Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

QED

The “friggin’ in the riggin”” item about fraternization gone wild aboard a Navy destroyer drew the most reponses of any item ever posted on this blog. This is after months of me slogging through reports on friendly fire incidents, counterinsurgency doctrine, military personnel issues, and so on. What really gets you all going? Sex, or, ...

575771_091209_Village2.jpg
575771_091209_Village2.jpg

The “friggin’ in the riggin”” item about fraternization gone wild aboard a Navy destroyer drew the most reponses of any item ever posted on this blog. This is after months of me slogging through reports on friendly fire incidents, counterinsurgency doctrine, military personnel issues, and so on. What really gets you all going? Sex, or, more precisely, “gender issues.”

It reminds me of what a sportswriter once told me — that the worst job on a newspaper is covering baseball, basketball or football, because every reader believes himself to be an expert on the subject. Kind of like sex.

Sister72/Flickr

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.
A photo illustration shows Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden posing on pedestals atop the bipolar world order, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Russian President Vladamir Putin standing below on a gridded floor.

No, the World Is Not Multipolar

The idea of emerging power centers is popular but wrong—and could lead to serious policy mistakes.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.
The Chinese flag is raised during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022.

America Can’t Stop China’s Rise

And it should stop trying.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky looks on prior a meeting with European Union leaders in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv, on June 16, 2022.

The Morality of Ukraine’s War Is Very Murky

The ethical calculations are less clear than you might think.