International Security & Defense – Mauduit Study Forums

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY & DEFENSE

Mauduit Study Forums

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY & DEFENSE

A Report Card on the War in Ukraine by Graham Allison. Foreign Policy, February 23, 2023.
By now, it is clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has been a grave strategic error. As Napoleon Bonaparte’s former minister of police said of the French leader’s foolish execution of a rival duke, his actions could be described as “worse than a crime … a blunder.” Yet even as Putin’s war has undermined Russia on the geopolitical stage, we should not overlook the fact that Russia has succeeded in severely weakening Ukraine on the ground.

Assumption Testing: Airpower is inherently offensive by Col. Maximillian K. Bremer. STIMSON, January 25, 2023.
Airpower has grown so lethal, and American airpower so dominant, that it has become Washington’s go-to weapon of choice. Therefore, as China races to catch up, many security experts argue that the American “bomber must always get through,” and the United States must spend whatever it takes to retain its military-technological edge. The core assumption of this view is that airpower is inherently offensive—the best defense is a good offense.

Clausewitzian “Friction” and Nuclear Strategy by Louis René Beres. War Room, U.S. Army War College, January 13, 2023.
Although he wrote in the early nineteenth century, Carl von Clausewitz’s well-recognized idea of friction helps us understand risk in both conventional and nuclear war.

Ending the war while ensuring Russia does not gain territory via nuclear coercion by Robert J. Goldston. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 4, 2023.
There is a wide-ranging debate about what NATO’s goal should be in Ukraine, from immediate cease-fire at the present line of contact to full return of occupied Ukrainian territory, including all of the Donbas and Crimea.

The Top Five Lessons From Year One of Ukraine’s War by Stephen M. Walt. Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School, February 9, 2023.
Europe’s brutal conflict has been a harsh but instructive teacher.