Image: Herman Kahn (1922-1983) Over the course of the now eight-month war in Ukraine, Russia has made vague and indirect threats of nuclear escalation. Those threats become more frequent and overt as Ukrainian counteroffensives gain momentum and the Russian military cedes territory. As President Biden stated on October 11, 2022 in response to some of … Continue reading Managing Crises in the Information Age: Escalation Dynamics in the Russo-Ukrainian War
Author: Matthew Tetreau
The State of Russia’s Influence in the Western Hemisphere Post-Ukraine
Photo credit: CSIS On March 2, 2022, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution to reprimand Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Of the 181 member states that took part in the vote, 141 supported the resolution, while Russia and four of their closest allies (Belarus, Eritrea, North Korea, and Syria) voted “no.” On … Continue reading The State of Russia’s Influence in the Western Hemisphere Post-Ukraine
Reclaiming Agency: The Problem with Prescriptive Realism
Photo Credit: CSIS Despite being one of the most influential scholars of international relations theory, John Mearsheimer took considerable flak for his comments on the war in Ukraine. Mearsheimer’s interview with the New Yorker last month resulted in an upswell of opposition, moral outrage, and debate for blaming the conflict on the U.S. and NATO. … Continue reading Reclaiming Agency: The Problem with Prescriptive Realism
Incongruence and Strategic Adaptation
Image from Twitter Military means must not be considered separately from the political ends they serve. This political-military maxim is both elementary and often ignored. In an effective system, civilian and military leaders collaborate to craft strategies that establish realistic political ends and military means capable of accomplishing them at an acceptable cost. More often … Continue reading Incongruence and Strategic Adaptation