the future of the u.s. armed forces

Presidents and Their Generals: A Conversation with Eliot Cohen Eliot Cohen
When President Obama fired General Stanley McChrystal and sent General David Petraeus to Kabul in his stead, he wrote the latest chapter in a long narrative of civil-military tensions in America.

Ebb Tide Seth Cropsey
American’s many post-Cold War land wars have obscured important strategic truths, among them the real value of the U.S. Navy.

Caught on a Lee Shore Dakota L. Wood
Redefining the strategic niche of the Marine Corps may be the key to a future as glorious as its past.

In the Army Now Richard A. Lacquement, Jr.
The Army’s reluctant embrace of counterinsurgency and stability operations is the right choice. Now comes the hard part: to institutionalize it.

Up in the Air Richard B. Andres
The Air Force is in a tailspin, and a fundamental strategic myopia is the reason.

Benevolent, Adaptable and Underappreciated Jeff Robertson
A technology-enabled temptation to shorten the tether on Coast Guard operations threatens the future of a uniquely resourceful organization.

Unreserved Support Paul McHale
A former Congressman makes the case for giving the Active Reserves their due.

policy focus

Getting to No Donald L. Horowitz
It’s delusional to think that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, whether proximate or direct, can end the conflict anytime soon.

men & machines

Robots of the Rising Sun Jennifer Robertson
Japan is looking to robots to boost birth rates, ease the battle between the sexes and lead the nation into a bright, silicon future.

Electric Company Giles Slade
The more we rely on personal entertainment devices to keep us company, the lonelier we become.

Humanism's Four Stages Fred Baumann
Renaissance humanists and their successors asked a question for which we now desperately need an answer.

reviews

Reading Al-Anbar David Kilcullen
A new two-volume Marine Corps history of the Iraq War “surge” is revolutionary: It actually listens to what Iraqis have to say.

You Are What You Click Sven Birkerts
Marshall McLuhan once told us that “the medium is the message.” Now the medium is rewiring the human brain.

The Unreal Thing R. Jay Magill, Jr.
The question of authenticity has occupied some of the subtlest minds of the last century. Andrew Potter thinks the whole effort is a hoax.

The Gallic Orwell Ian Brunskill
Albert Camus and George Orwell had much in common, not least an early death and the elastic use of their literary legacies.

Chesterton's Warning Wilfred M. McClay
G.K. Chesterton didn’t fall for the lure of the “eugenists” in his day; nor should we in ours.

notes & letters

Autumn Note: Vial of Tears Noelle Daly
Decades on, we’ve only just begun to ask the difficult questions about assisted reproductive technologies.

web exclusive

Get A Job Robert E. Litan
With the November elections just around the corner, the Washington Post is reporting that the Obama Administration is scrambling for ways to boost America’s dismal job numbers—without busting the budget. Here are two low-cost options they ought to try: immigration reform and Federal R&D spending reform.