Our Wars Pick Us

In his essay “The Geographical Pivot of History” Halford John Mackinder argued that ‘geography is destiny’. With the advent of the railway, he reasoned, that Eastern Europe was the world’s center of gravity.

Who rules Eastern Europe commands the Heartland
Who commands the Heartland commands the World-Island
Who rules the World-Island commands the world

But contemplating that the earth was 78 percent oceans, Alfred Thayer Mahan focused on the role of sea power when he wrote; “ The Influence of Sea Power Upon History”.

The advent of aviation and aerospace would change all of that as well. Defense is now layered from the depths of the oceans to the vacuum of space. It is the defense of national battle space and it is quick reaction mobility in far off places by unmanned air vehicles.

It is reaching deep into the mountains of Pakistan and surgically removing a key combatant, and it is drawing a circle around a small city in western Iraq and embargoing the inhabitants from the smuggling trade that fuels their militant economy.

We can draw a circle in the sand and we can draw circle in the sea, we can even draw a circle in the air, but we cannot draw circles in the jungles, in the rugged mountains, nor in the heart of the sprawling humanity of Baghdad. For this reason we are in Iraq and not southern Columbia. We are in the lowlands of Afghanistan and not in East Timor. We are in Bosnia but not in Mogadishu. We are in Haiti but not in southern Arizona.

We need to pick our battles well because our wars pick us.