Project on Defense Alternatives https://comw.org/pda/ adapting defense policy to emerging challenges and opportunities Sat, 07 Mar 2026 20:04:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 Aslı Ü. Bâli on Why the War on Iran Accelerates the Decline of U.S. Global Primacy https://comw.org/pda/asli-u-bali-on-why-the-war-on-iran-accelerates-the-decline-of-u-s-global-primacy/ Sat, 07 Mar 2026 20:04:34 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25807 I am a subscriber to Peter Beinart’s Notebook. I find him a generous and engaging interviewer of his very well-informed and insightful guests. This morning, March 7th, I decided to listen to the interview that I feature

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]]> Ukraine War: A Practicable Ceasefire… and its Alternative https://comw.org/pda/ukraine-war-a-practicable-ceasefire/ Fri, 06 Feb 2026 06:58:53 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25780 Carl Conetta, 4 Feb 2026 Summary Excerpts from “The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail,” Project on Defense Alternatives, 12 Jan 2026 Throughout 2025, the United States, its European

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]]> The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail https://comw.org/pda/ukraine-war-how-peace-plans-might-work-and-why-they-will-fail/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:06:58 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25742 Carl Conetta, 12 January 2026 – Full text⇒ HTML – PDF During 2025 multiple contending Ukraine peace and cease-fire proposals were put forward by the Trump administration and America’s European partners. This article examines how the leading

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]]> The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail https://comw.org/pda/the-ukraine-war-prospect-how-peace-plans-might-work-and-why-they-will-fail/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 08:52:55 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25681 Carl Conetta, 12 January 2026 During 2025 multiple peace and cease-fire proposals addressing the conflict in Ukraine were advanced. Most prominent among them are several put forward by the Trump administration beginning in February (2/28), May

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]]> Appendix: A Selection of 2025 Official Ukraine War Ceasefire and Peace Proposals https://comw.org/pda/appendix-a-selection-of-2025-official-ukraine-war-ceasefire-and-peace-proposals/ Sun, 11 Jan 2026 19:55:16 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25679 [main article: The Ukraine War Prospect: How Peace Plans Might Work and Why They Will Fail] ■ 20-point US-UA framework peace proposal – 23 Dec 2025 ■ European “Leaders’ Statement on Ukraine” – 14 Dec 2025

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]]> Contextualizing the “Lessons of Munich” https://comw.org/pda/contextualizing-the-lessons-of-munich/ Sun, 11 Jan 2026 18:53:29 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25676 History does not teach lessons. Lessons are distilled at best, often selectively. The standard lesson of the 1938 Munich Agreement is that any compromise with aggression will lead to more aggression. But the danger of “conciliation”

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]]> Variables of War https://comw.org/pda/variables-of-war/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 14:54:05 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25765 By Lutz Unterseher, guest publication, 01 January 2026.  ➪ see full-text:  PDF This essay argues that wars do not result from immutable human nature but from political motives, cultural dispositions, and calculations of military opportunity.  Wars

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]]> Hegseth’s Crusade – a more White, Male, Alt-right US Military https://comw.org/pda/hegseths-crusade-a-more-white-male-alt-right-us-military/ Wed, 15 Oct 2025 23:01:46 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25650 Carl Conetta, 15 Oct 2025 Pete Hegseth wears his masculinist panic on his sleeve when declaring that henceforth all US military personnel will be tested to the “highest male standard” for physical strength and endurance. Why

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]]> European Defense: First the Horror Vacui, Then What? https://comw.org/pda/european-defense-first-the-horror-vacui/ Tue, 06 May 2025 21:17:57 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25621   European national security institutions continue churning through the stages of shock following Trump’s betrayal, dealing with the sudden loss of the familiar and relatively comfortable continuity over the last seventy-plus years of US leadership and

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]]> “European Army”: A Thought Experiment https://comw.org/pda/european-army-a-thought-experiment/ Tue, 04 Mar 2025 14:37:47 +0000 https://comw.org/pda/?p=25604 ➪ see full post: PDF by Lutz Unterseher, PDA Guest Publication (English translation), February 2025. In nine concise pages, German military analyst Lutz Unterseher provides the strategic orientation, operational modalities, force allocations, institutional framework, overall personnel

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