School of War Reader: The Age of Forever Wars
The Age of Forever Wars: Why Military Strategy No Longer Delivers Victory
Lawrence Freeman, Foreign Affairs
Freeman observes shortcomings in military planning that cause “forever wars”:
By contrast, great powers tend to assume that their significant military superiority will quickly overwhelm opponents. This overconfidence means that they fail to appreciate the limits of military power and so set objectives that can be achieved, if at all, only through a prolonged struggle. A larger problem is that by emphasizing immediate battlefield results, they may neglect the broader elements necessary for success, such as achieving the conditions for a durable peace, or effectively managing an occupied country in which a hostile regime has been toppled but a legitimate government has yet to be installed. In practice, therefore, the challenge is not simply planning for long wars rather than short ones but planning for wars that have a workable theory of victory with realistic objectives, however long they may take to realize.
Mike Pompeo: We Don’t Need a Fake Iran Deal
Mike Pompeo, The Free Press
Pompeo argues against the binary choice between war with Iran and a nuclear deal:
American isolationists on the right, and their allies in Obama-aligned think tanks in Washington, suggest there are only two options—“war or a deal.” This weakens our position and wanders blindly into the false dichotomy the Iranians want us to believe. This “war or deal” narrative is being peddled by many of the “populist” Tucker Carlson-esque isolationists who have burrowed inside President Trump’s orbit. They repeat this mantra, exactly as President Barack Obama and Secretary John Kerry repeated endlessly—and wrongly. This is propaganda. It is a false choice propagated by those who would prefer to coddle the regime in Tehran and cut a deal that will ensure that Iran obtains a full-on nuclear weapons program over time. Ironically, this outcome makes war more, not less, likely.
TikTok Is Harming Children at an Industrial Scale
Jon Haidt and Zach Rausch, After Babel
Documentation of the widespread and adverse psychological effects of Tiktok on its users. This piece is from January 2025, but remains relevant:
Our evidence comes mostly from research done by those 14 Attorneys General. Some of their briefs have been posted online for the world to see. The briefs include hundreds of quotations from internal reports, memos, Slack conversations, and public statements in which executives and employees of TikTok acknowledge and discuss the harms that their company is causing to children. We organize the evidence into five clusters of harms:
1. Addictive, compulsive, and problematic use
2. Depression, anxiety, body dysmorphia, self-harm, and suicide
3. Porn, violence, and drugs
4. Sextortion, CSAM, and sexual exploitation
5. TikTok knows about underage use and takes little action
The Rise of Russia’s African Empire
Zineb Riboua, The National Interest
Riboua discusses the emerging network of Russia-dependent African states:
This isn’t mere opportunism—it’s Putin’s asymmetric warfare at work. Arming juntas, backing coups, and exploiting chaos, Moscow is seizing the power vacuums left by the West. At a summit in Sochi last November, Puti vowed: “Our country will continue to provide total support to our African friends.” Moscow’s growing influence in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—signals a clear trajectory. Between 2020 and 2023, military juntas in these countries seized power through Russian-backed coups, ending military and diplomatic ties with regional allies, France, and the United States. Now, they are deepening security cooperation under Moscow’s guidance. A joint force of 5,000 troops from Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali will to deploy in the central Sahel, reinforcing Russian influence while sidelining Western-backed security structures. But Russia isn’t just backing these regimes—it’s rewiring Africa’s security architecture through its shadowy mercenary corporation Wagner PMC. More than a paramilitary group, Wagner is a strategic weapon for embedding in security forces and reshaping the region’s balance of power. By supplying military aid and diplomatic cover, Moscow is making itself the backbone of their survival, ensuring long-term control over the region’s future.