Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
QDR
With a Lot of Help from Our Friends

With a Lot of Help from Our Friends

by | Nov 23, 2010

The Pentagon has more on its plate but, because of domestic factors, will have comparatively less money to deal with it all. Washington has concluded that the only way to solve this particular dilemma is to rely more on partners in the region. The United States has always emphasized its partnerships with Japan, South Korea, and (less so) Taiwan. At times of austerity, Washington is putting more emphasis on burden-sharing. Today, however, the United States will be pushing for more than just additional resources from its allies. More and more, these allies will have to do the heavy lifting themselves.

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Budgeting for Empire: Ambitions Outweigh Strategy

by , | Mar 27, 2007

One might think that given all the stresses and strains on the U.S. military caused by fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that the Defense Department would at least be doing its utmost to grasp the geostrategic realities of the day. But the Pentagon’s last Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), released on February 6, 2006 showed that American defense plans continue to fail engagements with reality. While the QDR was big on rhetoric, it was woefully short on action.

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China: What’s the Big Mystery?

China: What’s the Big Mystery?

by | Dec 3, 2006

The latest recruitment brochure from the Central Intelligence Agency, which beckons the uninitiated to “be a part of a mission that’s larger than all of us,” opens to reveal an image of the red-roofed entrance to Beijing’s Forbidden City. From an oversized portrait on the ancient wall, Chairman Mao and his Mona Lisa smile behold the vast granite expanse of Tiananmen Square. The Cold War is over, and the Soviet Union is gone. The cloak-and-dagger games of Berlin and Prague have been replaced by business and tourism. But China—land of ancient secrets, autocratic leaders, and memories of suppressed uprisings—still holds out the promise of world-historical struggle that can help the CIA meet its recruitment goals.

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