William S. Lind

Among the many unhappy developments in American industry in recent decades has been the advent of "wreck it and run" management. A small coterie of senior managers takes over a company and makes a brilliant show of short-term profits while actually driving the business into the ground. They bail out just before it crashes, cashing … Continue reading “Wreck It and Run”

Two weeks ago, a small, single-engine plane inadvertently strayed into the closed air space above Washington. The result was panic. Both the White House and the Capitol were evacuated, with police shouting "Run! Run!" at fleeing staffers and visitors. Senators and congressmen abandoned in haste the floors of their respective Houses. Various RIPs (Really Important … Continue reading “Of Cabbages and Kings”

I regard a war with China – hot or cold – as perhaps the greatest strategic blunder the United States could make, beyond those it has already made. The end result would be the same as that from the 20th century wars between Britain and Germany: it reduced both to second-rate powers. In the 21st … Continue reading “The Worst Blunder Bush Could Make”

When people ask me what to read to find an historical parallel with America’s situation today, I usually recommend J.H. Elliott’s splendid history of Spain in the first half of the 17th century, The Count-Duke of Olivares: A Statesman in an Age of Decline. One of the features of the Spanish court in that period … Continue reading “The Reality Gap”

About a year ago, I had lunch with someone who then held a relatively high position in America’s homeland security forces. During our conversation, I casually referred to “somebody setting off a suitcase nuke in an American city.” He replied, “That will happen.” I therefore found striking the headline in this Sunday’s Washington Post: “U.S. … Continue reading “Fool’s Paradise”

A story in the April 26 Washington Times, “Drug Smugglers, Rebels Join Hands,” by Carmen Gentile, offered an interesting illustration of the argument I made in my last column, that Fourth Generation entities may do everything they want to do within the framework of hollowed-out states. The article reports, “Brazilian drug traffickers have teamed up … Continue reading “More on Gangs and Guerrillas vs. the State”

On Tuesday, March 29, Syria informed the U.N. that it would withdraw all of its troops from Lebanon before that country holds elections later this spring. The neo-Jacobins are celebrating Syria’s eviction from Lebanon as another great victory for democracy and the Rights of Man. But given what the removal of Syrian forces from Lebanon … Continue reading “Lebanon Baloney, Sliced Thin”

One of the classic signs of ideology at work is the redefinition of words to empty them of their meaning. An article by Greg Jaffe in the Feb. 16 Wall Street Journal, “New Factor in Iraq: Irregular Brigades Fill Security Void,” describes the rapid spread of militias in that unhappy place, which is probably now … Continue reading “When Is a Militia Not a Militia?”

The Feb. 15 Christian Science Monitor describes a situation that, to anyone familiar with American-Turkish relations in the post-World War II period, is almost beyond imagining: an American attack on Turkey. According to the Monitor‘s story, "The year is 2007. After a clash with Turkish forces in northern Iraq, U.S. troops stage a surprise attack. … Continue reading “Turkey Imagines the Unimaginable”

In the early morning of Feb. 9, Tokyo informed Beijing’s embassy here that the Senkaku Islands would be administered by the Japanese coast guard. In that small story in the Christian Science Monitor are some interesting portents. Few other newspapers bothered to report what undoubtedly seemed to editors a trivial matter. It may in fact … Continue reading “That Fin de Siecle Feeling”