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foreign affairs in strategic context
Browsing All Posts published on »March, 2011«
The risk of a Dolchstosslegende after Libya
Whenever arguing about intervention in Libya, I always ask interventionists how militarily viable the rebels were in the first place. I felt the answer was important because if the rebels were a lame horse from the start of the race, which seems to have been the case, then whatever equipment we sent them might fall […]
Advice for statesmen
March 11, 2011
I was going through one of my old Moleskin notebooks and found in the back pocket a list I wrote a couple of years ago, titled ‘Advice for policymakers’. The list isn’t as precocious as I believe I was two years ago, so I thought I’d publish it here. Have a loose but decisive command […]
What to do in Libya?
March 10, 2011
The clamour for a no-fly zone over Libya is deafening; and so frightening is the sound that politicians may soon lose their heads and concede to creating one. I keep asking myself: what would the no-fly zone be for? James Forsyth, political editor of The Spectator magazine, seems to think it’d help the rebels defeat […]
A few thoughts on the Iranian arms seizure
March 9, 2011
It was reported earlier that NATO had seized Iranian rockets on their way to the Taliban. William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, released a statement condemning this as ‘unacceptable’. Before the usual suspects claim to be shocked – shocked! – at this revelation, and use it as a cause for war, I think we should […]
Forget Garibaldi and Palmerston; listen to Lord Salisbury
March 2, 2011
David Cameron gave a statement on the Libyan crisis Monday, telling MPs he will not tolerate the violence and that he had asked the Chief of the Defence Staff to look into creating a no-fly zone. The American Weekly Standard described him as ‘Churchillian’, which should’ve been a warning to the Prime Minister that perhaps […]
March 16, 2011
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