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, January 7, 2015

News of the Day for Wednesday, January 7, 2015

It's been another violent day, with 2 children killed by an explosion in Kandahar province (possibly an accidental encounter with an old mine), 10 children injured, 7 critically, by a separate explosion in the same province, a bomb killing a judge in Jalalabad, 6 construction workers murdered in Baghlan, and a suicide attack injuring 3 police officers in Khost.

Taliban burn the house of a district governor in Maidan Wardak.

Report says 20 cabinet nominees have been selected but for some reason the public announcement, promised for today, did not occur.

About half of pharmaceuticals sold in Afghanistan are smuggled and are likely to be counterfeit or spoiled.

Posted by Cervantes at 11:29 AM

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