The great war redux

July 28th marks the centenary of the start of World War I---also known as the “Great War” and tragically and wrongly described by President Woodrow Wilson as the “war to end all wars.”  That war was neither great nor the end of war.  About eight million soldiers on all sides were killed and at least an equal number of civilians perished---many through disease and starvation. Last week, London’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI---founded in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington as a permanent institution to study and analyze war) hosted a one-day conference on World War I.  The lens was the Western front focusing on British, French and German strategies [...]

The longest day and our finest hour

Two days hence marks the 70th anniversary of Operation Overlord (Neptune for the naval portion) and the Normandy invasion. Supreme Allied Commander U.S. General Dwight David Eisenhower’s orders were to occupy Europe and destroy the Nazi war machine.  D-Day marked the start of Ike’s crusade in Europe   Standing atop the Ponte du Hoc heights overlooking Omaha Beach where the U.S. Rangers valiantly assaulted German defenses was always more telling for me than visiting great battlefields from Yorktown to Waterloo and Agincourt.  Perhaps because World War II was as close as any conflict in history matching good against absolute evil, Normandy epitomized the ultimate allied victory in smashing the fiendish [...]

Democracy ain’t always a good export

China now exports money.  Russia exports gas and oil.  The Netherlands sends millions of flowers abroad every day.  And, more than occasionally, America tries to export democracy.    The tension over sending democracy abroad has been measured in terms of George Washington’s pragmatism versus Woodrow Wilson’s idealism, the latter elevated to grander status by Jack Kennedy’s solemn commitment to “pay any price and bear any burden” to defend freedom and liberty. All modern American presidents have paid at least lip service to defending freedom and democracy and more than a few have threatened or gone to war to uphold those principles.  A searing question is with what effect?   For [...]

America’s Achilles heart

Since 1789, ambivalence over America’s international role and responsibilities has persisted.  This tension can be captured in terms of George Washington’s pragmatism not to seek permanent entanglements abroad and Woodrow Wilson’s idealism in fighting the “war to end all wars” to make “the world safe for democracy.”  Washington’s argument was amplified by John Adams’ warning against seeking foreign monsters to slay.  Unfortunately, presidents from John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush were deaf to such wisdom.   Americans have often been seduced or mesmerized by the siren-like call of aiding democracies and especially those pleading for help in establishing them.  Foreign wars that eventually would embroil America attracted [...]

Feldmareșalul Abdel Fattah al-Sisi și viitorul Egiptului

Egiptul rămâne într-o tranziție prelungită de la demisia lui Hosni Mubarak în februarie 2011. Țara este divizată între islamiști și seculariști, în timp ce militarii rămân brokerul politic și cei care asigură conducerea țării. Arestarea lui Mohammed Morsi și dizolvarea Frăției Musulmane a creat un vacum politic umplut de militari dar și un război între aceștia și o duzină de partide în căutare de putere. Incertitudinea politică și anxietatea asupra viitorului a generat un șir nesfârșit de proteste, greve și neâncredere între partidele islamiste și cele seculare sau tensiuni între creștini și musulmani în anumite zone ale țării. Violențele au izbucnit în întreaga țară cu predilecție în zona peninsulei Sinai [...]

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