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The Fall of Kabul - the End of the 9/11 Wars and its Implications

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The 9/11 Wars started with a strategic shock and seemingly ended with another last August.  The shock was not the US withdrawal from Afghanistan - one could argue the wisdom of that either way - the shock is the manner in which it was carried out - unilateral and also inept.   In this short piece I will outline what the implications of this shock may be not so much for the US as for the rest of the world and in particular that part which we still sometimes call the West.  The article will first examine how we got to this point, how and why the so-called Wars of Choice, or Liberal Wars, went so awry and then consider the implications for the West, and the UK in particular, in a world in which liberal hegemony feels much less secure than it once did.  The shock isn't the victory of the Taleban, the shock is the realisation that the US has decided there are limits to its will and ability to project power.  The implications of this are likely to have profound consequences for internati
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Geopolitical Trends and the Integrated Defence and Security Review (IDSR)

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Geopolitical thought is a series of theories and concepts which can help strategic analysts understand where, how and why threats may manifest. Geopolitical analysis thus helps to provide a framework for understanding what forces are needed to deter or defeat existing or emerging threats in various physical mediums or domains.  In this article I briefly outline how geopolitical concepts can be useful; assess some of the key geopolitical trends which apply to both adversaries and allies; and then consider some of the operational and technical consequences for the IDSR.  What is geopolitics and what is its value to the analyst? Geopolitics is the effect of geography on international politics and geography is a key and ubiquitous strategic dimension. Politics is the master dimension of strategy because it provides strategy with its purpose. But politics is itself greatly conditioned by geography and, in turn, the political significance of a given physical space is animated by the pol
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