Strategic Paradigms by Ehsan Ahrari

The essence of Great Power military competition involving two potential adversaries is to prepare for a military contingency while doing everything to avoid such contingency.  That may sound somewhat illogical, but no one has ever said that balance-of-power-related maneuvers are either straightforward or simplistic.  What it means is that diplomacy will be given a high [...]

The Obama administration is entering a crucial phase of its existence. President Barack Obama is about to determine his new strategy governing the Afghan war. He has a lot at stake because wars have a bizarre way of making heroes and villains out of presidents and prime ministers.

President-elect Barack Obama’s new national security team comprises strong and highly-qualified individuals.  Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, and James Jones as National Security Advisor.  These are good choices, but what are the chances of an impasse on matters of policy stemming from these head-stong persons?  The positive side [...]

.!. President-elect Barack Obama’s decision to keep Robert Gates at the helm of the U.S. Department of Defense is an excellent choice.  As a successor to the highly controversial (almost “radioactive”) Donald Rumsfeld, Gates brought a refreshing sense of professionalism and calculated detachment and distance from George W. Bush’s controversial defense policies.  That was difficult, [...]