Mission failure : America and the world in the post-Cold War era

505 Pages·2016·3.42 MB·English

by  Mandelbaum

MISSION FAILURE
Q
Also by Michael Mandelbaum
The Road to Global Prosperity (2014)
That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It
Invented and How We Can Come Back (with Thomas
L. Friedman) (2011)
The Frugal Superpower: America’s Global Leadership in a Cash-
Strapped World (2010)
Democracy’s Good Name: The Rise and the Risks of the World’s Most
Popular Form of Government (2007)
The Case for Goliath: How America Acts as the World’s Government
in the Twenty- First Century (2006)
The Meaning of Sports: Why Americans Watch Baseball, Football, and
Basketball and What They See When They Do (2004)
The Ideas That Conquered the World: Peace, Democracy, and Free
Markets in the Twenty- First Century (2002)
The Dawn of Peace in Europe (1996)
The Global Rivals (with Seweryn Bialer) (1988)
The Fate of Nations: The Search for National Security in the
Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (1988)
Reagan and Gorbachev (with Strobe Talbott) (1987)
The Nuclear Future (1983)
The Nuclear Revolution: International Politics Before and After
Hiroshima (1981)
The Nuclear Question: The United States and Nuclear Weapons,
1946– 1976 (1979)
M
ISSION
F
A ILUR E
Q
AMERICA AND THE WORLD IN THE
POST- COLD WAR ERA
MICHAEL MANDELBAUM
1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the
University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by
publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in
the UK and in certain other countries
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Oxford University Press 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in
writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or
under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries
concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights
Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file with the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978–0–190–46947–4
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan, USA
In memory of my brother,
Jonathan Edward Mandelbaum, MD,
1949– 1976
. . . we do not think of ourselves as the potential masters, but as tutors of
mankind in its pilgrimage to perfection.
— REINHOLD NIEBUHR, The Irony of American History
Of course he remains essentially American in believing all questions
have answers, that there is an ideal life against which everyday life can be
measured . . .
— ANTHONY POWELL, Temporary Kings
You Americans are so naive.
— STEVE MARTIN, Saturday Night Live
CoQntents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. China, the Global Economy, and Russia 14
A New Administration in a New World 14
China and Human Rights 18
Economics as Foreign Policy 35
Russia: The Good Deed 52
Russia: The Bad Deed 65
2. Humanitarian Intervention 75
The Innovation 75
Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda 86
Bosnia 94
Kosovo 111
Famous Victories 124
3. The War on Terror and Afghanistan 133
To the World Trade Center 133
The War on Terror 144
vii
viii Contents
Afghanistan: Success 158
Afghanistan: Failure 165
Afghanistan: The Long Goodbye 175
4. Iraq 185
From War to War 185
From Success to Failure 203
The Wars After the War 218
The Home Front 227
Exit and Reentry 234
5. The Middle East 245
The Center of the World 245
The Peace Process 250
Land for War 272
The Democracy Agenda 287
The Arab Spring 298
6. The Restoration 311
The End of the Post- Cold War Order 311
The Bubbles Burst 316
The Rogues 325
The Rise of China 343
The Revenge of Russia 353
Conclusion 367
Notes 383
Index 459
ACknoQwledgments
Conversations with two superb editors, Adam Garfinkle of The
American Interest and Gideon Rose of Foreign Affairs, planted the
seeds that grew into this book. I am grateful to them. I am grateful,
as well, for advice, assistance, and inspiration of various kinds to the
following: Anders Aslund, Steven A. Cook, Robert Danin, Thomas
L. Friedman, Leslie H. Gelb, Richard N. Haass, James Klurfeld, David
M. Lampton, Starr Lee, Robert J. Lieber, Charles H. Lipson, Robert
S. Litwak, Rajan Menon, John Mueller, Michael B. Oren, Daniel Pipes,
Robert Satloff, and Dan Schueftan. The usual caveat applies: I alone,
and not any of them, am responsible for what follows. Indeed, more
than the usual caveat applies: I am confident that most of those I have
mentioned will disagree, in some cases strongly, with at least some of
what I have written.
It is a pleasure to thank, for financial support in the writing of
Mission Failure, Daniel Pipes and the Education Fund of the Middle
East Forum and the Hertog Foundation. I have enjoyed working on its
production with David McBride of Oxford University Press.
My most profound gratitude, and that of longest standing, is to my
wife, Anne Mandelbaum, whose wisdom, editorial virtuosity, and love
continue to sustain me.
ix