As a member of the “cosmopolitan elite” that the authors deride, I purchased this book in hope of obtaining a better understanding the perspectives held by supporters of my soon-to-be Commander-in-Chief. I was immediately disappointed to find a series of short-sighted and contradictory arguments that in my opinion would fail to achieve the authors’ stated goal, peace and freedom in America.
Prior to assessing the individual policies proposed by the authors, it’s important to note their core criticism of the status quo. They refuse to believe that current U.S. policies are capable of preventing nuclear war with Russia, conventional war with China, or of meaningfully addressing challenges emanating from the Middle East. Additionally, they believe that two or more of these forces will conspire to successfully defeat the United States in a military confrontation. From these premises, the following strategic initiatives are suggested:
- Order U.S. ground forces to invade Iraq and Syria for the purpose of destroying ISIS and to reestablish political hegemony prior to either Russia or Iran. Next, bring about the partition of both Iraq and Syria before withdrawing regardless of expectations of future regional conflicts.
- Accept a Russian sphere of influence “in much of what was the Soviet Union” in order to make Moscow feel more secure with the hope that they would refrain from “obliterating” us with nukes.
- Contain Chinese ambitions in Southeast Asia by convincing the Russians to deploy their Pacific Fleet to the South China Sea in exchange for further concessions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The recommendation regarding Iraq and Syria fails to comprehend the absurdity of expending U.S. lives to achieve a political balance which we would not expect to persist following our anticipated withdrawal. If we’re not expected to shape future outcomes in the region, why not simply abandon our partners from the outset and allow the theater to mature at its own pace? The authors also propose the establishment of a Kurdish state, but naively assume that such a construct could sustain itself without our support in the face of deep opposition from Turkey, Iran, and the rump Sunni/Shia states they suggest should be carved out of Iraq. Lastly, despite their stated objective of attaining peace, the authors perplexingly assume that neither Russia nor Iran would resist our renewed presence in the region and that we could somehow avoid an expanded conflict with these actors. They even go so far as to state that our presence would cause Iran “to reduce its ambitions in the region.” Perhaps if Russia and Iran understood our intent to withdraw they’d take pause knowing that they could resume their pursuits immediately afterwards.
Regarding Russia, it’s not clear which NATO partners the authors would prefer we throw under the bus first. Besides Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, all of the other former Soviet Socialist Republics are to varying degrees still under Russia’s influence. Despite the fact that they acknowledge Russia’s inherent desire to “add territory, population and resources from its neighbors in Europe, the Middle East and Asia,” the authors have convinced themselves that the threat to the U.S from Russia is so dire that our only recourse it to refrain from criticizing Putin and that since “we cannot be friends” our silence will somehow bring about a situation in which we are “frenemies.”
With respect to China, the authors have arrived at the conclusion that Chinese hegemony in Southeast Asia is inevitable and that military conflict is the only possible outcome. Assessing that the combined forces of the U.S., Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Australia are incapable of overcoming Chinese aggression, the authors once again defer to Russia as the White Knight who if only we were to cede Eastern Europe and the Middle East, might do us a solid and send their microscopic Pacific Fleet to save humanity. It’s at this point where I genuinely started to wonder whether I was reading literature written by agents of Moscow.
Despite claims suggesting an offer of alternatives to the status quo, the remaining chapters of this book include little more than a rant against “German geo-political ambitions” and accusations of incompetence levied against Presidents Clinton and Obama. Mysteriously absent from their analysis is any criticism of President Bush and though the authors occasionally trot out populist barbs attacking U.S. trade policies, they utterly refrain from offering policy recommendations which they believe would better serve the American middle class.
The authors claim their objective is to secure peace and freedom in America, but their few policy prescriptions amount to abandoning the hard earned privilege America has obtained in the years since WWII. They assign a bizarrely benign intent to Putin’s Russia and believe that the abandonment of our allies in both Europe and Asia is our only path to security. Fundamentally, they conclude that the danger of military conflict is so significant as to justify our withdrawal from the world stage, but incongruously believe that our adversaries cannot be constrained by the same risks. They utterly fail to recognize the massive reduction in standard of living Americans would experience should be relinquish our advantageous access to world markets and somehow assume that an empowered China or Russia wouldn’t ultimately turn on us in years to come. We can only hope that these absurd ideas are not reflective of the actual intent of our President-Elect.
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