, Columnist
A US Defense Strategy Is Coming, Just Not From the President
Any American “national defense strategy” is better than none at all. Too bad the one being drafted will seem naïve and won’t be read in the Oval Office.
I come bearing slogans and instincts.
Photographer: Carlos Barria/AFP via Getty Images
Does US President Donald Trump have a strategy in foreign affairs? I don’t mean a slogan, such as “peace through strength” or America First. Nor do I mean mere instinct, such as hitting weak adversaries (the Houthis, say, or Iran) while ducking from confrontations that look more dangerous (with Russia, say).
I’m talking about strategy as the likes of Carl von Clausewitz thought about it: the definition of clear and big political goals, and the alignment of the available means with those ends.