Jeffrey and Aaron walk through a piece of foundational field canon, The Wizards of Armageddon by Fred Kaplan, discussing its coverage of institutional and personal decisionmaking, picking apart the concepts of deterrence and compellence, and discussing the seemingly crystalized debate on the same core tenets, decades after the initial events.  Support us over at Patreon.com/acwpodcast!

Verse of the week: “Poets to come! orators, singers, musicians to come!/ Not to-day is to justify me and answer what I am for/ But you, a new brood, native, athletic, continental, greater than before known/ Arouse! For you must justify me I myself but write one or two indicative words for the future,/ I …

Quote of the week: “You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.” – Leon Trotsky In the world of high-wire, high stakes diplomacy, you have to be good to succeed. It’s better to be good and lucky. The stars were aligned just right for James Baker, the ace political consigliere and …