Op-Eds

Russia Challenges the Obama Administration Dr Stephen J Blank Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Moscow threw down the gauntlet to Barack Obama the day after he became president-elect. Russia threatens that unless the United States withdraws its 10 missile defense networks from Poland and the Czech Republic, it will install Iskander cruise missiles (which can be conventional or nuclear) in Kaliningrad on Poland’s borders and jam the radars in the Czech Republic. Moscow makes several assertions to justify its threat..."

Living Perilously in a Bubble Dr Leonard Wong Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "For the past decade, we have become accustomed to hearing the sound of bursting bubbles. During the late 1990s, it was the giddy days of the dotcom bubble. Internet-based companies gained rock star popularity as stock prices soared, venture capital flowed freely, and traditional blue-chip companies scurried to mimic the dotcoms who gained success by bypassing standard business models."

Dueling Natures Dr Antulio J Echevarria II Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Election cycles make for interesting times. For one thing, they prompt debates among defense analysts and other experts over current programs, the balance (or lack thereof) among ends, ways, and means, as well as examinations of some of the basic assumptions underpinning our theories and concepts of war. One debate in particular—that regarding the nature of war—is worth reviewing because its implications are far-reaching."

The View from There Dr Sherifa D Zuhur Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "A new U.S. President faces huge challenges in the Middle East. Unfortunately, he will not begin with a clean slate. Instead, some uncomfortable fabric has already been cut to fit various policy situations, and a deft tailor is needed to reconsider, redesign, and refit this ghastly, bulky, and multilayered garment we call a Middle East “policy” with an ear to objections from within the region. Granted, U.S. policy goals differ from those of Middle Eastern nation-states and national entities, like the Palestinians, who have not yet achieved their own states."

Real Change or Retrenchment? Dr Douglas V Johnson II Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "It is frequently asserted in our 0930 daily kaffe klatsch that as soon as the insurgency phenomenon in Iraq and Afghanistan is suppressed, the Army reflexively will return to its fixation on the kinetic approach to major combat. It is also popular to hold up the post-Vietnam era as a demonstration of that phenomenon with occasional references to similar reactions following the suppression of the Philippine Insurrection. These facile analyses are adduced to support the American Army’s distaste for counterinsurgency work."

Expand the U.S. Military? Not So Fast Dr Steven Metz Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "Today there is bipartisan support for increasing the size of the U.S. military, particularly the land forces. While conservatives like Frederick Kagan and Thomas Donnelly have provided the most detailed rationale, even liberals like Barack Obama agree. At first glance, this seems like a common sense step to alleviate the stress on the military and prepare for future security challenges. But is it? When the rationale for expansion is carefully dissected, its desirability is not so clear."

Chavez - The Beginning of the End Dr Alex Crowther Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is on the way into the history books. Although he is still positioned to create problems for the Venezuelan people, the Colombians, and others throughout the Western Hemisphere that he chooses to victimize, he is no longer on the ascent."

The Second Berlin Wall LTC Raymond A Millen Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "The latest contretemps in NATO regarding burden sharing in Afghanistan has the distinguishing feature of being altogether pedestrian. European reluctance to contribute more troops and funding to Afghanistan has less to do with disagreements over strategy than it does with a pattern of behavior stemming back to the birth of the Alliance."

The Strategy Deficit Mr Nathan P Freier Op-Ed by the US Army War College, Strategic Studies Institute "An honest survey of post-Cold War national security policy exhibits a dangerous strategy deficit. The word “strategy” is overused. The concept, too, is poorly applied. It is many things to contemporary policymakers except, well—strategy. In the current environment, strategic communications and strategy have become synonymous. Strategic communications is the carefully crafted but overly general and widely consumable articulation of key political messages—“assure, deter, dissuade, defeat”; “as they stand up, we’ll stand down”; “clear, hold, build”; “phased strategic redeployment”; etc, etc, etc..."