Empire of Japan
War fatigue settles among Palestinians
For the first time, the majority of Gaza civilians—some 57%—now believe that the Oct. 7 atrocities were a mistake, a recent survey reveals.
Op-eds
America’s ‘self-defeat’ in Afghanistan
Three years after the U.S. withdrawal, lessons should have been learned
Op-eds
Biden’s substitute for victory
At best, it’s a frozen conflict
Op-eds
Replacing America
China’s Communists rulers intend to establish a new world order
Op-eds
The JoongAng-CSIS Forum 2024: Keynote Address by Matt Pottinger
Prime Minister Han [Duck-Soo]; Chairman Hong [Seok-Hyun]; President Hamre—thank you for your stimulating remarks this morning. And thank you for inviting me to be here today. We have a distinguished...
Remarks
War flashbacks in Guam as China projects power in the Pacific
Lourdes A. Leon Guerrero, the Governor of Guam, a US territory, is not just waiting for the rest of the US to come save them. In this interview conducted in July, she describes some of the initiatives she is hoping to get off the ground so Guam is better able to defend itself.
Op-eds
Good Luck With That Grand Strategy
Even the most comprehensive plans are bound to fail if leaders can’t build support for them.
Op-eds
U.S. fighting China on the wrong battlefield
While the U.S. has been focused on preparing for the kinetic warfare battlefield, China has been registering big wins on the political warfare battlefield. You can see it all over the Pacific Islands.
Op-eds
Preserving U.S. Interests in the Indo-Pacific
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Congressional Testimonies
Beijing’s Subversive Political Warfare in the Pacific—and the Need for Greater Engagement by the United States and Taiwan
Honduras has said it intends to shift diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. We know this story: with the exception of 2007, when St. Lucia switched from Beijing to Taipei, the trend has run in this...
Op-eds
Shaping the future of the world
Either we do it or our enemies do it
Op-eds
Rue Britannia? Russian, Iranian and Chinese imperialism is what should concern us
Russian, Iranian, and Chinese imperialism is what should concern us
Op-eds
China’s Agreement with Solomon Islands & Implications for Security in the Pacific
An Interview with Cleo Paskal
Op-eds
You Must Remember This
|
| The Siege of Constantinople |
Mehmed the Conqueror – as he would be known from that day forward -- rode triumphantly into the city on a white horse. Soon, churches would be converted into mosques. Constantinople would become Istanbul.
“For the West this was a dark moment,” writes historian Efraim Karsh in his masterful book, Islamic Imperialism. “For Islam it was a cause for celebration. For nearly a millennium Constantinople had been the foremost barrier – physically and ideologically – to Islam’s sustained drive for world conquest and the object of desire of numerous Muslim rulers.”
Mehmed cast himself as not just as a master builder of the Ottoman Empire, but also as the caliph – the supreme spiritual and temporal ruler of all the world’s Muslims, chosen to “act as Allah’s Sword ‘blazing forth the way of Islam from the East to West.’” He would go on to conquer Greece, Serbia, the Balkans south of the Danube and the Crimean peninsula. His grandson and great grandson would extend the caliphate to include the Levant, Egypt, the Arabian Hijaz including the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, Iraq, North Africa, and most of Hungary.
The desire to conquer the world – or even just one’s neighbors -- is hardly an Islamic invention. Genghis Khan is not a name: It’s a title. It means “universal ruler.” The man history knows as Genghis Khan believed it was his divinely ordained mission to lead the Mongols to global domination.
And he loved his work. “Man's highest joy is victory: to conquer his enemies,” he said, “to pursue them; to deprive them of their possessions; to make their beloved weep; to ride on their horses; and to embrace their wives and daughters.”
Op-eds
Know Thine Enemies
It would be nice — or at least more convenient — if America could fight just one enemy at a time. But that’s seldom how it works. World War II was called a world war fo...
Op-eds
The End of War as We Know It?
I have been following the Hamas takeover of Gaza with a sense of what Yogi Berra, in reference to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, described as "déjà vu all over again." Almo...
Op-eds
An Old-fashioned War
To be fair to our enemies, they are only doing what comes naturally. We are the historical oddballs. Wars have been fought since time immemorial. The vast majority have been over power a...
Op-eds
The Myth of Stability
In just a few days, I'm to debate at the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin. Trinity was founded in 1592. The Philosophical Society – better kno...
Op-eds
Historical Precedents: The War on Terrorism Does Echo WW2
The 60th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy gave President Bush an opportunity to draw parallels between World War II, on the one hand, and the war in Iraq and the broader global conflict, o...