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foreign affairs in strategic context
Browsing All Posts published on »July, 2010«
Strategy, secrecy…er, what Bernard?
July 26, 2010
I’ve not taken much interest in the Wikileaks furore, mostly because I quickly came to the consensus view last night: it told us nothing we didn’t already know, but told the enemy so much Julian Assange should be renditioned and taken to Diego Garcia. The strangest comment to come out of it so far, at […]
Looking for the ‘grand strategy’ in an Anglo-Indian partnership
July 26, 2010
The Prime Minister is going to India this week, heading a large team that includes Cabinet ministers and leading companies. ‘[It] is likely to be the most heavyweight British delegation to the country since the Raj came to an end’, according to one report. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, made a similar point […]
Sean Trend: Tourism and strategy in the Cold War
July 24, 2010
A guest post by Sean Trend looking at the co-opting of tourism for strategic purposes during the Cold War by the West.
Two takes on Iran
July 23, 2010
To begin filling the unforgiveable gap on Iran, I recommend to readers these two discussions on the threat posed by it having a nuclear capability. I hadn’t heard of Tom Schelling before watching the video, so it was a wonderful introduction. Although he considers an Iranian nuclear capability an unfortunate but containable threat, he raises […]
Hand me the Uzi, I got me some killin’ to do…
July 23, 2010
The whole furore around the Prime Minister’s 1940 gaffe is one of those situations where pundits and opportunists talk so much bilge that you want to scream and unleash a spray of bullets. His comment was emphasising an important point, which is that the United Kingdom shouldn’t get so worked up about its relationship with America.
Michael Blakeman: Richard II and late mediaeval strategy
July 22, 2010
Aaron kindly asked if I’d like to contribute as a guest writer to his blog, suggesting something on ‘Roman/medieval military and political strategy’. But after reading the entry he posted last night about Edward III, I decided to thrash out a quick follow-up concerning Edward’s grandson and successor, Richard II. Richard II has puzzled historians […]
Common values do not mean common interests
July 21, 2010
One of the popular misconceptions in international relations is that countries which share common values automatically possess common interests. It’s an attitude that is not only flawed historically but also dangerous as an influence on contemporary policy, like the attempt to create a ‘European’ foreign policy. Twenty-five nations with different customs, historical experiences, strategic cultures […]
Edward III and late mediaeval strategy
July 20, 2010
Although I have been trained as a historian, I’ve not given much attention to strategy (or the lack of it) in previous times. One of my courses at university was the Hundred Years War, and I was particularly interested in the debate about whether there was a grand strategy behind the campaigns of Edward III […]
Progress report
July 20, 2010
This blog has been going for nearly two months now and although I’ve gotten great feedback, I think there is room for improvement. With regard to topics covered, there is a lot that I haven’t addressed from Russia and China to Iran and nuclear proliferation, and I want to write about them in future. I […]
July 29, 2010
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