It’s that time of the year when we take a two-week pause to recharge, refresh and reset. Our team will get a chance to take some leave, spend time with family, and get ready for the new academic year at the U.S. Army War College.
But we’ll be back with all new episodes and articles starting on July 16.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy a happy and healthy summer break and a happy Independence Day here in the United States next week.
Might we use this publication pause to consider a Clausewitzian item; this being, that entities will pursue their political objective until a point is reached where the costs exceed the benefit (or the war aims; this, if war is used as a means/a method to achieve one’s political objective).
If this indeed is the case, then must not the common goal — and indeed the common job — of all of those whom you threaten with your pursuit of your such political objective; must not their common goal, and indeed their common job, be to find ways to increase the cost that you must pay to achieve your such, threatening to them, political objective; this, to a point where you will abandon same?
(If allowed, I will try to put some contemporary “meat,” on the “bones,” of these such matters tomorrow.)
So, for example, using the matters that I present below, let us consider (a) what was the political objective that the U.S./the West sought to achieve post-the Old Cold War (and why), (b) who did this political objective threaten and (c) how did those thus threatened come to increase the “costs” that the U.S./the West must pay — to achieve our such political objective — this, to the point were the U.S./the West came to abandon same.
“In her speech, Mrs. May said: ‘It is in our interests – those of Britain and America together – to stand strong together to defend our values, our interests and the very ideas in which we believe. This cannot mean a return to the failed policies of the past. The days of Britain and America intervening in sovereign countries in an attempt to remake the world in our own image are over.’ … BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Mrs. May was signaling there would be no more wars like those in Iraq and perhaps Afghanistan, and it was significant that she had chosen her US speech to signal such a shift. BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said it was a hugely significant speech, arguably the biggest by a UK PM in the US since Tony Blair’s 1999 speech in Chicago advocating armed intervention against dictators – something repudiated by Mrs. May. It followed comments by UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to a House of Lords committee earlier that Bashar Assad should be allowed to run for election to remain in power in Syria – a complete reversal of UK foreign policy.” (See the 26 January 2019 BBC article “Theresa May: UK and US Cannot Return to ‘Failed’ Interventions.)
“My Administration’s National Security Strategy lays out a strategic vision for protecting the American people and preserving our way of life, promoting our prosperity, preserving peace through strength, and advancing American influence in the world. We will pursue this beautiful vision — a world of strong, sovereign, and independent nations, each with its own cultures and dreams, thriving side-by-side in prosperity, freedom, and peace — throughout the upcoming year.” (See the second page of the introduction letter to the 2017 Trump NSS.)
“We are not going to impose our values on others. Our alliances, partnerships, and coalitions are built on free will and shared interests. When the United States partners with other states, we develop policies that enable us to achieve our goals while our partners achieve theirs.” (See Page 37 of the 2017 Trump NSS.)
“Like my beloved country, each nation represented in this hall has a cherished history, culture, and heritage that is worth defending and celebrating, and which gives us our singular potential and strength. The free world must embrace its national foundations. It must not attempt to erase them or replace them. … The future does not belong to globalists. The future belongs to patriots. The future belongs to sovereign and independent nations who protect their citizens, respect their neighbors, and honor the differences that make each country special and unique.” (See beginning at the sixth paragraph of the September 25, 2019 “Remarks by President Trump to the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.”)