Upload
review-by-eliot-a-cohen
View
221
Download
8
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Kargil 1999: Pakistan's Fourth War for Kashmir by Jasjit SinghReview by: Eliot A. CohenForeign Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 5 (Sep. - Oct., 2000), p. 136Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20049912 .
Accessed: 14/06/2014 09:31
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to ForeignAffairs.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 188.72.126.196 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 09:31:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Recent Books
insights to a scholar of the first rank.
Drawing on primary and secondary
sources from both sides, May argues that
the fall of France resulted neither from the
supposed rot of French society nor
from the uniform military superiority of
Germany. Instead, a variety of contingent causes were to blame for France's cata
strophe in 1940: the conjunction of
governmental crises, misperception of
Hitler by English and French politicians, a few poor military decisions, and sheer
bad luck. Unlike most historians, May does not hesitate to draw lessons?most
notably, the fearful consequences of
military hubris that stalked victim and
(later) victor alike.
Kar gil1999:Pakistans Fourth War for Kashmir, edited by jasjit singh.
New Delhi: Knowledge World, 1999,
341pp. $31.50. South Asia has produced its share of
military history and those who write
about it. Unfortunately, much of South
Asia's own military literature has not made
its way to Western readers. This volume,
produced by a retired air commodore who
directs the Institute for Defense Studies
and Analysis, is thoroughly Indian in outlook and judgment. Bearing that
in mind, the reader will nonetheless find
an interesting and useful summary of
the latest Indo-Pakistani war?and a
war it most certainly was. Students of
the subcontinent will nervously ponder the
consequences suggested by the editor's
confident judgment that "if India can
beat a professional military force
equipped with modern firepower, on
the ground and at a time of Pakistan's
choice, with the initiative also in its hands, with strategic and tactical surprise almost
complete, then India can beat Pakistan
anytime, anywhere."
Interpreting China's Grand Strategy: Past,
Present, and Future, by Michael d.
SWAINE AND ASHLEY J. TELLIS.
Santa Monica: rand, 2000,308 pp.
$35.00 (paper, $20.00). A sober and useful review of Chinese
strategy. Apparently resting on
English
language sources, this book sums up the
views of rand's chief China-watchers.
One key judgment is that by 2020, China will have "many elements of a i990s-era
military inventory" in place. That may sound like a modest achievement, but
the authors point out that the regional context and China's niche capabilities in
certain areas (including space, information
warfare, and some exotic technologies) mean that the results could be unsettling for both China s neighbors and the United States. The second and more important conclusion is that China pursues a
"calculative strategy"?nonideological,
restrained, and increasingly international
in outlook?that will nonetheless reflect
aspirations for local dominance and
prestige. Neither "preemptive contain
ment" nor "preemptive appeasement" are
appropriate strategies in response. But
even if the authors' preferred approach of
"realistic engagement" sounds plausible, what precisely will it entail?and how
will we know if it works?
A War To Be Won: Fighting the Second World War, 193J-1945. by
WILLIAMSON MURRAY AND ALLAN
R. MiLLETT. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, 2000, 656 pp. $35.00. A brisk, vehement, and well-written
operational history of World War II
[136] FOREIGN AFFAIRS Volume79No.5
This content downloaded from 188.72.126.196 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 09:31:15 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions