A Few Further Words on The Limits And Futility of Hard Power

I probably won't have time to write a lengthy post this weekend, but I thought I'd share a few essays from other writers on the subject of hard power. 

• First, there is an essay titled, "The Illusion Of Hard Power: Reflection On How Democratized Technology And Strategic Geography Broke The Superpower Monopoly On War".  If you're wondering why both Iran and Ukraine have managed to successfully paralyze the war machines of much larger and more well-endowed aggressors, this article does a good job of providing an explanation.
• Then, "The Future of American Strategy: Fighting Without Friends" describes how the soft power of the United States has been eroded over the last decade and especially how Chump Trump has aided in the destruction of that soft power.  The fact that the U.S. is now stumbling in its attempt to wield hard power in an unjust and ill-advised series of unprovoked wars is not helping things at all.
• There are also articles describing how policy makers in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Turkey are all lusting to build up the hard power of these nations, even though these nations are characterized by declining birthrates and stagnating economies, and even though any attempt by the leaders of these nations to offensively deploy hard power would likely result in a fair number of their young men and women getting shot up in the process.
• Lastly, please see my posts titled "The Hard Drug of Hard Power" and "So Then, What Is Soft Power?" for a view of a different way of making our way through the world.