In case you missed it, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recently gave a speech to announce that he’s now set his sights on the Navy as next up for an overhaul to bring it into the 21st century. The question, though, is just what a 21st-century navy should look like. Gates cited the U.S. Navy’s 11 carrier groups, at a time when no other country has more than one, as a particular area in need of rationalization. That prompted Robert Haddick, at SWJ, to question such straight-up comparisons as a criterion for judgment, while offering some thought-provoking reasons for concern [...]
Following up on my exasperation at the urge to find a scapegoat for what is in essence a systemic problem, I want to flag this beautifully written, if melancholy piece by Walter Russell Mead, which struck a chord for me: For the last generation, we have been acting on the assumption that the great problems have been solved, the great questions answered, and that all that remains is the application of our correct general principles to particular cases. In other words, we have assumed that we are living in an Age of Technique. I think that is wrong. I think [...]
Matthew Yglesias proves that Godwin’s law is attainable in 140 characters or less. Clever. Lord knows I picked a bad week to defend German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the EU. But if, as many observers are now arguing, the current EU-IMF package isn’t sufficient to keep Greece from eventual insolvency and debt restructuring, then nothing that was on either side of the table a few weeks ago was even remotely sufficient. Which is to say, Merkel did not single-handedly torpedo a workable solution. I understand, too, the importance of signaling when it comes to the markets. But once the signaling [...]
