Quote Originally Posted by William F. Owen View Post
That is all completely different from going to a far foreign land and having an army build schools, churches/mosques and hospitals, as part of a political activity aimed at creating a government friendly to yours..

- and while war is a political act, those parts of it which are NOT demonstrably about creating exploiting or supporting the application or threatened application of violence, are not (or should not be) a military mission.
The United States Navy has been involved in substantial missions to our southern neighbors with the primary goal being medical care to communities that have none or very little. The mission "Operation Comfort" is a very soft power mission, from what the LACC communities have said it is very successful. The same ships that have medical facilities are escorted by ships that could topple regimes in seconds.

I think the idea of COIN/soft power/stability is very much a part of the American way of doing business. "Speak softly carry a big stick" whether true or not is still part of the American narrative. It is when we walk away from that idea that polarization and schizophrenia of political process starts.

I have a very controversial hypothesis (everybody tells me I'm wrong then offers me medication), I believe that the cold war was a long aberration of American politics with moments of lucidity. America doesn't do the "World Police" role very well, domestically doesn't like it, and it is fed by corporate needs more than political requirements.

If it wasn't for the cold war Israel would never have gotten the support it got, same for the Shah of Iran, Norriega, and any of dozens of other regimes. I think, though have no ability, knowledge, or capacity to prove, that what we are seeing is the break down of the cold war mindset. It just appears or seems that much of the LIC and HIC discussion isn't about COIN, but is about a fundamental Kuhn type paradigm shift in American political military presence.

American's see themselves like Canadians, act often like Germans, sympathize with the French, and mope about their mistakes like the British, while worrying about the Russians.

Meanwhile the Chinese build five more carriers and triple the size of their navy.