Author: Tom Raquer
-
THE “AMERICA FIRST” SCAM: HOW THE 2025 NATIONAL SECURITYH STRATEGY SELLS GLOBAL DOMINANCE AS POPULISM
The newly released 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) promises to put Americans first—but its real priorities reveal a costly agenda of global power projection that serves elites rather than citizens. — THE GRAND ILLUSION The document’s rhetoric sounds populist: it rejects “globalism,” prioritises sovereignty, and promises to protect American workers. But beneath the surface, its…
-
AMERICA FIRST: BRINGING BACK THE ROOSEVELT RULE IN THE 2025 NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY (NSS)
MAKING NATIONAL SECURITY SERVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. Dear Essential American Citizen, Hopefully, but not you are aware that last week the DC elite policy makers published the 2025 National Security Strategy. I say not. If you are like me, you were not invited to join in the development of the NSS. We were not involved…
-
FLEXIBILITY WITHOUT PURPOSE
The United States once had a framework for war: Clear objective. Overwhelming force. Public support. Defined end state. It was imperfect—but it was coherent. That coherence is now gone. What has replaced it is not a new doctrine. It is the absence of one.
-
THE STRAIT WILL NOT OPEN BECAUSE THEY DEMAND IT
THE STRAIT WILL NOT OPEN BECAUSE THEY DEMAND IT April 3, 2026 Tom Raquer Lt. Col. (Ret.), USAF • Southeast Asia Foreign Area Officer From the series: After the Winter — Collapse, Spring, and the New First Turning Writing for First Turning Strategists PREVIEW Forty nations can meet. They can issue statements. They can demand…
-
KHARG IS NOT A TARGET — IT IS A TRAP
Kharg Island looks like a decisive oil target. It isn’t. It’s a trap. Modern energy systems don’t break where they’re struck—they adapt, redistribute stress, and expand the battlefield. The real fight isn’t over oil infrastructure. It’s over risk, flow, and control.
-
YOU (USA)HAVE THE WATCH — THEY HAVE THE TIME (IRAN)
The United States measures progress in days. Iran measures it in endurance. That is the mismatch. And in war, mismatches decide outcomes. Because the actor who controls time does not need to win the battlefield. It only needs to make sure that the war does not end on the opponent’s terms. The United States may…
-
THE WAR POWERS TEST
Authority Without Consent Tom Raquer Lt. Col. (Ret.), U.S. Air Force • Southeast Asia Foreign Area Officer From the series: After the Winter — Collapse, Spring, and the New First Turning Published: March 26, 2026 PREVIEW The United States is now engaged in a war. That is not a rhetorical description. It is how the…
-
-
HOW CHINA SEES THIS WAR
This is not a war China needs to win. It is a system already producing pressure. One side is engaged in the fight. The other is positioned to gain from the network’s evolution. And in prolonged conflict— Advantage does not always go to the side that acts. It often goes to the side that can…
-
Why Decapitation Fails Against Systems: Iran and the Limits of U.S. Strategy
Key Takeaways * Decapitation is ineffective against distributed systems * Iran’s structure prioritises continuity * War shifts toward attrition and endurance * Political sustainability becomes decisive Strategy must align with system structure