an “informal” opportunity to become better acquainted. Kennedy had risen rapidly through … Continue reading

Whither Congress?

The news that President Donald Trump authorized the U.S. military to strike a Syrian chemical manufacturing facility is hardly surprising. Even without the potential incentive to distract the news media from Robert Mueller’s investigation and the next phase of James … Continue reading

Limiting the Coming War

“War is the realm of the unexpected.” — B. H. Liddell Hart, 1950 Early 19th century Prussian general and philosopher Carl von Clausewitz identified “Der Schlag,” or “the punch,” as the vital opening gambit in war. Success depends on military … Continue reading

North Korea: Avoid a Needless War

“To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” —Sun Tzu The recent bogus Hawaiian nuclear alert puts the smoldering crisis with North Korea in perspective. Although most experts believe it will be a year before North Korea’s … Continue reading