Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Admiral's Insight

Admiral Mike Mullen is stepping down as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, our top military officer. The Washington Post's David Ignatius has interviewed him for RealClearPolitics and the article is here.

I particularly like Mullen's insight about Pakistan, a country with which he has perforce spent much time working.
Increasingly, it became clear to Mullen that Pakistan's problems were embedded in the economic, political and cultural fabric of the country. They're on "a declining glide slope," Mullen explains, and this isn't something America can fix.
I am increasingly pessimistic about the chances of an Islamic country operating a modern, capitalist democracy. For awhile, it looked like Ataturk's rigid separation of church and state might enable Turkey to pull it off. Now, under Erdogan, not so much.