On the meaning of victory : essays on strategy

Edward N. Luttwak's The Pentagon and the 'Art ofWar' confirmed his reputation as the most brilliantand controversial defense analyst and militaryhistorian writing today. Now, in 'On the Meaning of Victory', Luttwak examines the strategic and foreign-policy problems and possibilities facing theUnited States in the 1980s and beyond.In a series of incisive essays—some reprintedfrom Commentary, The Washington Quarterly, andelsewhere; others published for the first time inthis volume—Luttwak analyzes the threat ofnuclear war; the poverty of strategic thinkingamong the American defense establishment; theeconomic and political dimensions of militarystrategy; and the delicate interplay of politics,personality, and history in the making of policy.Always provocative, Luttwak ranges over a widespectrum of topics: —"Although both the superpowers have beendeploying new weapons and modifications ofolder weapons, there is no arms race!"—"It is not by accident... that all the loose talkabout fraud in defense spending is rarely decorated with any case histories."—"What this republic badly needs in its defenseestablishment is the wisdom of strategy and certainly not better 'management' or yet more 'efficiency'".—"Victory always has its price, and... is often aterrible thing for the victors. Only defeat is worsestill."In this far-reaching exploration of the meaningof strategy for America and its allies, Luttwakissues a bold challenge to Western societies thathave become comfortably habituated to defeat. Ten Questions About Salt Ii -- Is There An Arms Race? A New Arms Race? -- How To Think About Nuclear War -- Why We Need More Waste, Fraud & Mismanagement In The Pentagon -- Deus Ex Missiles -- East-west Struggle -- Economic Instrument In Statecraft -- Geopolitical Perspective On The Us-soviet Competition -- A Historical Precedent : The Romans In Dacia. A Record Of Failure. Of Bombs And Men -- On The Meaning Of Strategy ... For The United States In The 1980s -- After Afghanistan, What? -- Intervention And Access To Natural Resources -- On The Meaning Of Victory. Edward N. Luttwak. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Examines the problems and possibilities facing the United States in the 1980s and 1990s, from the threat of nuclear war and the military's strategic thinking, to the interplay of politics, personality, and history