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


Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Update for Tuesday, October 4, 2016


A more detailed and comprehensible summary from Salon of the Pentagon contract with the British PR firm Bell Pottinger. The information appears to be well-confirmed. The U.S., under the Bush administration, paid the firm, which has been employed largely by right-wing politicians and authoritarian regimes such as the Saudis, to produce news videos which appeared to have been made by Arab media; and fake al Qaeda videos which were apparently used in an entrapment scheme.

More than 100 additional U.S. troops have been deployed to Qayyara air base  to support the coming assault on Mosul. More than 550 U.S. troops are now deployed there.

Puh-leeze. Nuri al-Maliki is said to be plotting a comeback, and may be behind the recent firing of a Sunni Arab and a Kurdish minister.

Under the circumstances, the Turkish prime minister is right to warn of serious sectarian strife if the Shiite government tries to place Shiite militias in control around Mosul.

In Afghanistan, the government is claiming gains in Kunduz, with the help of U.S. military "advisers."







Posted by Cervantes at 6:36 AM

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