archive

War is destruction

A new issue of Parameters is out, with special sections on drones, nuclear weapons and grand strategy. Daniel Drezner (Tufts): Military Primacy Doesn’t Pay (Nearly As Much As You Think). Duncan Bell (Cambridge): Before the Democratic Peace: Racial Utopianism, Empire, and the Abolition of War. War is destruction — so why, asks MG Zimeta, does the “existential threat” of an airborne toxic event in Syria and beyond, instil such horror. Why are we so afraid of chemical weapons? In tomorrow’s wars, battles will be fought with a 3-D printer. Julia Muravska reviews Cyber War Will Not Take Place by Thomas Rid. From RAND Review, in a series of essays, authors draw on the historical record of "minimalist international interventions", conducted on behalf of partner governments, to identify the kinds of limited efforts that could offer the greatest promise for Afghanistan and other countries in the years ahead. David Francis on the end of the military industrial complex. From the new Defense One, Shawn Brimley on why the next QDR is the last chance for sanity; Sam Brannen on building a better soldier-diplomat; and Gregory D. Foster on why the Founding Fathers would object to today’s military. How West Point and Annapolis are like East Berlin: Bruce Fleming reviews Carved from Granite: West Point Since 1902 by Lance Betros. Who serves in the U.S. Military? Asya Pereltsvaig maps enlisted troops and officers.