Rodric Braithwaite reviews former military intelligence officer Frank Ledwidge’s book, “Losing Small Wars,” which details military failures in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“One might hope that our generals and politicians might have learned from their recent spectacularly disastrous interventions that inserting one’s metaphorical hand into such a strategic hornet’s nest and hoping for a friendly hornet might be a fool’s errand.”

 “We need to get beyond appeals to false analogies: "remember Bosnia" – the Bosnian Serbs had the support of clapped-out Serbia – or "what about Rwanda" – the killers had no external support at all. We need to be absolutely clear, and clear now, what exactly we are trying to achieve and whether we can in fact achieve it.”

In discussing the Iraq war, Frank Ledwidge argues that at its best, the military was seen as an irritating foreign occupier.

“It must be time now even for senior soldiers to admit that this has become a very bad investment indeed. We ‘owe it’ to those whose lives and limbs may yet be saved to cut our losses.”

Frank Ledwidge discusses the cost of the Afghanistan war in both lives and pounds. The return? The world’s first “narco-state.”

Frank Ledwidge discusses failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and how we can learn from early thinkers, politicians and philosophers. 

“His [Rajan Menon’s] critique is realist. Despite lots of talk about international norms and human rights, power and interests still drive world politics, he asserts.”

“Human rights are now paramount. Mass atrocities will not be allowed. Sovereignty will no longer protect states that violate these standards. So say well-meaning advocates of human rights. Don’t believe them.”

“The Responsibility to Protect concept is not flawed because it’s hard to implement; it’s hard to implement because it’s a paragon of moral illogic.”

“The international community’s failures have dispirited many groups in the United States (to say nothing of the Syrian opposition): human rights advocates; adherents of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) doctrine; conservatives, neo and regular; and liberal internationalists.”

“Murderous militias and regimes can be reasonably confident about one or more of the following: that proposals for intervention will perish in the Security Council; that any force that is dispatched will be weak and hamstrung by restrictions—and withdrawn once the human and economic costs of sustaining it mount; and that the probability of being brought to justice is remote given multiple means of evasion.”

Rajan Menon discusses the intricacies of the Syrian war and why U.S. military intervention won’t resolve the conflict.