U.S. Global Military Presence
& Defense Policy
This page includes only some materials specific to America's global military presence. You'll find many more on the U.S. Foreign Policy page.
Articles:
- "The Global War of Error. No, That’s Not a Typo." by Tom Engelhardt on "TomDispatch," Jan 9, 2020
- "'Don’t Close your Eyes, American Troops in Iraq' – Provoked by Trump’s Crazed attack, Shiite Militias Threaten US Military" by Juan Cole on "Informed Comment," Jan 9, 2020
- "War Criminal in the White House" by Dan Dinello on "Informed Comment," Jan 9, 2020
- "Who Killed the Knapp Family?" By Nicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn in "The New York Times," Jan 9, 2020
- "Congress: War Profiteering Is Real. We Need to End It." by Sarah Anderson on "OtherWords," Jan 7, 2020
- "Why the US Military Doesn’t Need to Go to Mexico" on "Fareed's Global Briefing," Nov 26, 2019
- "How America Can Win the Next Great-Power War" on "Fareed's Global Briefing," Oct 31, 2019
- "The Days of One-Way Pain Are Over" by Gary Sick on "Lobe Log," Sept 16, 2019
- "The Catastrophic Tenure of John Bolton" by Joseph Cirincione on "Lobe Log," Sept 11, 2019
- "Is US Military Hardware Out of Date?" on "Fareed's Global Briefing," July 29, 2019
- "On an Asymmetric Battlefield, US Will Need to Use All It Has" on "Fareed's Global Briefing," July 17, 2019
- "Wars R Us: Our Best and Brightest have Warned us of Pentagon Propaganda Machine" by William J. Astore on "Informed Comment," July 10, 2019
- "A General with a Bias for Action" by Andrew J. Bacevich on "Lobe Log," May 14, 2019
- "Can the US Military Back It Up?" on "Fareed' Global Briefing," May 8, 2019
- "The AI Wars" by Allegra Harpootlian & Emily Manna on "Lobe Log," May 8, 2019
- "Bolton And The Troika Of Tyranny" by John Feffer on "Lobe Log," May 8, 2019
- "America’s Defense Budget Is Bigger Than You Think" by William D. Hartung and Mandy Smithberger on "Lobe Log," May 8, 2019
- "Military Spending Hits a High" on "Fareed's Global Briefing," April 29, 2019
- "Introducing Our Special Issue on America at War" with "A Nation at Arms" infographic by Matthew Twombly researched by David Lovett, "Smithsonian Magazine," Jan 2019
- "America at War" special issue of "Smithsonian Magazine," Jan/Feb, 2019
- "Where we fight: Where in the World the U.S. Military Is Combatting Terrorism" by Stephanie Savell & 5W Infographics in "Smithsonian Magazine," Jan/Feb, 2019
- "The War Machine" by John Cassidy in "The New Yorker," Sept 24, 2014
- ""List of United States military bases" on "Wikipedia" [undated]
- "Doomsday Redux: The Most Dangerous Weapon Ever Rolls Off the Nuclear Assembly Line" by James Carroll on "TomDispatch.com," Feb 12, 2019
- "Trump Discussed Pulling U.S. From NATO, Aides Say Amid New Concerns Over Russia" by Julian E. Barnes & Helene Cooper ("NY Times") on "MSN News," Jan 15, 2019
- "The future of war," a special report in "The Economist," Jan 25, 2018
- "Trump’s 3 Generals may be Out, but the Forever War Lobby Still Rules" by Danny Sjursen on "Informed Comment," Dec 26, 2018.
- "How Did Revenge Become a Military Objective?" by Orly Noy on "Lobe Log," Dec 22, 2018
- "Mattis Resigns: Sky Will Not Fall" by Paul R. Pillar on "Lobe Log," Dec 21, 2018
- "Why Trump Would Miss Mattis" by Eli Lake on "Fareed's Global Briefing," Oct 16, 2018
- "Post-9/11 Wars Tore the Heart Out of America’s Heartland" by Nathan S. Webster on "Daily Beast," Aug 17, 2018
- "How America’s Wars Fund Inequality at Home" by Stephanie Savell on "Lobe Log," June 28, 2018
- "A Staggeringly Well-Funded Blowback Machine" by Tom Engelhardt on "Lobe Log," May 19, 2018
- "The Navy is resurrecting a fleet to protect the East Coast and North Atlantic from Russia" by Alex Horton in "The Washington Post," May 6, 2018
- "Why Are American Troops in the Yemen War?" by the Editorial Board of "The New Yorjk Times," May 3, 2018
- "Army Special Forces Secretly Help Saudis Combat Threat From Yemen Rebels" by Helene Cooper, Thomas Gibbons-Neff & Eric Schmitt in "The New York Times," May 3, 2018
- "On Seeing America’s Wars Whole: Six Questions for the New York Times" by Andrew J. Bacevich on "Informed Comment," March 21, 2018
- "Two Decades of War Have Eroded the Morale of America’s Troops" by Phil Klay in "The Atlantic," May 2018
- "Why Can’t the World’s Best Military Win Its Wars?" by Arnold R. Isaacs on "Lobe Log," May 1, 2018
- "On Seeing America’s Wars Whole: Six Questions for the New York Times" by Andrew J. Bacevich on "Informed Comment," March 21, 2018
- "How Trump is losing in Syria & why Haley is Posturing" by Juan Cole on "Informed Comment," March 13, 2018
- "Taliban appeals to American people to ‘rationally’ rethink war effort" by Pamela Constable in "The Washington Post," Feb 14, 2018
- "U.S. soldiers are revealing sensitive and dangerous information by jogging" by Liz Sly in "The Washington Post," Jan 29, 2018
- "Seeing Our Wars for the First Time" by Tom Engelhardt on "TomDispatch," Jan 4, 2018
- "Afghan Government Pleased with U.S. Mini-Surge" by Marvin G. Weinbaum on "Middle East Institute: Monday Briefing," Nov 20, 2017
- "The Navy’s Crash Course on Accountability - James Stavridis" by Bloomberg on "gCaptain.com," Nov 9, 2017
- "Trump, Niger and Connecting the Dots" by Thomas L. Friedman in "The New York Times," Oct 31, 2017
- "Tomgram: Nick Turse, A Red Scare in the Gray Zone" on "TomDispatch.com," Oct 29, 2017
- "From America With Love: U.S. Commandos Are a 'Persistent Presence' on Russia’s Doorstep" by Nick Turse on "TomDispatch.com," Oct 29, 2017
- "What if We Gave Seven Wars and No Americans Noticed?" by Andrew J. Bacevich on "Informed Comment," Oct 9, 2017
- "Trump’s Military-First Doctrine" by John Feffer on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," Sept 14, 2017
- "The Superpower That Fought Itself—And Lost" by William J. Astore on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," by Sept 13, 2017
- "What Would War with North Korea Look Like?" by Robin Wright in "The New Yorker," Sept 6, 2017
- "Investigators Repeatedly Warned Navy Ahead of Deadly Collisions" by Nancy A. Youssef, Ben Kesling & Jake Maxwell Watts in "The Wall Street Journal," Aug 25, 2017
- "Inside Erik Prince's secret proposal to outsource the war in Afghanistan" by Josh Rogin in "The Washington Post," Aug 9, 2017
- "The Hidden Costs of 'National Security'” by William D. Hartung on "TomDispatch.com," July 25, 2017
- "How much of a threat does Russia pose, and to whom?" by Jonathan Marcus on "BBC News," June 29, 2017
- "Iran Steps up Efforts to Oust U.S. Military from Middle East" by Ahmad Majidyar on "Middle East Institute," June 28, 2017 (see also other articles on Middle East Institute's "Iran Observed")
- "The Growing Danger of War With Iran" by Paul R. Pillar on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," June 28, 2017
- "A Wide World of Winless War" by Nick Turse on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," June 26, 2017
- "The United States is stumbling into another decade of war" by Fareed Zakaria on "The Washington Post," June 22, 2017
- "Will More U.S. Troops Help Afghanistan?" by Marvin G. Weinbaum on Middle East Institute's "Monday Briefing: Eastern Syria a Hotbed of Geopolitical Interests," June 19, 2017
- "Iran Observed" various articles on "Middle East Institute," May 17, 2017
- "What Obsessing About You-Know-Who Causes Us To Miss" by Andrew Bacevich on "LobeLog Foreign Policy, May 8, 2017
- "Russia’s Military Buildup in Arctic Has U.S. Watching Closely" by Lucy Kafanov on "NBC News.com," May 1, 2017
- "Trump's Previous View of NATO is Now Obsolete" by Peter Baker in "The New York Times," April 13, 2017
- "Onward and Upward with U.S. Central Command" by Andrew Bacevich on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," March 21, 2017
- "The Never-Ending War in Afghanistan" by Andrew J. Bacevich in "The New York Times," March 13, 2017
- "Syria: As 400 more Troops go in, What’s Trump’s Mission?" by Juan Cole on "Informed Comment," March 10, 2017
- "Why Trump Likes the Military" by Paul R. Pillar on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," March 5, 2017
- "Throwing More Money at the Military Won’t Make It Stronger" by Fareed Zakaria on "FareedZakaria.com," March 2, 2017
- "Now, About That Role as Commander in Chief ..." by the Editorial Board of "The New York Times," March 1, 2017
- "Slower May Be Better in Going at ISIS" by Paul R. Pillar on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," Feb 24, 2017
- "Trump’s calls for Europe to increase defense spending could force other upheaval" by Michael Birnbaum in "The Washington Post," Feb 15, 2017
- "Defense Secretary Mattis issues new ultimatum to NATO allies on defense" by Dan Lamothe & Michael Birnbaum in "The Washington Post," Feb 15, 2017
- "Torture works . . . to produce Fake News (and that’s how we Got into Iraq)" by Juan Cole on "Informed Comment," Jan 27, 2017
- "Why Haven’t We Defeated al-Shabaab?" by Diana Ohlbaum on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," Jan 18, 2017
- "Saudi official denies reports US has decided to restrict military support" by Guardian staff & agencies in "The Guardian," Dec 18, 2016
- "The U.S. Military’s Role in Asia in the Age of Trump" by Tim Shorrock on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," Dec 15, 2016
- "Why the Middle East knows not to trust the United States" by David Ignatius in "The Washington Post," Oct 25, 2016
- "Turkey Barges Into the Mosul Fight" by the Editorial Board of "The New York Times," Oct 24, 2016
- "Turkey's Push to Join Battle for Mosul Inflames Tension with Iraq" by Tim Arango & Michael R. Gordon in "The New York Times," Oct 23, 2016
- "A pivot to where?" by the Editorial Board of "The Washington Post," Oct 23, 2016
- "Pardon the American Taliban" by Paul Theroux in "The New York Times," Oct 22, 2016
- "The Siege Starts Without Warning" by Miljenko Jergovic in "The New York Times," Oct 21, 2016
- "Men Need Help. Is Hillary Clinton the Answer?" by Susan Chira in "The New York Times Magazine," Oct 21, 2016
- "Miri Regev's Culture War" by Ruth Margalit in "The New York Times Magazine," Oct 20, 2016
- "'Brexit,' Migration, Trade: E.U.'s List of Crises Keeps Growing" by James Kanter & Stephen Castle in "The New York Times," Oct 20, 2016
- "Turkey After July 15 - Dawn or Disaster?" by W. Robert Pearson on "Middle East Institute," Oct 17, 2016
- "The good, the bad and the Gülenists" by Asli Aydintaşbaş on "European Council on Foreign Relations," Sept 23, 1016
- "Up in Arms" by Colin Woodard (author of American Nations) in "Tufts Magazine," Fall 2013
- "Eight Lessons from Afghanistan" by Diana Ohlbaum on "LobeLong Foreign Policy," Oct 18, 2016
- "Monday Briefing: ISIS Loses Dabiq" by Charles Lister on "Middle East Institute," Oct 17, 2016
- "American Power at the Crossroads: A Snapshot of a Multipolar World in Action" by Dilip Hiro on "TomDispatch.com," Oct 11, 2016
- "2016 Elections: The National Security Void" by Andrew Bacevich on "LobLog Foreign Policy," Oct 4, 2016
- "15 Years in the Afghan Crucible" by Carlotta Gall in "The New York Times," Oct 1, 2016
- "Trump’s Pro-ISIS Foreign Policy" by Fawaz A. Gerges on "Informed Comment," Sept 25, 2016
- "America’s New Reality: Mad Bombers, Merchants of Death, & Lawmaking Harlots" by Tom Engelhardt on "Informed Comment," Sept 23, 2016
- "His Grip Still Secure, Bashar al-Assad Smiles as Syria Burns" by Ben Hubbard in "The New York Times," Sept 17, 2016
- "The Afghan War Quagmire" by the Editorial Board of "The New York Times," Sept 17, 2016
- "A Russian-Iranian Axis" by Vali R. Nasr in "The New York Times," Sept 16, 2016
- "How Many Guns Did the U.S. Lose Track of in Iraq and Afghanistan? Hundreds of Thousands." by C.J. Chivers in "The New York Times Magazine," Aug 24, 2016
- "After 9/11, We Thought It Would Be a Generation-Long Struggle; We Were Wrong" by Richard Clarke on "ABC News," Sept 8, 2016
- "Russian Realism in the Middle East" by Paul R. Pillar on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," Aug 20, 2016
- "Monsters to Destroy: Top 7 Reasons the US could not have forestalled Syrian Civil War" by Juan Cole on "Informed Comment," Aug 12, 2016
- "Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came Apart" by Scott Anderson with photos by Paolo Pellegrin in "The New York Times," Aug 11, 2016
- "What Russia and Turkey Bring to Syria" by the Editorial Board of "The New York Times," Aug 11, 2016
- "Pentagon scrambles to patch up ties with Turkey at pivotal moment in Islamic State fight" by Missy Ryan in "The Washington Post," July 29, 2016
- "The South China Sea: Explaining the Dispute" by Max Fisher in "The New York Times," July 14, 2016
- "China, Updating Military Strategy, Puts Focus on Projecting Naval Power" by Andrew Jacobs in "The New York Times," May 26, 2015
- "China's Maritime Disputes" on "Council on Foreign Relations" [undated]
- "Able Archer 83" on "Wikipedia" [undated]
- "Turkish authorities expand massive purge of opponents following coup attempt" by Erin Cunningham & Hugh Naylor in "The Washington Post," July 18, 2016
- "Turkey Interrupts U.S. Air Missions Against ISIS at Major Base" by Eric Schmitt & Dan Bilefsky in “The New York Times,” July 16, 2016
- "Turkey Accuses US Of Being Behind Military Coup, Demands Extradition Of Cleric Gulen" by Tyler Durden on "Zero Hedge," July 16, 2016
- "Time to talk in Syria" by Stephen Kinzer in "The Boston Globe," July 10, 2016
- "Project for the New American Century" on "Wikipedia.org" [undated]
- "Obama’s Whac-a-Mole Strategy" by Fareed Zakaria on "fareedzakaria.com," July 14, 2016
- "A Stark Nuclear Warning" by Jerry Brown in "The New York Review of Books," July 14, 2016 (a review of My Journey at the Nuclear Brink by William J. Perry)
- "'Star Wars' and the Fantasy of American Violence" by Roy Scranton in "The New York Times," July 2, 2016
- "Time for US to act in Syria" by Thanassis Cambanis in "The Boston Globe, June 30, 2016
- "America’s Sinkhole Wars" by Andrew J. Bacevich on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," May 31, 2016
- "How the Curse of Sykes-Picot Still Haunts the Middle East" by Robin Wright in "The New Yorker," April 30, 2016
- "Handle the Bear with care" by Stephen Kinzer in "The Boston Globe," April 28, 2016
- "Trouble Brewing in Egypt" by Paul R. Pillar on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," April 27, 2016
- "War out of sight, sacrifice out of mind" by Andrew J. Bacevich in "The Boston Globe," April 24, 2016
- "The Future of the Mideast: A decentralized, Networked Pan-Arabism transcending Sykes-Picot?" by Parag Khanna on "Informed Comment," April 22, 2016
- "The Islamic State is Losing: Now Comes the Hard Part" by Paul R. Pillar on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," April 7, 2016
- "On the American Front Line Against ISIS" by Robin Wright in "The New Yorker," March 29, 2016
- "Erik Prince: Energizer Bunny" by David Isenberg on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," March 29, 2016
- "We’re not a poor country, Mr. Trump" by Robert J. Samuelson in "The Washington Post," March 27, 2016
- "America’s Post-Democratic Military" by William Astore on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," March 25, 2016
- "The Death of Our Treaties" by Jessica T. Mathews in "The New York Review of Books," March 24, 2016
- "The Islamic State and Endlessly Expanding War" by Paul R. Pillar on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," March 22, 2016
- "A Truce in Syria" by Dexter Filkins in "The New Yorker," March 7, 2016
- "The North Goes South Or The South Comes North" by Graham E. Fuller on "LobeLog Foreign Policy," March 2, 2016
- "A Better, Not Bigger, Military Budget" by the Editorial Board of "The New York Times," Feb 29, 2016
- "The Libya Gamble, Part I: Hillary Clinton, ‘Smart Power’ and a Dictator’s Fall" by Scott Shane and Jo Becker in "The New York Times," Feb 27, 2016
- "The Libya Gamble, Part II: A New Libya, with ‘Very Little Time Left’" by Scott Shane and Jo Becker in "The New York Times," Feb 27, 2016
- "Andrew Bacevich, How to Avert Real Change in Election 2016" by Tom Engelhardt on "TomDispatch," Jan 26, 2016 (introduction to "Out of Bounds, Off-Limits, or Just Plain Ignored: Out of Bounds, Off-Limits, or Just Plain Ignored: Six National Security Questions Hillary, Donald, Ted, Marco, et al., Don’t Want to Answer and Won’t Even Be Asked" by Andrew J. Bacevich)
- "To Keep America Safe, Embrace Drone Warfare" by Michael V. Hayden in "The New York Times," Feb 19, 2016
- "Washington in Wonderland: Down the Iraqi Rabbit Hole (Again)" by Andrew J. Bacevich on "TomDispatch," June 18, 2015
- "Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging – review" by Joanna Bourke in "The Guardian," June 26, 2016 (link to book)
- "A Stark Nuclear Warning" by Jerry Brown in "The New York Review of Books," July 14, 2016 (a review of My Journey at the Nuclear Brink by William J. Perry)
- Bacevich, Andrew J., America's War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (2016)
- Johnson, Chalmers, The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project), 2005
- Junger, Sebastian, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, 2016
- Preble, Christopher A., The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free, 2009
- Perry, William J., My Journey at the Nuclear Brink, 2015
- Scharre, Paul, Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War, 2018
- Singer, P.W. & Cole, August, Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, 2015
- Maps:
- "Where in the World the U.S. Military Is Combatting Terrorism" from "Smithsonian Magazine," Jan 2019
- militarybases.com - interactive map of US and overseas bases with descriptions, posted 3/16/18
- NATO on Duty - interactive map of NATO presence
- Russia's militarization of the Arctic (Business Insider)
- US military base locations, many with website addresses (NASAA)
- US military bases (Wikipedia)
- Closed US military installations (Wikipedia)
- US Embassies, Consulates and Diplomatic Missions
- Russian military bases abroad (Wikipedia)
- WarGames (1983) - A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.