If the United States announced tomorrow morning that it would no longer use its military for anything but to defend the borders of the homeland, many would instinctively cheer, perhaps not quite realizing what this would mean in practice. But…
War
Marc Lynch: What’s Really At Stake in the Syria Debate – War on the Rocks
For many U.S. politicians and pundits, forceful action in virtually any arena is its own reward. In Syria specifically, many interventionists have argued that the United States needs to be more deeply involved in the war because this will give…
Hussein Ibish: The unknown Muslim who has kept America safe – The National
Unknown, unnamed and unappreciated, “Roger” should be exhibit A in the rebuttal to Islamophobia. Almost no one’s heard of him, but every single American, Mr Trump included, needs to discover and digest the fact that for most of the past…
The Overrated Threat From Electromagnetic Pulses – War Is Boring
“EMP is the new test case of seriousness in national security,” cyber security expert Peter W. Singer tweeted after reading the platform. “But not in the way advocates not in on the joke think.” https://twitter.com/peterwsinger/status/755804056149434368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw I reached out to Singer…
queenofthinair: Moral Equality of Combatants and the Legacy of Unjust Causes
Can these combatants, fighting in good faith but for a cause we judge to be unjust but relatively within the requirements of jus in bello, be honored? And in what ways? In short, I think they can and should be,…
Posted in Noted & Quoted, War
Hayder al-Khoei: Iraq was destined for chaos with or without Britain’s intervention – The Guardian
There is a lot of anger about the postwar descent into chaos, but much of that anger in Iraq is being directed towards the corrupt Iraqi political class who killed our dreams and aspirations, not the clueless, sometimes well-intentioned, foreign…
Noah Rothman: Trump, Saddam, and Dovish Logic – Commentary
Prior to his ouster, the United States was compelled to engage in military action against Hussein as a result of his provocations in 1991, 1993, 1996, and 1998. Those military actions were precipitated by little things like the invasion and annexation…
Devoted and Selfless Consecration
The sacred essence of the American state is not a common topic of discussion, but the state or nation or country itself, or we ourselves, on behalf of itself or on behalf of ourselves, deems or deem it the proper topic in relation to the final questions.
Weaponizing the Sky – The Atlantic
…[P]aranoia aside, the systems are nevertheless accumulating. In 2014, for example, the U.S. Air Force launched a trio of satellites in geosynchronous orbit to keep “neighborhood watch” over other satellites. Indeed, “space weaponization is inevitable,” David C. Hardesty has written…
A First Look at America’s Supergun – WSJ
In conventional guns, a bullet begins losing acceleration moments after the gunpowder ignites. The railgun projectile gains more speed as it travels the length of a 32-foot barrel, exiting the muzzle at 4,500 miles an hour, or more than…