Fareed Zakaria posted on GPS: Here's what Foreign Policy had to say about the Mr. Y article:
On Friday, April 8, as members of the U.S. Congress engaged in a last-minute game of chicken over the federal budget, the Pentagon quietly issued a report that received little initial attention: "A National Strategic Narrative." The report was issued under the pseudonym of "Mr. Y," a takeoff on George Kennan's 1946 "Long Telegram" from Moscow (published under the name "X" the following year in Foreign Affairs) that helped set containment as the cornerstone of U.S. strategy for dealing with the Soviet Union.
The piece was written by two senior members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in a "personal" capacity, but it is clear that it would not have seen the light of day without a measure of official approval. Its findings are revelatory, and they deserve to be read and appreciated not only by every lawmaker in Congress, but by every American citizen.
The narrative argues that the United States is fundamentally getting it wrong when it comes to setting its priorities, particularly with regard to the budget and how Americans as a nation use their resources more broadly. The report says Americans are overreacting to Islamic extremism, under investing in their youth, and failing to embrace the sense of competition and opportunity that made America a world power. The United States has been increasingly consumed by seeing the world through the lens of threat, while failing to understand that influence, competitiveness, and innovation are the key to advancing American interests in the modern world.
Courageously, the authors make the case that America continues to rely far too heavily on its military as the primary tool for how it engages the world.
Read the A National Strategic Narrative by Mr. Y yourself.
4 comments:
ALthou I believe the essay to be a well written piece of paper, I do not see where is the innovation of it. Yes Mr. Y is suggesting to replce containment with "sustainment" but at the end of the day what will keep Americans at the top is the military and hard power they excel on the other countries.
"at the end of the day what will keep Americans at the top is the military and hard power they excel on the other countries."
Whoever wrote that states his opinion as fact. God, don't people ever stop to think that everyone else ALSO believes their beliefs are fact? And shouldn't that give us pause? Cause us to ask ourselves why we think this, if we're justified in our certainty?
I hate that.
Don't get too focused, and therefore too lost, in the military aspect of the Y paper. It addresses far more than that; it is "national" and "strategic" in its scope and indeed suggests a profound rethinking of our place in the world, 5, 10, 20 years from now and how we might all get there.
I am always glad to see comments here. It means that other people too take the time to think about the world around us.
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