Germany (catch all, incl. terrorism)

[Surferbeetle]

Bob,

We all hope for world peace and prosperity and all of us hope we will navigate our way towards these goals in a wiser and more effective way than we have in the past. I myself have devoted one or two hours towards the study and application of indirect methods to accomplish this. But….as I suspect we both know firsthand, it’s a dangerous world out there and the stakes are very high.

Mr. Gates is someone who exhibits an intuitive understanding of these ideas and I find his latest thoughts to be of intense interest:

The defining principle of the Pentagon's new National Defense Strategy is balance. The United States cannot expect to eliminate national security risks through higher defense budgets, to do everything and buy everything. The Department of Defense must set priorities and consider inescapable tradeoffs and opportunity costs.

The strategy strives for balance in three areas: between trying to prevail in current conflicts and preparing for other contingencies, between institutionalizing capabilities such as counterinsurgency and foreign military assistance and maintaining the United States' existing conventional and strategic technological edge against other military forces, and between retaining those cultural traits that have made the U.S. armed forces successful and shedding those that hamper their ability to do what needs to be done.

I would be interested in a link to the proposal of which you speak and wonder if it is the one posted above.

With respect to Russia, I find it to be a fascinating country and agree that we could have approached some things in a more productive way than we have. The Economist has a timely 14 page analysis in its November 29th Edition that may be of interest. Having served on the other end of Russian intentions however, I am a big fan of the saying ‘trust but verify’.

Regards,

Steve