Enough About Nuance

This comment from an orbat.com editor about a Times of India story really caught my eye. It responds to some grousing by Indian officials about American frustration with happenings on the subcontinent.

[Note to Mr. Rajghata, who is a friend of the Editor's wife and therefore by way of being an acquaintance: The reason the Americans have been able to change the world in so many different ways in the last hundred years is precisely that they do not get the nuances. Or, to be fair to the 31-year old Washington analysts - the Editor's son is off and on one such - the Americans do get it but do not care. Too much nuancing is what leads, after all, to intractable situations. Alexander the Great was not one for nuances: that's how he solved the problem of the Gordian Knot. Editor.]

Here's to a robust, dynamic, and not-too-thoughtful American foreign policy.

The Analysis section of the Orbat (Orders of Battle) site is packed with military detail on the current hostilities.