New York Times (May 30)
Following the recent coup in Thailand, “the military is operating an increasingly authoritarian government intent on silencing all forms of dissent or disobedience.” If the military truly intends to deliver a “genuine democracy,” it needs to “provide a plan for a return to civilian rule, including setting a date for an election.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Civilian rule, Democracy, Disobedience, Dissent, Election, Government, Military, oup, Silencing, Thailand
Los Angeles Times (January 12, 2014)
“The United States no longer knows how to win wars, but it continues to start them.” From hardware to preparedness, the U.S. military remains in a league of its own. Yet, since the end of the Cold War, “when it comes to finishing the job on schedule and on budget, their performance has been woeful.” The fighting in Iraq didn’t end when the U.S. left, nor is the fighting in Afghanistan likely to cease with the scheduled departure of U.S. troops. “For the United States, victory has become a lost art.”
Tags: Afghanistan, Budget, Cold war, Iraq, Military, Preparedness, Schedule, Troops, U.S., Victory
Washington Post (August 15)
The “refusal to take a firm stand against massive violations of human rights is as self-defeating for the United States as it is unconscionable. Continued U.S. support for the Egyptian military is helping to push the country toward a new dictatorship rather than a restored democracy.” The U.S. should suspend all aid until “the generals end their campaign of repression and take tangible steps to restore democracy.”
Tags: Aid, Democracy, Dictatorship, Egypt, Human rights, Military, Repression, U.S., Violations
New York Times (July 23)
“To keep commerce going with China, Japan’s most important Asian trading partner, Mr. Abe has to stop rubbing raw the wounds of World War II. That includes not visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals from that conflict are honored. Nor should his government divert budget resources into military muscle flexing. Pushing into these politically contentious areas would erode the economic progress and promise of stable political leadership Mr. Abe has just worked so hard to achieve.”
Tags: Abe, Budget, China, Commerce, Conflict, Criminals, Government, Japan, Leadership, Military, Progress, Trading partner, World War II, Yasukuni
Bloomberg (July 18)
Japan needs to mend relationships with its neighbors. After the upper house Diet elections, “LDP leaders would be wise to focus their resources on overcoming opposition to the most difficult structural reforms. That doesn’t mean Japan can’t take measures it deems necessary to bolster its defenses, such as increasing its military budget, or even making cosmetic changes such as renaming its military the ‘National Defense Forces.’ Such decisions should be based on strategic concerns, not a desire to fire up patriotic fervor. They should be communicated to Beijing quietly but transparently, well in advance.”
Tags: Asia, China, Communication, Defense, Diet, Elections, Japan, LDP, Military, Relationships, Resources, Structural reforms
The New York Times (July 4)
“Despite his failings, and there were plenty, President Mohamed Morsi was Egypt’s first democratically elected leader, and his overthrow by the military on Wednesday was unquestionably a coup. It would be tragic if Egyptians allowed the 2011 revolution that overthrew the dictator Hosni Mubarak to end with this rejection of democracy.”
Tags: Coup, Democracy, Dictator, Egypt, Elected, Leader, Military, Mohamed Morsi, Overthrow, Revolution
Los Angeles Times (June 12)
“China will almost certainly pass the United States in the total size of its economy within a decade or so. But if one looks also at military and “soft power” resources, the U.S. is likely to remain more powerful than China for at least the next few decades.” But “the U.S. has to get away from thinking just about power over others and think about power with others. We do not want to become so fearful that we are not able to find ways to cooperate with China” in solving transnational challenges.
Tags: China, Cooperation, Economy, Military, Resources, Soft power, Transnational challenges, U.S.
Washington Post (March 12)
The U.S. military is not ready for cyber conflict. “U.S. nuclear weapons, hardened to survive an atomic blast in the Cold War, may not be ready to survive a cyber-onslaught… We ought not wait until a disaster has arrived to address the policy implications of cyberwar.”
The Guardian (January 24)
“Just as we were lulled into a false sense of security about North Korea, congratulating Kim Jong-un on a surprisingly good first year in power, we are jolted back to reality…. Yesterday’s blood-curdling statement from the country’s powerful national defence commission was back to “songun” or military-first policy with a vengeance. The ice age is not coming to an end under a younger leader who has shown signs of interest in economic reform. Or at least not as swiftly as some imagined.”
Tags: Economic reform, Kim Jong Un, Military, North Korea, Songun
The Economist (January 7)
Hopes that Bashar Assad might step aside, making room for a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Syria, evaporated after a defiant speech on January 6. The war has claimed an estimated 60,000 Syrian lives. With the opposition determined not to “negotiate a political solution to the crisis until Mr Assad is out of the picture, both sides are still trying for a military victory.” Mr Assad’s “speech provided no reason to believe the bloodshed will end soon.”
Tags: Bashar Assad, Crisis, Diplomacy, Military, Opposition, Solution, Syria
