Comments on: Khan Wilhelm

By: East Asia Watch » Blog Archive » Rumsfeld visits Mongolia

East Asia Watch » Blog Archive » Rumsfeld visits Mongolia — Sun, 23 Oct 2005 21:38:06 +0000

[...] Beyond simply offering thanks for the war on terror, the visit was a continuation of Washington’s well-established strategy of cooperation with Ulan Bator. [...]

By: Mark Hamm

Mark Hamm — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I read the article, it was quite interesting. The Great Game parallel is good, I can almost see him being threatened with beheading by some warlord someplace. In view of his experience, his politics are interesting. I wish there was some more on that.

Mark

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Its a fascinating article, isn’t it? Your posting it has reminded me of an article on Chinese expansion into Siberia that I’ve been meaning to write for a while. Maybe I’ll finally be inspired to finish it, now.

But I thought one of the most interesting things in the article, which you didn’t quote, was Col. Wilhelm’s view on how the zeal of Christian fundamentalism reshaped the US army. I wonder if he thinks Muslim fundamentalism and its strict prohibitions on alcohol would also steer Middle Eastern armies along the path to professionalism???

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Since he talks so much about the inherently conservative nature of military culture, I love it when Kaplan tips us off to a liberal soldier’s personal politics. It was especially relevant in this case, where Wilhelm is attributing the military’s post-Vietnam recovery to the born-agains.

I found it interesting that US strategy in Mongolia presupposes a future threat from Uygur separatism, and I’d like to hear a little more about the imagined scenarios. Is the big threat from a Chechnya-like scenario in China, in which a jihadi hotspot turns into a terrorism hub, or does the Pentagon lose sleep over the the prospect of chaos in its own right? In other words, are we afraid of the separatists, or of the spillover from separatism? Seems like that question will influence how we react to Chinese actions against the Uygurs.

By: Horace Jeffery Hodges

Horace Jeffery Hodges — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I doubt that anyone will scroll this far down to read my comment, but I have been waiting for an email from my cousin, who’s an upper-level officer in the air force — and an evangelical Christian, which gives relevance to his response to the reason that ‘Kahn’ gives for the new, improved American military. Here are his remarks:

By: The Argus

The Argus — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

[...] my best speculation is that it the motivation is somewhat similar to the second pillar of US-Mongolian defense relations. As Robert Kaplan put it, Preparing the Mongolian military to play an [...]