@kschake
Leads AEI’s foreign and defense team, author of The State and the Soldier, contributing writer at The Atlantic. 2025-2026 Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress. Californian. https://www.aei.org/profile/kori-schake/
1/6
Xinhua: "China targets an economic growth of 4.5 percent to 5 percent this year."
While this is the lowest target in decades, it's still roughly twice what I think the economy can sustainably deliver without a lot more more non-productive investment.
english.news.cn/20260305/d0f...
"If a major burden shift is likely, Britain and its neighbours can try to negotiate a Fulton-in-reverse, receiving back the baton, but in an orderly, stable and gradual way, creating a less American, not a post-American Europe."
For @economist.com subscribers, my Inside Defence episode with Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO's supreme allied commander Europe, is now out: www.economist.com/insider/insi...
Last night, I spoke to former Army Pfc. Jeremy Watson who said this about Capt. Cody Khork: “[he] enjoyed being in the service…and was a great coach,” who taught him “Compassion, friendship, loyalty…[and] to always try to stay positive when you can.”
This is what “regime change” means for Trump. No freedom for the Venezuelan, no democratic vote, just leave the old dictatorial system in place with most of the same people.
These quotes are actually very revealing about modern American civil-military relations
"Russia has failed at much since it began its full-scale invasion in Ukraine, but it has had some success in creating the narrative that its victory in Ukraine is but a matter of time," historian Lawrence Freedman writes: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/o...
Lastly, they are for the soul of your nation and your cause. Limits on war preserve humanity. Mercy transcends violence. After the fighting, there has to be something more. Rules of engagement and the laws of armed conflict protect you; abandoning them is dire.
I know that the people who need to read this aren’t here, but here goes:
Rules of engagement aren’t for the enemy. They’re for you. They’re for your soldiers when they’re captured or wounded. They’re for your civilians when they’re in range of the enemy. They’re for your allies, to reassure.
It seems my intuition was right that OpenAI seems to be relying on contract terms (aka Hegseth pinky swearing) to enforce the U.S. military doesn't use ChatGPT for weapons and domestic spying while Anthropic actually built safeguards into the model.
"Arab countries are probably using more interceptors each day or two than America can churn out each year."
So much good information and anlaysis coming from up and coming scholars like @slair.bsky.social during this operation.
That’s a big mission the Navy probably doesn’t have the force for while offensive operations are ongoing.
Who can blame him
Another crisis in UK-US relations. How does the alliance survive repeated ruptures?
Greg Kennedy & I brought together 14 brilliant scholars to answer that in Transatlantic Storms in Anglo-American Relations: How the Alliance Weathers Crises.
Out today with Georgetown University Press. 1/2
As I've been saying for days: this feud with Hegseth -- in which Anthropic looks principled, and Claude looks so valuable that the Pentagon can't live without it -- has been terrific marketing for Anthropic www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Wait — IRGC control of the country was the plan?!?
I'd started thinking through the implications for Australia of the excellent article by Zack Cooper in the latest Foreign Affairs before the US and Israeli strikes on Iran. To my mind those have exacerbated the issues Cooper identified and the consequences for Australia, as set out below.
"We have a question submitted online...A Mr. Carl von C, from Germany and/or Poland would like to know specifically what you mean by 'win'"
The military's obligation isn't to the president. It's to the law. That's not a radical idea—what Ulysses S. Grant modeled during the most serious civil-military crisis in American history.
@kschake.bsky.social
"By claiming multiple and often vague objectives, the president retains the ability to stop the fighting without admitting defeat. This, rather than obvious victory, is his exit strategy.” Richard Fontaine in @foreignaffairs.com
Trump on the Medal of Honor: "I tried for myself. I've tried numerous times to get one by myself. I keep getting shut down."
"The common thread connecting these operations is not escalation, but political opportunism: applying force only where the political and military costs appear low, in pursuit of quick wins that serve a limited foreign policy agenda.” @lanoszka.bsky.social
Iran fired 1200+ projectiles at 5 countries in the first 48 hours. Most were drones. These saturation attacks aim to overwhelm air defenses and drain interceptors. $20-50K Shaheds vs. $4.19M air defense interceptors put US partners on the wrong side of the cost curve.
Coordinated with Macron - sometimes that Franco-German cooperation does work - Merz announces that France and Germany have set up a 'nuclear steering group' and that DE will participaty with conventional forces in French nuclear exercises.
💥“No president in the modern era has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Trump. He's attacked 7 nations, 3 of which — Iran, Nigeria & Venezuela — had never been targeted by US strikes. He authorized more individual air strikes in 2025 than Biden did in 4 years.”💥
So happy to see my book Safe Passage made the cut, @ericmmurphy.bsky.social — thank you!
excellent discussion of the DoD-Anthropic situation with @justinhendrix.bsky.social @rightsduff.bsky.social & @amostoh.bsky.social - highly recommend
For the first time ever Claude is the top free app in the US App Store. There’s been no better marketing than the U.S. military trying to force the company to use its AI to fight wars and spy on Americans.
It’s also notable that AI apps and Threads are the most popular apps on iOS.
