A realist analysis of power and interests points to a mutually beneficial outcome. The post The Iran War Is Lose-Lose appeared first on The American Conservative .
Foreign Affairs The Iran War Is Lose-Lose A realist analysis of power and interests points to a mutually beneficial outcome. Photo by Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images The conflict between the United States and Iran has laid bare a profound failure of political judgment and strategic adaptation in Washington and Tehran alike. Both sides locked themselves into rigid adversarial paradigms and prioritized short-term tactical military successes at the expense of long-term strategy. For the United States in particular, this failure is a symptom of a much larger, more dangerous disease—a stubborn adherence to a…Open
The distinguished political scientist Graham Allison, author of the 2015 Atlantic article “The Thucydides Trap,” argued that often in history an established power will stage […] Source
One American view of China—now increasingly popular on the Left and the Right alike, especially among the hate-Trump crowd—is that the communist colossus will be […] Source
For years, a particular story held sway—one that even its original tellers can scarcely defend today: that Donald Trump stood for an American withdrawal from […] Source
A new book offers a realist strategy for dealing with a region in rapid flux. The post The Middle East has Become the New ‘West Asia’ appeared first on The American Conservative .
Books The Middle East has Become the New ‘West Asia’ A new book offers a realist strategy for dealing with a region in rapid flux. (AFP via Getty Images) West Asia: A New American Grand Strategy in the Middle East, by Mohammad Soliman. Polity Books, 272 pages. The Trump administration’s 2025 National Security Strategy laid out its vision for a new U.S. role in the Middle East based on a pragmatic scaling back from the ideological misadventures of prior years. Instead of attempting to reshape the countries of the Middle East through violence and money, the strategy advocated an orderly withdrawal from a region that…Open
War is the use of arms to settle differences—tribal, political, religious, cultural, and material—between organized groups. It is unchanging. The general laws of armed conflict […] Source
War is the use of arms to settle differences—tribal, political, religious, cultural, and material—between organized groups. It is unchanging. The general laws of armed conflict […] Source