Strategika

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Friday, September 24, 2021

Issue 75

America After Afghanistan
Background Essay
Background Essay

Our Revels Now Are Ended

by Ralph Petersvia Strategika
Friday, September 24, 2021

It’s hard to win a war when you refuse to understand your enemy. It’s harder still when you cannot realistically define your strategic mission. You lame yourself further when you reduce a complex history to a single inaccurate cliché; i.e., “Afghanistan is the graveyard of empires.”

Featured Commentary
Featured Commentary

Afghanistan Post-Mortem

by Peter R. Mansoorvia Strategika
Friday, September 24, 2021

The United States has lost its longest war. After twenty years of conflict and nation building in Afghanistan, the U.S.-backed Afghan regime collapsed like a house of cards in just a few weeks after the announced departure of American and NATO troops from the country. A final flurry of activity by the U.S. military managed to rescue 123,000 people from Kabul, but as Winston Churchill once said of Dunkirk, “Wars are not won by evacuations.”

Featured Commentary

Dented, Not Damaged: The American Empire After Afghanistan

by Josef Joffevia Strategika
Friday, September 24, 2021

When small, even middle-sized powers make grievous mistakes like fighting a losing war or ignoring deadly threats, they risk their place in the global hierarchy or, worse, their existence. Thus did France and Britain when they failed to fight Nazi Germany in the Thirties while still in position of strategic superiority. 

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Background Essay

The Strategic Consequences Of Increased U.S. Energy Production

by Williamson Murrayvia Strategika
Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Over the past decade, we have seen an astonishing recovery of America’s position as a major producer of fossil fuels. In the case of natural gas, the reserves in North America appear extensive enough to sustain most of the energy demands of the American, Canadian, and Mexican economies and still export substantial amounts of that crucial energy well into the next century.

Strategika: “How to Combat Putin” with Paul Gregory

interview with Paul R. Gregoryvia Strategika
Friday, March 13, 2015

How the West can push back against Russian aggression.

Strategika: “America’s Ambiguous Russia Policy ” with Angelo Codevilla

interview with Angelo M. Codevillavia Strategika
Friday, March 13, 2015

The search for clarity in Washington’s approach to Moscow.

Strategika: “Understanding Putin” With Victor Davis Hanson

interview with Victor Davis Hansonvia Strategika
Friday, March 13, 2015

What are the ultimate goals of Russian aggression?

Related Commentary

The E.U. Experiment Has Failed

by Bruce Thorntonvia Defining Ideas
Thursday, March 5, 2015

With Christianity moribund and patriotism stigmatized, the only principle that unites Europeans is one of material comfort. 

Background Essay

What Makes Vladimir Run?

by Victor Davis Hansonvia Strategika
Thursday, February 26, 2015

A line from President Vladimir Putin’s April 2005 state of the nation address is now often commonly footnoted to explain his latest aggressions: “Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century. As for the Russian nation, it became a genuine drama. Tens of millions of our co-citizens and co-patriots found themselves outside Russian territory.”

Related Commentary

Taking Additional Steps to Counter Russian Ambitions

by Barry Straussvia Strategika
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Vladimir Putin and the Russians more generally are practical people. They seize opportunities presented by their opponents’ weakness and they pull back from confrontation when enemy strength makes success unlikely.

Related Commentary

Words Are Not Nearly Enough

by Ralph Petersvia Strategika
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

When all is said and done—or, rather, after much has been said and little done—the only way to deter a military aggressor is by demonstrating equal resolve and superior capabilities. Diplomacy, economic sanctions, and “pre-game” rhetoric all have their place, but the actions necessary to make President Putin think again before plunging ahead with his long-range program of conquests are all military in nature, save one.

Related Commentary

Bolster U.S. Military Presence in Eastern Europe

by Williamson Murrayvia Strategika
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

It is useless to talk about Europe taking any steps to counter Russian ambitions. For the British and French, Eastern Europe is too far away, and the problems of Russian aggrandizement too insignificant for those powers to take any steps that might have any impact on Vladimir Putin and his crew of former KGB thugs. In the case of the Germans, the situation is even more dismal.

Related Commentary

The Language of Power and Force

by Peter R. Mansoorvia Strategika
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Two and a half millennia ago during the ruinous conflict between Athens and Sparta, Thucydides recorded a conversation between Athenian negotiators and the representatives of the people of Melos, a Spartan colony that the Athenians wanted to bring into their orbit. In reply to Athenian demands, the Melians argued that justice demanded that the Athenians respect their right to remain neutral and at peace.

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The Working Group on the Role of Military History in Contemporary Conflict strives to reaffirm the Hoover Institution's dedication to historical research in light of contemporary challenges, and in particular, reinvigorating the national study of military history as an asset to foster and enhance our national security. Read more.

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Strategika is an online journal that analyzes ongoing issues of national security in light of conflicts of the past—the efforts of the Military History Working Group of historians, analysts, and military personnel focusing on military history and contemporary conflict.

Our board of scholars shares no ideological consensus other than a general acknowledgment that human nature is largely unchanging. Consequently, the study of past wars can offer us tragic guidance about present conflicts—a preferable approach to the more popular therapeutic assumption that contemporary efforts to ensure the perfectibility of mankind eventually will lead to eternal peace. New technologies, methodologies, and protocols come and go; the larger tactical and strategic assumptions that guide them remain mostly the same—a fact discernable only through the study of history.

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