What Next?

by Robert E. Hunter Since the United States invaded Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, and began an era of major military operations in Southwest Asia and the Middle East, “what next” has been sometimes posed, but never adequately answered. To… Continue Reading

Squaring the Circle of ISIS

by Bernard Chazelle In matters of battle, there are certain things we’ve come to expect. The pairwise nature of combat, for example. From the playing fields of Eton to the morne plaine of Waterloo, sports and war alike feature two rival sides… Continue Reading

Apocalypse Now, Iraq Edition

Fighting in Iraq Until Hell Freezes Over  by Peter Van Buren I wanted to offer a wry chuckle before we headed into the heavy stuff about Iraq, so I tried to start this article with a suitably ironic formulation. You know,… Continue Reading

The Anti-ISIS Campaign: Beware the Seeds of Escalation

by Paul Pillar The wisdom of any application of military force will involve much more than the goals initially laid out and the resources initially applied to achieve those goals. Those initial conditions are only a snapshot in time of… Continue Reading

Saudi Arabia: Champion of Human Rights?

by Thomas W. Lippman Imagine hearing news that North Korea was planning to organize an international conference on criminal justice reform, or being invited by Cuba to a conference promoting political freedom. The likely reaction would be incredulity, followed by… Continue Reading