Geopolitics / Lebanon – The Autumn of the Autocrats

Foreign Affairs – If the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri sought to make an example of him for his defiance of Syria, the aftermath of the crime has mocked them. For a generation, Lebanon was an appendage of Syrian power. But now the Lebanese people, in an “independence intifada,” are clamoring for a return to normalcy. The old Arab edifice of power has survived many challenges in the past, but something is different this time: the United States is now willing to gamble on freedom.
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Geopolitics / Law – New Rules for War?

Naval War College Review – The overarching factors of asymmetry and moralism dominate the political discourse and frame the understanding of Americans. From those factors emerge specific issues of real ethical concern. Just war principles and the law of armed conflict help, but both leave room for interpretation. Ultimately, these issues require moral reasoning and reflection.

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Operations Other Than War – A Quiet Transformation

Washington Post – As the United States was struggling with the postwar reconstruction of Iraq, the historian Niall Ferguson published a book arguing that America needed the modern equivalent of the old British Colonial Office to build political stability in far-flung places. The U.S. military was good at breaking things, he suggested in “Colossus,” but not so good at putting them back together. A look at the Defense Science Board’s study titled “Transition to and from Hostilities,” a blueprint for changes across the government that would give the United States the nation-building capability it has too often lacked in Iraq.

The full report is here: Transition to and from Hostilities (PDF format)
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