Q. The number of spy missions, nuclear-armed bomber flights, and war games near Russia's borders have vastly increased over the past year. Same with China. Is all of this just business-as-usual geopolitical posturing? Or does it represent a dangerous escalation and a new ominous direction in U.S. strategic positioning? What is the justification for what Russia and China see as provocations and aggressiveness, if not actual preparation for a war?
A. To be honest, the level of intelligence collection today pales in comparison to what we were doing during the Cold War. It's all a matter of perspective. We are engaged in a global geopolitical competition with both Russia and China that has a military component attached to it. The intelligence collection and military posturing is simply a ramification of this reality. I think the Russians and Chinese are mature enough in their own assessments to distinguish between simple intelligence collection and posturing, and actual preparations for war.
Q. Between the FONOPS in the South China Sea and the recently expressed enthusiasm for Taiwan's independence, the risk of military conflict with China keeps increasing. Where is this headed? If People's Republic of China decides to use military force for full reunification of Taiwan, do you see the U.S. going to war in an attempt to prevent it?
A. You can't have two competing major powers operating in the same space without conflict. The US will either have to retreat from the South China Sea, and stop supporting Taiwan, or there will be a military conflict. I don't see the US retreating, so the question is what level of conflict will ensue. The US lacks the capacity for meaningful military engagement in either front. China will probably seek some form of low-level conflict that can be contained as a way of compelling a US retreat. But unless the US changes course, there will be a war.
Q. The U.S. against the clear objections of the government in Syria is occupying valuable land, stealing the country's oil, and preventing access to the most agriculturally productive region, effectively starving the population. The world sees this for what it is, a cruel game sacrificing innocent people for some perceived geopolitical advantage. Is this the kind of reputation the U.S. wants? Or does it simply no longer care what the rest of the world community thinks?
A. The US doesn't care, and frankly speaking neither does the rest of the world. Arab life has become virtually worthless in terms of generating sympathy when it is lost. The world has come to accept the cheapness of an Arab life. That the US is involved in policies that harm Arabs simply does not shock the global conscious[ness] the way it should, if for no other reason than the Arabs themselves behave as if Arab life holds no value. How else to you explain the sectarian violence, the Saudi assault on Yemen, etc.?
Q. In a democracy, at least in theory citizens have a say in all matters of public policy. Yet, in the end none of the recent military campaigns and undeclared wars seem to achieve much popular favor or support. What is and what should be the role of everyday citizens in determining the foreign policy and military priorities of the country? Or are such matters better left to the "experts"?
A. We should stop pretending that the US is a functioning democracy; Citizens United proves we are not -- when the courts grant citizenship powers to corporations, money and greed become the nation's lifeblood, not the will of the people. The American people have allowed themselves to be dumbed down to the point that their opinions are easily manipulated by corporate-owned and -controlled mainstream media. The inability to function as a viable component of government has resulted in the "people" fracturing into competing ideological and socio-economic fiefdoms. American democracy is little more than feudalistic plutocracy. Its an unsustainable model doomed to collapse in on itself.
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