The understanding and meaning of strategy has got lost

[TheCurmudgeon]

The Daily Beast has now interviewed Sir Hew Strachan, with some pithy comment here citing the “crazy” handling of the Syrian crisis as the most egregious example of a fundamental collapse in military planning that began in the aftermath of 9/11:

I will have to disagree with Sir Hew on … pretty much everything. First, his comments would lead one to believe that the ONLY way a politician can effect foreign policy is though war. There are no other instruments of national power. I will take that a step further, he gives the impression that any use of military capabilities less than war are inept: that deterrence through the threat of force is not the appropriate way to use the military. Second, he seems to be under the impression that national sovereignty is a passé concept the Anglo-American Alliance is the world’s police force. What exactly was he expecting us to do in Syria? Backing away from intervention in a conflict with multiple players none of whom have interests aligned with ours seems to me to be prudent, not clueless. Third, he believes that all military decisions in a democracy should be made in public. I doubt very highly that the press was invited to Churchill’s daily briefings or that polls were held on his policies. All in all, I get the impression that he is a bitter man who misses the days of the Bush-Blair confederacy – the endless war on “evil” that made the military strategists an indispensible asset.