Alessandra Nisch
Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of ...

President Putin made three foundational assumptions in launching his war against Ukraine that should have been correct but were not. First, Putin assumed the invasion of Ukraine would be a quick and easy fight. Second, he assumed the world would denounce the invasion but tacitly allow it. Third, Putin assumed the war would deter NATO expansion.

Putin’s Wars: Testing Boyd’s Strategy of Applied Friction

#Reviewing No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy

#Reviewing No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy

Proser sets out at the beginning of the Trump administration to uncover the “qualities of character…[and] personal magnetism” that accounted for the acclaim then greeting the Mattis appointment, culminating in his confirmation by the Senate in a vote of 98 to 1. Despite obvious admiration, the author only partially succeeds. Examples that display martial virtues abound, but readers looking for insights into the personality or inner life of Jim Mattis will struggle not only with making political connections to recent events, but also with what might come next in his public life.

#Reviewing Cult of the Irrelevant

#Reviewing Cult of the Irrelevant

Overall, Cult of the Irrelevant is a timely, well-researched, and thought-provoking book that is a worthy read for anyone interested in how to reform academia, improve policymaking, or both. Readers may not agree with all of Desch’s arguments, but they will be inspired to think more deeply about these issues.

The Importance of the Tactical Level: The Arab-Israeli War of 1973

The Importance of the Tactical Level: The Arab-Israeli War of 1973

The attackers had perfect conditions to accomplish at their operational goals. Indeed, they enjoyed strategic surprise, crushing numerical superiority, a simultaneous two-front attack, and the complacent overconfidence of their enemy. Yet, they were dramatically beaten on the battlefield. Their crushing defeat can be primarily blamed on catastrophic tactical skill.

#Reviewing Small Boats and Daring Men

#Reviewing Small Boats and Daring Men

Armstrong’s greatest contribution is including irregular warfare, or guerre de razzia, as a legitimate strategy alongside guerre de course commerce destruction and guerre d’escadre fleet action. Irregular warfare is not portrayed only as an incidental strategy that came about as a last resort, but as an accepted form of naval strategy that is part of the more general concept of naval operations and establishes precedent for practicing that strategy in today’s conflicts.

#Reviewing Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942

#Reviewing Tank Warfare on the Eastern Front 1941-1942

For decades, popular history has perpetuated misunderstandings about the Eastern Front of the Second World War. Some of these, such as the endless hordes of the Soviet Army overwhelming the professional and competent Wehrmacht through sheer numbers, border on myth, if not outright fabrications. Other myths include the technical superiority of German war machines and the genius of certain commanders, Soviet and German. This myth busting is part and parcel of the motivation behind this book.

The Voice of Chaos: A Conversation with Secretary Mattis’s Chief Speechwriter

The Voice of Chaos: A Conversation with Secretary Mattis’s Chief Speechwriter

Christopher Nelson spoke with Guy “Bus” Snodgrass about his new book Holding the Line: Inside Trump's Pentagon With Secretary Mattis. Snodgrass was Secretary Mattis’s chief speechwriter and later communications director. In this detailed and extensive interview, Snodgrass explains why he doesn’t believe he betrayed Mattis’s trust, the mechanics of speechwriting for Department of Defense seniors, the creation of the National Defense Strategy, and his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities the Navy has with retention and talent management today.

The Rise of the Present Unconventional Character of Warfare

The Rise of the Present Unconventional Character of Warfare

Major power competition has evolved in style. An inability to counter U.S. military superiority has led China, Russia, and major regional powers to employ unconventional warfare to achieve their national security objectives. Technological developments re-invented this type of warfare and improved its reach and potential effectiveness. Within the parameters of a democratic system, countering unconventional warfare is problematic. Attempts at global security cooperation operations may improve the efficiency of global physical presence but is no replacement for a whole-of-government effort to address root problems enabling the success of these unconventional warfare models.

U.S. Army Mission Command at a Crossroads

U.S. Army Mission Command at a Crossroads

The fundamental challenge will be how the organization balances increasing possibilities of control within a culture of trust. Without transparent institutional action to counteract these forces, unit-level leaders will continue to face the burden alone, reducing trust in the philosophy and by extension, operational effectiveness.

#Reviewing Kissinger on Kissinger

#Reviewing Kissinger on Kissinger

Kissinger on Kissinger is a thoughtful and insightful account of some of the most successful American diplomatic achievements of the 20th century, carried out by its most accomplished practitioner of diplomacy. The book provides an important look into Kissinger’s legacy, although it is only one part of the polytropos that is Henry Kissinger.

#Reviewing The Spy in Moscow Station

#Reviewing The Spy in Moscow Station

In the end, this episode was a true-life spy vs. spy story. Both the KGB and the U.S. intelligence community ended up spending a lot of time and money bugging and de-bugging, tying up valuable resources. And it is likely the KGB followed the NSA’s and CIA’s efforts since it had bugged the equipment. Readers interested in a detailed technological Cold War spy story pitting U.S. technical spy sleuths against Soviet spies hell-bent on installing listening devices in the U.S. Moscow Embassy, will profit from this book.

Fragments Through a Straw, Darkly: #Reviewing Drone

Fragments Through a Straw, Darkly: #Reviewing Drone

My initial reaction—if we can call two years of brooding initial —is exactly why we need more poetry about the experience of modern war. We need it for catharsis, communication, and reckoning. We need more poetry that forces us to wrestle in the cobwebs and the debris of the darkest corners of the attic. We need to reflect in the mirrors, be they clear, clouded, or cracked, that we find locked away in the trunk. Garcia gave me a key. Maybe it will work for you as well. 

#Reviewing America in Afghanistan

#Reviewing America in Afghanistan

Given the length of the conflict in that country, there is no shortage of literature covering America’s longest war. Yet, many works on the war in Afghanistan cover the accounts of military members and their tactical engagements. Sharifullah Dorani has written a short history of high-level U.S. policy making in Afghanistan. The book reviews the major decisions of the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. Dorani covers this well-tilled ground in an interesting, locally informed way and, unlike other works, brings it together in a single volume.

#Reviewing Road Warriors

#Reviewing Road Warriors

Daniel Byman’s book is a timely piece on the history and evolution of foreign fighters’ role in jihad. Readers will walk away from this book with a better understanding of the severity of the threat of foreign fighters, as well as how the rise of the Islamic State was possible to begin with. Foreign fighter flow to jihadi conflicts is evidence of the way the modern, globalized world fans conflict beyond its regional nucleus.