Dive into the archives.
- Unheralded military successes
Kaplan alert! A typical piece by the man himself in the typical travel writing/war correspondent/archair historian format that makes him so great. From the LA Times, slightly abridged:
Unheralded military successes
Low-cost, low-risk operations such as those in Colombia and the Philippines show what the U.S. can achieve.November 25, 2007
When I visited Arauca province in [...]
- Cooking with what you have
Robert Kaplan follows up his pre-Patraeus report analysis by widening his bottom-up tribalism theory to include Pakistan, Baluchistan and Afghanistan in his latest article in The Atlantic It’s the Tribes, Stupid!:
Where democratic governance does not exist, we must work with the material at hand. ... Throughout the Arab world, old monarchial and authoritarian orders are [...]
- I take it you didn’t like the book then?
A review by Michael Busch of Hog Pilots in the Brookyln Rail:
Numerous critics have taken Kaplan to task for his poor readings of history and literature. These accusations are well founded. Kaplan borrows liberally from a grab bag of literature, history, and political science references to frame his discussions of global events. But while this [...]
- The strategy pendulum
Lex brought to our attention a couple of criticisms of Kaplan’s latest article in the Atlantic from both the left and the right. I don’t think these criticisms are fair. First of all, I didn’t read the article as a throwback to another era or as the prioritization of the navy over other services. [...]
- The Awakening
What can they know of England who only England know?
Rudyard Kipling, The English Flag (1890)
“In Israel in the 1970s, finding life exclusively among Jews in a small country claustrophobic, I discovered my Americanness anew.”
Robert D. Kaplan, Imperial Grunts (2005)
The Kipling quote has always rang true with me. I recently read the above Kaplan quote [...]
- Kaplan on land, sea (and air)
Lots of new Kap in the Atlantic this past week, and some of it controversial. More on that in an upcoming post but in the meantime check out the following three articles:
The Navy’s New Flat-Earth Strategy
The U.S. unveils a collaborative plan for policing the seasAmerica’s Elegant Decline
Hulls in the water could soon displace boots on [...]
- Hog Pilots Reviewed
That’s probably one of the stranger post titles I’ve ever written, but I’m of course talking about reviews of Kaplan’s latest book, Hog Pilots and Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea, and on the Ground, the “sequel” to Imperial Grunts.
First comes this favorable review from HNN in West Virginia [...]
- Unstoppable!
Kaplan has been so prolific since the publication of his new book that even this blog can barely keep up! Thanks as always to many readers who sent in the heads up, particularly Michael Lotus, Eddie and Larry. And if anyone finds any more new Kaplan material, please let us know.
1. First, an [...]
- America’s Elegant Decline
America’s Elegant Decline
by Robert D. KaplanHulls in the water could soon displace boots on the ground as the most important military catchphrase of our time. But our Navy is stretched thin. How we manage dwindling naval resources will go a long way toward determining our future standing in the world.
One of the more intense Kaplan [...]
- The last day
Today is my last day in Japan. All my research is complete. Tomorrow I head back to the Great White North. CA has been going for three years. Once again all three of us will be on different continents. I have been busy as hell the past few days making all the preparations. I will [...]
