World War Three?

[Valin]

The Feed:

12/20/13

 

 

 

Are we re-living the lead up to World War One? * Margaret MacMillan author of the excellent Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World and more recently of The War That Ended Peacehas penned the latest Brookings Essay on the similarities between our time and the years leading up to the First World War. The piece describes these similaritiesincluding widespread belief in the peaceful powers of globalization mixed with ineffective leaders, geopolitical grappling, rising nationalism, and instability in smaller countries that are clients of larger powersand argues that a another war of global proportions could be possible if we dont learn the lessons of 1914.

 

(Snip)

 

This piece dovetails nicely with one of WRMs latest essays, The End of History Ends, in which he argues that the US needs to realize the time for responding to discrete issues is over. Geopolitics is back, and we need to re-learn how to think strategically about engaging whole nations in a global power struggle. War isnt likely to break out tomorrow, but the US role in keeping international peace and stability is more crucial than ever. Wishing it was different is no substitute for a considered grand strategy.

 

 

 

* The Rhyme of History: Lessons of the Great War