
How Will America Deal with Russia’s Interest in Afghanistan? - jamesdd
https://intpolicydigest.org/2019/09/07/how-will-america-deal-with-russia-s-interest-in-afghanistan/
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giardini
I like Durso's "silo" model of politics and USA special interest groups
halfway into the article:

"Americans 'silo' every issue, such as Afghanistan or Syria, as interested
executive branch functionaries, Capitol Hill staff, journalists, think tanks,
ethnic interest groups, campaign fundraisers, and politicians coalesce around
it. A politician like Vladimir Putin thinks horizontally and will offer a
concession on, say, Syria, in exchange for an American hands-off in Venezuela
or Donbas. The losing silo will erupt that America is trading away the
legitimate democratic aspirations of the unspellable or unpronounceables in a
dirty deal. Someone will use the M-word – Munich – and it will be all downhill
from there."

"You are conservative about what you know best, so policy practitioners will
fight to protect their silo, especially if it might be traded away 'because of
a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing.' Trump
is a threat to the silos as in his mind everything is related to everything
else all the time and he doesn’t respect the silos – or their future earning
potential."

