The present-day U.S. military qualifies by any measure as highly professional, much more so than its Cold War predecessor. Yet the purpose of today’s professionals is not to preserve peace but to fight unending wars in distant places. Intoxicated by a post-Cold War belief in its own omnipotence, the United States allowed itself to be drawn into a long series of armed conflicts, almost all of them yielding unintended consequences and imposing greater than anticipated costs. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. forces have destroyed many targets and killed many people. Only rarely, however, have they succeeded in accomplishing their assigned political purposes. . . . [F]rom our present vantage point, it becomes apparent that the “Revolution of ‘89” did not initiate a new era of history. At most, the events of that year fostered various unhelpful illusions that impeded our capacity to recognize and respond to the forces of change that actually matter.

Andrew Bacevich


Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Update for Wednesday, December 9, 2015


After apparently trying unsuccessfully to enter Kandhar airport, Taliban seize a nearby residential neighborhood, with fighting resulting in the death of 37 civilians and scores more injuries. Militants are still holed up and fighting continues, with the airport largely closed as a precaution.

In Iraq meanwhile, in a further sign of improving relations between Kurdistan and Turkey, Kurdish president Massoud Barzani is in Ankara for an official visit. At the same time, however, Turkey has bombed PKK positions in Iraqi Kurdistan. Although I can find no immediate comment on this from the KRG, the KRG has previously repudiated the PKK and it is conceivable that this happened with the tacit consent of the KRG.

This essay in Business Insider essentially concurs with my conclusion that the spat between Turkey and Iraq over Turkish forces presence near Mosul is really a surrogate for the Turkish quarrel with Russia. Here's a key excerpt:

Russia has been sharing "security and intelligence" information about the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) with Iraq since September — when Russian, Syrian, and Iranian military advisers began building a coordination cell in Baghdad in an effort to bolster the Iranian-backed Shia militias fighting ISIS in northern Iraq.

With Iran's implicit blessing, Russian president Vladimir Putin has therefore taken on a greater role in Iraq — a role that comes with certain political and military expectations.
Note that this leaves the U.S. on the outside looking in, even as additional U.S. special forces enter Iraq and the U.S. continues the air campaign against IS. I don't normally link to Iranian state news outlets because they are unreliable, but they are reporting that a member of the Iraqi parliament is demanding that the security agreement with the U.S. be cancelled. It doesn't seem likely that Abadi can be best buddies with Iran, Russia, and the U.S. all at the same time, especially if he's allied with Russia in confronting NATO member Turkey. This is a big mess.

Posted by Cervantes at 6:22 AM

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