“War is the health of the state.The American intellectuals, in their preoccupation with reality, seem to have forgotten that the real enemy is War rather than imperial Germany. There is work to be done to prevent this war of ours from passing into popular mythology as a holy crusade. What shall we do with leaders who tell us that we go to war in moral spotlessness or who make “democracy” synonymous with a republican form of government?”
– Randolph Bourne
Martin van Creveld is one of the most interesting warfare thinkers in the last half century and tends to provide explanations that in spite of going against the grain turn out to be right.
His book, “Fighting Power: German and U.S. Army Performance, 1939-1945”, comparing the officer education systems of the German and American armies teased out conclusions that resonate even today. Fast conclusion: vast bureaucracy produces low information, low quality officers and commanders and shits out bloated war-losing mediocrities like General Milley.
The utter destruction of the fabbing and manufacturing capabilities of the US and the west is a marker for fundamental imperial decline.
Van Creveld misses the fourth conflict, the existential domestic conflict that has been brewing for years in the US.
“Like Britain in the late 1930s, currently the US sees itself challenged on three fronts. The first is Eastern Europe where Russia’s Putin is trying to reoccupy a vital part of the former Soviet Empire and, should be succeed, get himself into a position to threaten any number of NATO countries, old or new. The second is the Middle East where Iran, using its vassals in Yemen and Syria, has been waging war by proxy on Israel while at the same time threatening Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean. The third is the Far East—where America’s main allies, meaning Taiwan on one hand and South Korea on the other, may come under attack by China and North Korea respectively almost at a moment’s notice.
Even for the greatest power on earth running, or preparing to run, three ½ wars at once is an extremely expensive proposition. Especially in terms of ammunition of which, in sharp contrast to 19141-45, there simply is not enough. So far the center, though experiencing growing domestic difficulties, has not yet caved in. With the wings tottering, though, how long before it does?”
