Topic: Decline of the West
Speaking of the middle of the road, that appears to be the Obama Administration's preferred route where Afghanistan is concerned. On the one hand, he won't just pull out, but on the other hand he won't give the commanding general the resources necessary to win.
Now it's certainly true, as Clausewitz observed, that war at its highest point of view is politics—but I doubt that he meant the craven, poll-driven politics that dominates the Obama Administration's thinking. The President is quite evidently afraid (a) to appear weak by abandoning Afghanistan and (b) to alienate his progressive base. So he's not trying to win, but he doesn't want to lose. I think I know how that's going to turn out.
Clausewitz notes that war is characterized by a principle of polarity: what's good for one side is necessarily bad for the other side. If the Taliban is winning in Afghanistan, the US and its allies are losing. That's the fundamental nature of war, and there's no way around it. Unfortunately, we now have a commander-in-chief who can't bring himself to utter the word "victory"—and if he can't even say it, he'll never achieve it. So for what, precisely, are the troops risking their lives? A healthier presidential approval rating?
