This kind of stuff is why I'm perplexed every time someone refers to Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Iran is in a very distant second place.
Type: Posts; User: SteveMetz; Keyword(s):
This kind of stuff is why I'm perplexed every time someone refers to Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Iran is in a very distant second place.
A wise strategy is one where the expected benefits--increased security--justify the expected strategic costs (blood, money, lost opportunities). This does not meet that standard.
Remember that the whole objective of a Ph.D. is to make a theoretical advance in your field. So the initial question is what field are you considering? Organizational behavior? History? Political...
I think an important question is what's your intent? Do you plan on using it within DoD, or to seek a position in civilian academia?
No he's not just any incarcerated person in any country--he's a convenient wedge that America haters have found useful to leverage, a stalking horse. I think it's incumbent on you to explain exactly...
So what you're advocating is that whenever an incarcerated person in any country complains about conditions, there is an international investigation? Or does this rule just apply to the United...
First of all, the Red Cross in Guantanamo is not an analogy. The issue there was that one nation was holding citizens of a different nation. The Red Cross does not investigate every nation when a...
DoD officials have said that his treatment is the same as other detainees. I assume it would take some evidence to the contrary other than statements by his lawyer and fans to instigate an...
My point has nothing to do with being pissed off. It has to do with military officials saying one thing and Manning saying something different, and my assessment of which of the two are more...
I got to about the third sentence of the article. When the author simply repeated Manning's story line about "inhumane treatment" as if it were fact, I recognized the story was propaganda, not...
Officials at the detention center said Manning was not "forced" to stand naked during roll call, but elected to. If the accusations are accurate, Manning is a chronic liar with a victim complex. He...
I don't have a position on Manning's treatment since I don't know anything beyond what I read in the papers. But if this group does attack people as a result of their performance of official duties,...
There's a big problem in this sort of thing. Americans, like other cultures that developed out of the European Enlightenment, believe in an objective truth that is separate from whoever is...
"The academics at SWJ only show their fcukin' faces when they've a book to sell, i.e. Steve Metz and, even there are disdainful of general engagement."
S-2 post of 09 Feb 10, 13:25
This plan only makes sense if one of two conditions hold:
1) We believe the Afghan forces will eventually have more success than NATO forces in militarily defeating the Taliban;
or
2) We...
Max Manwaring has also noted the similarities.
I've been making that suggestion for a number of years.
I'm exchanging email with a guy writing a Ph.D. thesis on it at the Turkish War College. I could link you up with him.
Sherman was not a five star.
I also think the notion is not a good one. I can't see the purpose. Perhaps if there actually is a decisive victory at some point rather than...
I made a post that provided a unified field theory of insurgency and conclusively resolved the Afghan problem. I was wondering where it went. Oh well, easy come, easy go.
Personally I don't huge value in changing military doctrine so long as the deeply flawed, essentially colonial strategy that is it designed to execute persists. And only civilian leaders can do that.
Word. Tactical acumen cannot compensate for a failed strategy. Afghanistan anyone?
Thing is, the vast majority of nations which have poverty, repression, corruption, etc. never experience internal conflict using a strategy of insurgency. I think Westerners coming from the...
Here's an idea I'm playing with as I continue to work on the "reconceptualizing insurgency" manuscript I've been struggling with for the past couple of months.
Internal conflicts involving a...
A parody
By Cy Kofant
October 19, 2011
1090 words
Bagram Air Force Base, Afghanistan- Today General Robert W. Smith held his first press conference since being tapped as the chief...