ISRAEL: CDR SALAMANDER, CAROLINE GLICK, AND THE IDF'S FAILED DOCTRINES.
https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/caroline-glicks-failed-doctrines
The title of CDR Salamander's blog post is a little confusing; the article is an endorsement of Caroline Glick, sharing her critiques of the "failed doctrines" of the IDF. [EDIT: CDR Salamander has fixed the title.] Quoting from Glick:
Two underlying assumptions guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. The first asserted that with the end of the Cold War, the era of conventional wars had ended. In the present age, brains, rather than brawn, would rule the roost.
…the second underlying assumption that guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. This assumption, also championed by Barak, asserted that Israel’s most important strategic asset was the United States.
Salamander adds:
The Smartest People in the Room™ assured them all was well.
When this war ends - or at least this stage of a “war” that may never really end - this reality will have to be addressed, and probably looks like it already is.
The failure of the second assumption should ring loudly in Europe as well. The Russians have made this apparent.
Glick's original article - titled 'Rising from the Ruins of a Generation of Failed Doctrines' - is here:
https://carolineglick.com/rising-from-the-ruins-of-a-generation-of-failed-doctrines/
Glick notes that the IDF is already starting to learn some hard lessons, and moving back towards domestically-produced weapons and munitions in a program called the "Independence Project".
COMMENTARY. I have little to add to the knowledgeable analyses of Caroline Glick and CDR Salamander, but I do want to point out one thing. The IDF was not wrong in its estimation of the American people's support for the Jewish state, but it made the mistake of confusing the American people with the American government.
Every American patriot understands that while our own Nation's security is entrusted to our government and our armed forces, ultimately it is the American citizenry - We The People - who are responsible for our Nation's safety and our own. Our Bill of Rights enshrines the individual citizen's right to keep and bear the tools of his or her own defense, and of the Nation's. This is every American's last line of defense against enemies foreign and domestic, and it is our protection in the event of an ineffectual or hostile government regime.
The defense of Israel is Israel's responsibility. The Israeli people have paid a terrible price for their government's over-reliance on technology, intellect, and a friendly regime in Washington. As Americans prepare to celebrate our Independence Day, Israelis are looking for a way forward in the wake of last October's bloodshed. May they do so in a renewed spirit of independence.
