Month: August 2017 (Page 2 of 2)

Q+A with John Allen Gay, Executive director of John Q Adams Society

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On August 16, 2017

In Features, Q+A

John Allen Gay is the Executive Director of John Quincy Adams Society, and an alumni of The National Interest. Today he talks to us, in our Q+A series, about American interests, U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy, the Trump administration’s agenda and the future of world order.

You can follow him on Twitter @JohnAllenGay.

You can also find other Q+As here.

 

  1. What are the major challenges facing U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy? In light of those challenges, who or what is the biggest threat to U.S.?

We’re currently in a very extended geopolitical position. We guarantee the security of states that border one great power (Russia) and of states engaged in active territorial disputes with another (China), and in a confrontation, those states would likely be unable to secure themselves without significant American aid. We’re also deeply involved in the Middle East, including a growing entanglement in competition between Saudi Arabia and Iran. And this comes after fifteen years of war and deficits have combined to erode our military capabilities. The stability and cohesion of our government has also faded a bit.

All that combines to create a situation ripe for confrontation: a rival power, believing America is outdriving its headlights, might confront a U.S. treaty ally or strategic partner, in the hope that we’ll back down. But will we?

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Why Confederate monuments should be taken down

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On August 15, 2017

In Politics, This Day in World History, U.S. Politics

American South and Japan share uncomfortable response to historic wrongs

The controversy over Confederate monuments isn’t new, but it has flared up in the past few years, and once again here it is front and center in the news. Because it’s not new, I wrote about it in 2015, and my thoughts are more or less the same today. And, as it happens, today is also the anniversary of Japan announcing its surrender in World War II.

This September [2015], China will host a military parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. The United States will celebrate not just the anniversary of World War II, but also that of the end of the American Civil War. April 9 marks 150 years since Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Northern General Ulysses S. Grant, unifying the United States and bringing about the end of slavery (although fighting continued under other generals).

Both wars played a role in ending brutal repression. Both wars preserved their respective federal government’s sovereignty over (most of) their land. Yet there is one more shameful similarity between the two wars, and that is this: neither Japan nor the former states of the confederacy have fully come to terms with their history.

In America, there remains an affinity among some southerners for the “lost cause of the south.” When The New Republic’s Brian Beutler wrote an article arguing that April 9 should be a national holiday, some conservatives, southerners, and southern conservatives reacted angrily. Rick Moran, an editor at PJ Media, accused Beutler of “hating the south.”

It shouldn’t be this way. After all, the Confederate States of America no longer exist and only existed for five years. The last living Confederate veteran died in 1951. No one today has any connection to the Confederacy.

Every country has made mistakes. In America’s case, slavery was a big one. At the same time, there is a natural desire for people to be proud of their ancestors and their history. Americans celebrate winning their independence from Britain and defeating the Nazis and Japanese imperialists in World War II.

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Corbyn’s Conundrum: Maduro and Marxism

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On August 10, 2017

In British Politics, Foreign Policy, Human Rights & Democracy, South America

Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, is far from the saintly figure that his millions of supporters think he is, an image that he has cultivated over the years.

The man behind the twinkly-eyed mask has once again been revealed to have a gaping hole where a moral center should be. His support for violent revolutionary and terrorist groups that all share anti-Western or anti-British sentiments is documented and well-known. None of this is enough for his fans, who when presented with evidence of his lack of moral character react the same way Trump’s fans do, with hoots of derision, shouts of fake news and complaints of the Labour and wider British establishment’s right-wing bias.

However, when evidence of Corbyn’s moral emptiness is right before their eyes, his supporters still choose not to see who he really is.

Following years of worsening privations suffered by the citizens of Venezuela, as their government’s experiment with socialism has unfolded in the humanitarian catastrophe that these experiments always do, Corbyn has refused to condemn Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

This, despite the fact that Maduro recently claimed victory in a referendum that bestowed on him dictatorial powers that allowed him to rewrite the constitution. The vote was a sham and was treated as such by the opposition, who boycotted it.

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North Korea calls Trump’s bluff (Update on Trump’s statement)

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On August 9, 2017

In Asia, Foreign Policy

Yesterday I wrote that Trump’s threat to send “fire, fury, and power the likes of which the world has never seen before” raining down on Pyeongyang if Kim Jong-un threatened to attack the U.S. was reckless because it would put American credibility at stake.

I said:

There are only two things that can come of Trump’s threat to respond with “power the likes of which this world has never seen before”:
1.) Trump is bluffing, and he doesn’t start a nuclear war with North Korea. Many lives are initially saved, but America’s credibility is damaged, causing North Korea to push forward with its nuclear weapons program and raising the risk of war later.
or
2.) Trump does incite a nuclear war on the Korean peninsula.

It was just a few hours later that North Korea made a threat to strike Guam. As I wrote at the time, North Korea makes implausibly bellicose threats all the time, and it is wise not to always take them at face value. Yet Trump specifically mentioned “threats” in his statement (“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States”), so for him to not follow through would mean North Korea once again found his words to be not credible.

The result:
Trump just set his own, uncrossable ‘red line’ — and North Korea crossed it instantly – CNBC
North Korea just called Trump’s bluff. So what happens now? – Washington Post

Trump appears (wisely, it should be said) to have opted for choice #1 of the two choices, at least for now.

If and when the President does a real red line, however, will North Korea believe him? And if they don’t, would that mean war?

Maybe world leaders will realize that Trump is a buffoon and take their cues on America’s position from smarter men like Secretary of Defense Mattis, Secretary of State Tillerson, and National Security Advisor McMaster (who is currently facing an attack from the alt-right).

To that end, Mattis put out a statement, in much more refined language, that threatened strong actions should North Korea go too far but also affirmed America’s strength and ability to deter:

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All you need to read about the Google Manifesto

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On August 9, 2017

In Free Speech, Hashtag Activism, Social Politics

Google’s Diversity Problem – WSJ Editorial.

No, the Google manifesto isn’t sexist or anti-diversity. It’s science. – Debra Soh, Globe and Mail, Canada.

The Google Memo: Four Scientists Respond – Jussim, Miller, Schmitt, Soh, in Quillette Magazine.

Google Firing Employee Over Diversity Discussion Is Frighteningly Authoritarian – Maitra, The Federalist.

Google’s War Over the Sexes – Douthat, NYT.

In Defense of the Google Manifesto – Mali, Areo Magazine.

Google’s sexist memo has provided the alt-right with a new martyr – Jones, Guardian.

The Most Common Error in Coverage of the Google Memo – Friedersdorf, Atlantic.

A Googler’s memo shows there is work to be done – FT View Editorial

Googler fired for diversity memo had legit points on gender – Cathy Young, USAToday

It isn’t anti-diversity and it’s not a tirade – Toby Young, Spectator UK

Lena Dunham and Google Demonstrate Why Our Free Speech Culture Is Slipping Away – French, NRO.

Google Can’t Seem to Tolerate Diversity – Ou, Bloomberg.

Hey Mashable, why am I listed as Alt-Right?

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On August 9, 2017

In Free Speech, Social Politics

So, unsurprisingly, Mashable came out with this dross.

Bizarrely, my semi-viral tweet was listed in the blog post.

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The Sophoclean irony of Google memo

By

On August 9, 2017

In Free Speech, Social Politics

 

By yours truly, in The Federalist. Read the whole piece here.

 

 

Trump’s “fire and fury” threat on North Korea is reckless

By

On August 8, 2017

In Asia, Foreign Policy, Politics, U.S. Politics

Donald Trump’s saber-rattling towards North Korea has heated up as North Korea is getting closer and closer to having an operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of striking the United States mainland.

This afternoon, he threatened “fire and fury” against Kim Jong-un’s thiefdom.

North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. He has been very threatening — beyond a normal statement. As I said, they will be met with fire, fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.

Notice, too, that Trump’s strong words were made specifically in response to “threats” by Kim Jong-un and his government. North Korea makes farcical threats all the time. In 2013, years before he had the capabilities to hit even Los Angeles, Kim made a threat to attack Austin, Texas, of all places.

That Trump issued such fiery words in response to “threats” rather than anything of substance indicates his strange obsession with honor politics. He is a man whose argument for pulling out of deals is that “the world is laughing at us.” He took Cuban President Raul Castro’s absence at Obama’s arrival to Cuba as an insult to the United States.

North Korea, of course, poses some very real threats to the U.S. and its allies. It tested two ICBMs in July, prompting new UN sanctions, and a U.S. intelligence assessment holds that it has attained the capability of putting warheads on missiles.

But North Korea’s threat is just why Trump needs to be careful: hasty responses could cause miscalculation and could result in a war that would leave millions dead. Even without the use of nuclear weapons, 20 million civilians in the Seoul area and 28,500 American troops in Korea are at immediate threat of heavy artillery.

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Two pathbreaking studies you need to know

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On August 3, 2017

In Academics, Foreign Policy, Security, War

First, the US and Western Counter insurgency operations are failure, because frankly, in simple words, we are too good and pussyfooted. We are not brutal enough.

I have previously written why Western strategies fail, and stated that in the last 20 years, only two Counter Insurgency operations succeeded, and that’s in Sri Lanka, and Chechnya. It was brutal, but it brought on stability.

US and Indian officers in a joint COIN training briefing.

Latest research proves, the only way to succeed in a COIN op, is to be insanely heavyhanded.

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Real Women’s March is happening in Turkey

By

On August 2, 2017

In Feminism

When my friend forwarded me this short article by the BBC, it was touching and pride filled moment; an incredible feminist alliance, standing up in the face of an actual oppression from men, unlike past protests and campaigns that are against futile and unwarranted apparent problems, western women ‘face’ which I wrote about here. Hundreds of brave Turkish women protested on the streets of Istanbul, against the antagonism and violence they face with the dress code that is enforced on them, chanting “We will not obey, be silenced, be afraid. We will win through resistance” after a rise of incidents involving men’s violent conduct towards women wearing more revealing clothing then what is expected of them.

 

I was sure that other feminists, including the intersectional feminists we all know I am so fond of, would be standing with their sisters, using their voice to back them up and unite for women’s right for fairness. Sadly, for the last 3 days I have been checking feminist sites such as The F Word, Feministing, and my all-time favourite, Everyday Feminism, but none had anything written about it. Instead their front pages are congested with articles such as 3 ways men wanting to ‘focus on her pleasure’ during sex can still be sexist, or how to be a feminist porn director. Important subjects no? Real paramount and pressing issues that women around the world are faced with every day.

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