Stephan: I spent from 1970 to 1976 researching and writing about military and geopolitics, first as the editor of Seapower Magazine, and then as Special Assistant to two Chiefs of Naval Operations and as a consultant to the Oceanographer of the Navy.
From 1981 to 1996 I was deeply involved in citizen diplomacy and then in owning and running joint venture businesses in the Soviet Union, spending several months each year there working with high level people in media, government, and their emerging business class. Through all of it I was mostly appalled by U.S. policies.
History will record that a massive opportunity to change the course of the world narrative was flunked by an American foreign policy establishment that simply could not give up Cold War thinking. And they still haven't. With almost no coverage in media, we have restarted the Cold War and seem to be flirting once again with Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).
This all is, of course, wildly profitable for the military-intelligence-corporate war machine that eats the largest portion of our wealth. Do I need to say it is very bad news?
Ashton Carter, U.S. President Barack Obama’s nominee to be secretary of defense, testifies before a Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 4, 2015.
Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
Have you picked up on the new trope du jour? We are all encouraged to bask in our innocence as we lament the advent of a new Cold War. The thought has been in the wind for more than a year, of course, at least among some of us. But we witness a significant turn, and I hope this same some of us are paying attention.
As of this week, leaders who know nothing about leading, thinkers who do not think and opinion-shaping poseurs such as Tom Friedman are confident enough in their case to sally forth with it: The Cold War returns, the Russians have restarted it and we must […]
I worried years ago about the improper stance toward Russia that was building in our military here in the U.S. and the overreach toward Russia. They are entitled to their space, and their rights, too. Why sanction them? Why not make PEACE our foreign policy???????? What the hell is wrong with our leaders??? Now Russia and China are closer allies and we had better no0t start something that would end in disaster for all of the world. I wish we would pull back our troops from around the world, close the 800 or so bases, and use the money to repair our own broken country! World peace is what I pray for, today and every day.