Britain Released a New Strategy Document: What Does it Say?
On Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled Britain’s new National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review in the House of Commons. It marked the first time the United Kingdom...
View ArticleNow that Turkey Shot Down a Russian Bomber, What Does Escalation Look Like?
Since Tuesday, policymakers and pundits from NATO member states have voiced concerns about the escalation that could result from Turkey’s downing of a Russian military jet. But what actions might...
View ArticleWhy We Must Train Our Forces for Fog and Friction
There is great disorder under heaven, and the situation is excellent. — Mao Tse-Tung Damn, that was close. The young captain peeked out from underneath a table in the Wing Operations Center (WOC),...
View ArticleMoscow’s Clients from Kabul to Damascus: Strength and Strategy in...
One might be forgiven for thinking that one of Russia’s state-owned media organs recently took over Forbes. Last month, the venerable business news magazine featured President Vladimir Putin as the...
View Article50 Shades of Gray: Why the Gray Wars Concept Lacks Strategic Sense
Many men, as they age, start to worry about gray hairs. America’s military men, however, worry about gray wars. Gray wars are, as the former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command noted, wars in...
View ArticleStruggle in the Gray Zone and World Order
Few national security issues have received more sustained attention over the last year or two, both inside and outside government, than the concept of “gray zone” challenges. Some believe that these...
View ArticleThe Kissinger Effect on Realpolitik
Editor’s Note: This is an adapted excerpt from John Bew’s Realpolitik: A History (Oxford University Press, 2015). In the late 1960s, a full tilt toward realpolitik seemed highly unlikely. For most...
View ArticleAbandon All Hope, Ye Who Enter Here: You Cannot Save the Gray Zone Concept
In a previous article here at War on the Rocks, I argued that the “gray zone” concept — used to describe the strategic behavior of everyone from the Islamic State to Vladimir Putin — is hopelessly...
View ArticleThe Strange Words of Strategy
Today we face a world which some tell us is new and different. We have been assured by some that the ideas of the past have little relevance and must be changed to adapt to the future. Yet, if we...
View ArticleUkraine and the Art of Crisis Management
Authors’ note: This is an early draft of an essay I intend to revisit, although with more hindsight! It is always challenging writing about a crisis before knowing how it will end, not least because it...
View ArticleHasty Retreat
Stephen Walt has diagnosed the ills of the Obama Administration’s Foreign Policy as “the classic problem of over-commitment”, accusing the Administration of “Pursuing multiple objectives without a...
View ArticleHow to Show Strength, Stabilize the Ukraine Crisis, and Revitalize NATO
Secretary of State John Kerry’s first reaction to Russia’s occupation of Crimea was to preach: “You just don’t in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on...
View ArticleThe Return of Great Power Politics: Re-Examining the Nixon Doctrine
The recent crisis between Russia and the West over Crimea, and the ongoing tensions between China and Japan, are ushering a return of Great Power Politics where U.S. power and influence is challenged....
View ArticleContaining Russia and Restoring American Power
Russia’s actions in Crimea and Ukraine are ringing alarm bells in Europe and United States. For the first time since World War II, European national boundaries are being changed by force, and, in an...
View ArticleArt of War: Oculus and Military Interventions
This is the first entry in the new WOTR series, Art of War. To submit to Art of War, email Kathleen.McInnis@warontherocks.com with “SUBMISSION” in the subject line. Ever since we were cavemen around...
View ArticleNot Every Flattop Is an Aircraft Carrier: McGrath at RCD
Why Big Deck Amphibs Can’t Replace the Navy’s CVNs The debate over refueling the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN-73), prompted recently by the Obama administration in its FY15 budget...
View ArticleReviewing Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises,” or: Why You Should Start...
“The Wind Rises” is Hayao Miyazaki’s latest, and last, movie. And while it’s an animation, it’s a very far cry from the Saturday morning cartoons of our childhood. After all, Miyazaki is arguably...
View ArticleStop Looking for the Center of Gravity
I took the opportunity at last week’s Current Strategy Forum at the Navy War College to address an issue that had been bothering me for some time. I concluded my lecture with the suggestion that...
View ArticleThe Key to the Country—er, I mean…Center of Gravity
(I pray Carl von Clausewitz’ descendants don’t sue me) There is no theoretical concept in the art of war dearer to the hearts of critics than the key to the country center of gravity, one of the more...
View ArticleWar on the Rocks 1st Anniversary Note
A year ago today, our team launched War on the Rocks with a book review by Admiral James Stavridis and a little note by me on the meaning of our realism – the approach to foreign policy that undergirds...
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