Tag: Afghanistan
Stevenson’s army, May 5
– DNI warns Taliban threatens women’s rights in Afghanistan. The unclassified report is here.
– Peter Beinart warns end of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan raises risk of war.
– SAIS profs Barno and Bensahel propose an independent cyber force. [I disagree. It would tit US in direction of massive cyber attacks and reduce emphasis on defense and resilience. It would also be a bureaucratic nightmare conflicting with all other government cyber activities.]
– David Ignatius warns of Russian plans to control internet.
– Report says US now has ultra-quiet, “innocuous” drone.
– Survey shows changing US views of what constitutes security.
– Want more newsletters? Carnegie offers some.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Stevenson’s army, May 4
– Little change on North Korea.
– Earmarks are back and transparent.
-Big change and sort of apology on refugee numbers.
– NYT says US withdrawal from Afghanistan looks like a “garage sale.”
– FP tracks who’s who in BIden’s foreign policy.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Stevenson’s Army, May 1
-WaPo says “U.S. officials” have new North Korea policy. Looks like a trial balloon. And WSJ even got Jen Psaki on the record.
– WSJ also explains Biden’s careful media strategy.
And WSJ says Biden foreign policy takes backseat to domestic issues.
AP reports secret US deal with Taliban.
WaPo says Taliban has imposed checkpoints to control traffic over much of Afghanistan.
Really tough call: WaPo details administration divisions over vaccines: intellectual property rights vs public health; future biotech leadership vs current manufacturing; trade vs protection. Lots of second and third order issues and consequences.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Stevenson’s army, April 30
– In class, we talked about originalism as a school of judicial interpretation. The Yale law prof who has used history for more liberal conclusions is Akhil Reed Amar. And Slate has a new piece arguing that a pending gun laws case poses a dilemma for originalists who oppose restrictions.
– I recently saw a stunning new documentary, The Hunt for Bin Laden. Politico has an article drawing on the oral histories used in that documentary.
– FP argues that US withdrawal from Afghanistan will be very expensive.
– DNI warns about China’s reaction to change in US Taiwan policy.
– CFR report says there’s still hope for arms control.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Stevenson’s army, April 28
– Congress may increase staff budgets
– Congress may cut aid to Afghanistan.
– These people may be nominated ambassadors.
– Taliban may be responsible.
– Afghan army may collapse.
– Kahl confirmed.
Painful reminder: New Yorker tells of the Chinese exclusion act.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).
Stevenson’s army, April 25
– NYT cites contrasting assessments of Biden’s Afghanistan policy.
– Former DOD official and military writer Bing West blasts the Biden decision. But he also says: During the Vietnam War, presidents and civilian policy makers dominated military strategy and decision-making. In contrast, during the Afghanistan war, our generals held the strategic power; civilian policy makers deferred to their judgment. But the generals clung irrationally to a nation-building strategy whose costs far exceeded America’s security needs. They failed to adapt, set new objectives and lower the human and financial costs of the war. Looking back, no U.S. military commander would repeat the clear-hold-build strategy. But to its detriment at times, our military’s ethos is to accentuate the positive and to never, never quit.
–Bombers moving in, equipment out.
-History lesson: late 19th century US politics was nasty and wildly competitive.
My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I plan to republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).