America Will Always Fail At Regional Expertise

I have argued before that any potential American foreign policy or ‘grand strategy’ that requires  statesmen with a nuanced understanding of a foreign region’s cultures, politics, and languages to implement it is doomed to fail. Regional acumen is a rare trait, and one I greatly admire. But it is rare for a reason. Regional acumen […]

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Afghansistan 2050: Futures That Will Not Be

The following is my contribution to the Afghanistan 2050 Roundtable hosted by the proprietors of ChicagoBoyz. The opening post of the roundtable – which explains its purpose and methods – can be found here. My piece is cross-posted at ChicagoBoyz with the rest of the submissions. The great challenge with interpreting the future is that […]

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The Missile Shield – Why We Planned It, Why We Scrapped It, and Why It Matters

The security blogosphere is buzzing with talk of the Obama administration’s decision to scrap planned missile defense architecture in Eastern Europe. The majority of commentators have been content to play the role of cheerleader, offering no substantial analysis of the reasoning behind this decision or the diplomatic consequences of its implementation. As I read the […]

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Notes From All Over: 17/10/2008

Here is the full list of notable blog posts, articles, and editorials published in the last two weeks that I was too lazy to blog about but are worth passing along anyway: Green Inc has an interesting post up on Polish efforts to block the next EU carbon-caps regime. While I dislike the general tone […]

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