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"The High Ground: Observing International Security"
The Shift to the Pacific
America will find more ways to project more power from a distance and less reasons to be constantly on scene. It is a slow walk home, not a major change.
MORE THAN TEN MONTHS TO GO
The US presidential election is more than ten months off and it is going to be, to borrow a phrase from the unloved Donald Rumsfeld, a long, hard slog to get there. The Republican nominee is yet to emerge from the messy competition that began months ago and seems likely to stretch on for months more.
AMERICA’S NEXT WAR
The American public is tired of war. Soon there will be no US forces in Iraq and the scheduled drawdown of troops in Afghanistan is being accelerated. In both cases American field commanders objected to the withdrawals, hoping to preserve tenuously held gains in those conflicts by retaining on site American combat capabilities.
THE FORMULA FOR AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM
I prefer to call it Restraint, but let’s be clear, by whatever label America is pulling back. The oceans are big and protect America from much of the world’s turmoil. Being on American side of them is cheaper than being on the other side and wiser too. America is coming home thanks to the government’s budget deficit.
9/11 + 10 YEARS
I see the following results from the war that the 9/11 attacks against the United States provoked a decade ago.
THE TEA PARTY SAVES DEFENSE
The intransigence of the Tea Party Republicans during the recent US debt ceiling negotiations has apparently saved the US defense budget from deep cuts that had seemed almost certain a month ago. The negotiations pushed a full agreement onto a special legislative committee which is to report in the fall.
COSTS NOT FORGOTTEN
In the past I have complained about the fecklessness of America’s allies, citing most especially their failure to carry a fair share of the global security burden. More recently, I have softened my complaints somewhat, recognizing that the allies are merely pursuing the most attractive political option available to them.
END NATO
When Europe lay devastated after WWII and seemed menaced by the Soviet Union, a cross Atlantic military alliance was needed to preserve European freedom. Through a patchwork of military commands and an influx of American troops, a protective wall of security was created within which European recovery and democratization could take place. However, today, NATO is irrelevant and needs a respectful termination.
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