All of this puts russia and the west on a dangerous collision course. Where does it end, who, if anyone wins in the end. Im ali velshi a special report on the new cold war starts now. Its a new cold war. A year ago this week the crisis in ukraine escalated from an internal dispute between ukrainians into a wider international clash that pits russia against the west. Last march russia annexed crimea. Since then russia has thrown its support behind separatist rebels fighting in eastern ukraine, and that triggered a sanctions war between the west and russia, polarizing trade and threatening security in europe. New front lines between east and west have hardened into a new iron curtain of sorts of the this one runs through russian controlled territories in ukraine, moldova and georgia, where russia announced a treaty with the secessionists that controlled south ossetia. All the nations in blue responded with more defense deployment. Increasing tension that russia has with the n. A. T. O. A
At the scowcrofts school of diplomacy i think it is called. So there is certainly that. What effect they have had so far is hard to know and i dont explore that but he feels very fortunate to have lived a life a life that he hasnt feels that he has to pass these down and has one daughter, one granddaughter. He is intent on trying to nurture especially at the Aspen Strategy Group the Atlantic Council and getting people and meant touring them. Most of these people are probably still fairly young 40s tops 40s tops with maybe the exception of the hadleys and gates but there is some of that absolutely. Our last question here in the back against the wall. You talked a little bit about how were the conditions that he thought extremism and terrorism sort of come about or i forget the word. Can you talk a little bit about his thoughts on extremism or how it comes about . I did not really talk to him about that. I did not talk about the roots of that. I came one of my concluding comments because
Tank reports, a lot of leftwing and rightwing knee jerk reaction that simply did not get what i thought was right. So the genesis of this book was not in any way a whistleblower book or etc. , it was really to pack some salience around a very policemen call issue. And that is the origins of polemical issue. Now, before i begin the actual argument in the book, i want to lay out a few disruptive facts from a decade of war. First is using, for example, 2010 numbers, the pentagon spent 366 billion were obligated to contractors. 54 of its budget. Seven times the u. K. s defense budget. Now, when most people think about armed versus up armed contractors, they think about 30 or so are armed. Thats not true. Only about 1015 during the war, the wars plural, were armed. Or were trainers. And this is the element of the contracting world that i am focused on. The vast majority of contractors, you know, cooked chow repaired trucks, werelingists were linguists etc. But i focused on this for me, the
Up next sean mcfate and associate professor at the National Defense university and former mercenary talks about the use of mercenaries in ports around the world today. He says we are headed toward a future that will resemble the middle ages by hiring mercenaries to fight in wars was the norm. Thank you for hosting us and thank you for making it out today on a less than auspicious weather day. This book is about the return of private military force in International Relations today and i wrote this not simply as an International Scholar but also as a practitioner. I work for a Company Called national for several years in africa and i saw while i was working there many press reports, many think tank reports reports, a lot of leftwing and rightwing kneejerk reactions that simply did not get what i thought the industry right. So the genesis of writing this book was not in any way a whistleblower etc. Book it was to pass salience around the clinical issue. That is the origins of why wrote th
I unfortunately have to bring this to a close now but you can join us afterwards for conversation and a reception outside of this room. The book is available for purchase and i suspect citing as well. I would invite you all to come back next week when Heather Cox Richardson of Boston College will be speaking on march 2 on her new book to make men free a history of the republican party. My thanks to our audience and thanks to professor spero for a very engaging talk. [applause] thank you. With congress on their spring recess this week we are featuring booktv in primetime. Heres a look at whats ahead. Next well look at the use of mercenaries in wars around the world today followed by former navy s. E. A. L. Sniper and iraq war veteran scott taylor on his book trust the trade and later the biography of former National Security adviser brent scowcroft. Thank you peter Atlantic Council for hosting this and thank you for making it out today on a less than auspicious weather day. This book is