History: econ, mil, & political

Posts about military and geopolitical history.

1. The history of COIN
2. Military History
3. Lessons and even advice from the past
4. Insights and advice from Alexis De Tocqueville
5. Examples of our FAILure to learn from the past
6. Notes about — and from — the future
7. Economic History
8. Posts about History

Also see the FM reference page Guessing about possible futures for America.
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(1)  The History of COIN

1. More paths to failure in Iraq, 16 December 2006 — Myths about COIN in Iraq
2. How often do insurgents win?  How much time does successful COIN require?, 29 May 2008
3. Max Boot: history suggests we will win in Afghanistan, with better than 50-50 odds. Here’s the real story., 21 June 2010 — Boot discusses 7 alleged victories by foreign armies fighting insurgencies.
4. A major discovery! It could change the course of US geopolitical strategy, if we’d only see it, 28 June 2010 — Andrew Exum (aka Abu Muqawama) points us to the doctoral dissertation of Erin Marie Simpson in Political Science from Harvard.  She examines the present and past analysis of  counter-insurgency.  This could change the course of American foreign policy, if we pay attention.
5. A look at the history of victories over insurgents, 30 June 2010
6. COINistas point to Kenya as a COIN success. In fact it was an expensive bloody failure., 7 August 2012

(2)  Military History

1. ”Why do we lose 4th generation wars?“, 4 January 2007 — About the two kinds of insurgencies
2. Was 9/11 the most effective single military operation in the history of the world?, 11 June 2008
3. Another note from our past, helping us see our future, 16 September 2009 — From the past or future, who can tell?
4. A history lesson recommended for the top of your reading pile, 17 September 2009
5. How the Soviet Menace was over-hyped – and what we can learn from this, 13 October 2009
6. Are islamic extremists like the anarchists?, 14 December 2009
7. We have endemic terrorism – but few wars and epidemics. That’s good news!, 15 December 2009
8. The CIA’s forecast about the Iranian Revolution – and the revolution prediction tool, 6 January 2010
9. France gives us tips for the Afghanistan War, from their successful role in the American Revolution, 11 March 2010
10. The key to success in Afghanistan: independence, 11 April 2010
11. Conservatives oppose the new START treaty, as they opposed even the earlier version negotiated by Ronald Reagan, 24 July 2010
12. Senator Jim Webb on the Vietnam Generation – Outstanding!, 25 July 2010
13. Every day brings new pro-war propaganda for our amusement and despair, 1 August 2010
14. A Thanksgiving Day note, 25 November 2010 — A metal of honor Medal of Honor presented to Salvatore Giunta (SSG, USA)
15. We were participants in one of the great battles of history. Tell your children that you were there!, 21 December 2010
16. The vital things to know about 9-11, painful and so seldom mentioned today, 12 September 2011
17. Looking back on USMC thanksgivings, reminding us of things for which we should be grateful, 24 November 2011
18. Father Vincent Capodanno and the Meaning of “Sacrifice”, 4 December 2011
19. Old Corps? New Corps? It Doesn’t Matter as Long as it’s Marine Corps!, 11 December 2011
20. Fortune Favors the Brave – Marines aboard the USS Constitution, 18 December 2011
21. Is a new tech cycle starting that gives barbarians military parity with modern armies?, 6 May 2012
22. A lesson from history about wasted valor, for which a price might be asked of us (eventually), 8 July 2012

(3)  Lessons and even advice from the past

1. From the 3rd century BC, Polybius warns us about demographic collapse, 11 June 2008
2. Our futures seen in snippets of the past, 16 June 2008
3. America’s grand strategy: lessons from our past, 30 June 2008
4. President Grant warns us about the dangers of national hubris, 1 July 2008
5. de Tocqueville warns us not to become weak and servile, 21 July 2008
6. Let’s look at America in the mirror, the first step to reform, 14 August 2008
7. Can Americans pull together? If not, why not?, 29 August 2008
8. Dr. Gulliver explains why America has become so fearful of the future, 23 October 2008
9. The King of Brobdingnag comments on America’s grand strategy, 18 November 2008
10. About the state of economic science, and advice from a famous economist, 8 December 2008
11. Words of wisdom about the global recession, from the greatest economist of our era, 29 December 2008
12. Napoleon’s advice to President Obama about the financial crisis, 29 April 2009
13. A wonderful and important speech about liberty, 23 July 2009
14. A warning from Alexis De Tocqueville about our military, 7 August 2009
15. Another note from our past, helping us see our future, 16 September 2009 — by Daniel Ellsberg
16. A note from America’s diary: “My power proceeds from my reputation…”, 22 September 2009
17. The SecDef gives the definitive analysis of the War, a must-read, 30 December 2009
18. A lesson from the Weimar Republic about balancing the budget, 10 February 2010
19. France gives us tips for the Afghanistan War, from their successful role in the American Revolution, 11 March 2010
20. A great philosopher and statesman comments on the Bush-Obama tweaks to the Constitution, 10 October 2010 — by Edmond Burke
21. We have trouble coping with our present because we’ve lost our past, 23 October 2010
22. Important history to remember on Earth Day, 23 April 2011
23. A top businessman and banker explains our political and economic challenges, 30 April 2011
24. A warning from the past.  Might the American Empire drag down America?, 4 August 2011
25. Advice from one of the British Empire’s greatest Foreign Ministers, 18 November 2011 — by Lord Palmerston
26. George Orwell sends us a note, giving some perspective on our situation, 22 January 2012
27. Lessons for America from the Russo-Japanese War, 4 February 2012
28. Thomas Jefferson saw our present peril. We should heed his warning., 21 April 2012
29. Rome speaks to us. Their example can inspire us to avoid their fate., 22 April 2012
30. We’re drifting towards tyranny, again. Jefferson describes our first brush with tyranny., 28 April 2012
31. Are we following in the footsteps of Athens? Let’s leave the path before we come to the same end., 3 May 2012
32. The Titanic’s lessons for us about the coming economic crisis, 4 June 2012
33. Keynes looks 80 years into the future and across the Atlantic, to explain our broken values, 25 July 2012
34. Sobering words from a great man about the road ahead, 1 January 2013
35. Voices from the past describe the coming New America, 1 February 2013
36. Martin Luther King Jr’s advice to us about using violence to reform America, 20 January 2014
37. Machiavelli warns us against listening to Iran’s exiled terrorists.

(4)  Examples of our FAILure to learn from the past

1. Refighting the Last War: Afghanistan and the Vietnam Template.
2. About our operations in Kandahar – all that’s old is new again.
3. Another echo in Afghanistan of the Vietnam War. Will we hear it, and learn?
4. Stark evidence from our past about our inability to learn today.

 

(5)  Insights and advice from Alexis De Tocqueville

1. Americans, now a subservient people (listen to the Founders sigh in disappointment), 20 July 2008
2. de Tocqueville warns us not to become weak and servile, 21 July 2008
3. A soft despotism for America?, 22 July 2008
4. Let’s look at America in the mirror, the first step to reform, 14 August 2008
5. Can Americans pull together? If not, why not?, 29 August 2008
6. A warning from Alexis De Tocqueville about our military, 7 August 2009

(6)  Notes about — and from — the future

1. Some thoughts about the economy of mid-21st century America, 12 January 2009
2. A look at our history – from the 23rd century, 13 April 2009
3. Seeing today through the eyes of a future historian, 25 September 2009
4. “Welcome to 2025 – American Preeminence Is Disappearing Fifteen Years Early” by Michael Klare, 7 March 2010
5. A look back at our time from the 2100 A.D. edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 June 2010
6. A look at America from a superior perspective: the future, 24 October 2010
7. Imagining the future. Here are my guesses. Post yours as well., 28 July 2012

(7)  Economic History

1. A warning from Professor Niall Ferguson, 5 January 2008
2. Government policy errors as a cause of the Great Depression, 1 November 2008
3. The greatness of John Maynard Keynes, our only guide in this crisis, 4 December 2008
4. About the state of economic science, and advice from a famous economist, 8 December 2008
5. “A depression is for capitalism like a good, cold douche.”, 17 December 2008
6. Words of wisdom about the global recession, from the greatest economist of our era, 29 December 2008
7. Some thoughts about the economy of mid-21st century America, 12 January 2009
8. Economics is not a morality tale, 14 January 2009
9. Economic theory as a guiding light for government action in this crisis, 10 March 2009
10. The eternal truths of history can guide us through this crisis, 11 March 2009
11. Fetters of the mind blind us so that we cannot see a solution to this crisis, 1 April 2009
12. An important and politically significant guide to the Great Depression, 30 April 2009
13. The evolution of the Republican Party has shaped America during the past fifty years, 8 May 2010 — Discover that deficits don’t matter politically!
14. A look at Faux Economics, increasingly popular but bizarrely wrong, 15 June 2010
15. Keynes comments on our new-found love of austerity, 21 June 2010
16. A top businessman and banker explains our political and economic challenges, 30 April 2011

(8) Posts about History

1. American faux history: could we have avoided the Civil War?, 23 January 2012
2. Why did the South leave the Union?, 24 January 2012
3. Are Europe’s rulers copying the policies of Herbert Hoover in 1929, or the French Monarchy in 1789?, 26 January 2012
4. We’re drifting towards tyranny, again. Jefferson describes our first brush with tyranny., 28 April 2012
5. This day in history – looking at the road America didn’t take, 13 November 2012
6. Voices from the past describe the coming New America, 1 February 2013
7. On this important date let’s remember the past and look forward to our future, 2 March 2013