Recommended Reading
The XX Committee –Is This the End of NATO? and Obama, the Un-War President
Nuclear Diner –Another Minsk Agreement
David Ronfeldt-The problem is preternatural tribalism, more than Islamic extremism — a reiteration
Mahdiwatch –ISIS Beheadings: Hotwiring the Apocalypse One Christian Martyr At A Time
Cicero magazine –Don’t Build A Berlin Wall in Ukraine
War on the Rocks –NOT THE MAP YOU’RE LOOKING FOR: NATIONS AND BORDERS ARE ALWAYS MESSY
Aeon Magazine – Be Not Brave
War Council.org –Red Ideas: In Praise of Divergent Thinking
Blake Bennett – The Dark Science of Interrogation
That’s it
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Grurray:
February 16th, 2015 at 3:20 pm
Is This the End of NATO?
“But the moral collapse of Europe is even worse than the military collapse. All the armaments in the world do no good when the will to use them is absent. Since the Cold War’s end, Western Europeans have convinced themselves of many things that simply are not true. Their optimistic worldview, which really is the highest form of the WEIRD Weltanschauung, abandoned any notion that monsters might still exist, and many Europeans, including most of their leaders, seem unable to accept the new reality that Vladimir Putin has forced upon them. Yet denying that Russia aims to change the European order, and will use force to do so, will not stop Kremlin misdeeds, actually it will only encourage more Russian aggression.”
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Here’s how we save NATO. Disgorge Western Europe. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux all out. Cut out the dead weight and keep it lean and mean. All the talk about ‘NATO expansion this’ or ‘Promises to Gorbachev that’ will be immediately muted with a policy of NATO reduction.
I would keep Denmark though. Despite their ‘Brave New World’ society, I think there’s still hope there.
Lexington Green:
February 17th, 2015 at 8:46 pm
Mark, thanks for the link!
J.ScottShipman:
February 19th, 2015 at 8:32 pm
Grurray,
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Who would remain in NATO?
Grurray:
February 19th, 2015 at 10:03 pm
Actually, I’m really not sure if NATO is worth saving. The precedent set in Ukraine is disturbing enough. Does anyone think that if Russia moves its ‘Special War’ to the Baltics, Germany will lift a finger to help?
I think the best hope for former Warsaw Pact nations is to band together on their own.
Something like the Visegrad Group perhaps http://www.visegradgroup.eu/about/press-room/conference-of-six
The Baltics may be geographically indefensible against Russian aggression, but they’re already a part of the Nordic Battle Group, a battalion in the EU’s de facto army. They should form an alliance outright.
J.ScottShipman:
February 19th, 2015 at 11:38 pm
Hi Grurray,
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Concur on NATO. Poland recalled her military abroad last year, (I think) and won’t go down without a fight.
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Estonia seems next on the list, but Putin is apparently antagonizing the UK, too.
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NATO is proving to be unserious, and Europe continues to live in the dreamworld that Putin and Russian aggression doesn’t exist—just like Islamic fascism doesn’t exist. I’m glad we have oceans at our flanks—even if we are governed by fools.