Politics & Current Affairs — November 9, 2010

A Path to Permanent War

Military veteran and critic of American militarism, Andrew Bacevich says the future of American foreign policy is bleak should the long war against terrorism continue.

bigthinkeditor

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If indeed counter-insurgency, or armed nation-building, is the new American way of war, and if we are engaged in what the Pentagon calls a “long war” in order to deal with the problem of jihadism—well, how many other counterinsurgencies are we going to be required to undertake after Afghanistan? Where to next? Pakistan? Iran? Syria? Saudi Arabia? Egypt? I mean, it is a preposterous notion that this new American way of war—counterinsurgency or armed nation-building—can possibly offer a coherent response to the problem we’re facing. And yet, there’s this general acceptance that the idea is a good one, the implications of which condemn us, if we continue down this path, to permanent war!

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The Present

Why the U.S. is trapped in “endless war”

Instead of just Afghanistan, the U.S. military ought to withdraw from the entire Middle East and much of the rest of the world.

Strange Maps

Can’t find the Middle East on a map? Here’s why.

Invented in 1902 by an American, the ‘Middle East’ is all over the place.

Strange Maps

The World’s Five Military Empires

Four countries around the world host both Russian and American military bases.

Strange Maps

A Map of Countries Contributing Most, and Least, to Earth’s (Over?)Population

Here are two maps that are also cartograms, using the same method to present each country’s population size: one square represents one million people.

Guest Thinkers

Authors’ Rebuttal to Gregory Johnsen’s “The Seduction of Simple Solutions”

A friendly, but unequivocal rebuttal by the authors of a recent policy paper on Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to Gregory Johnsen’s critique of their suggested counterterrorism measures.

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Technology & Innovation

Shrinking the Pentagon

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