Month: June 2021

Pragmatism will determine Naftali Bennett’s premiership

On By Marc NadeauIn Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Brookings Institution, Ehud Olmert, Israel, Naftali Bennett, PoliticsLeave a comment
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (source: The New York Times)

Last year, I had the tremendous privilege of obtaining an exclusive interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Despite a busy schedule, he accepted in the last couple of days to answer a few questions about the designation of Naftali Bennett as 13th Prime Minister of the country. I always appreciate his straightforward style.

Here is therefore the content of our exchange.

Mr. Olmert, what are your personal impressions of Prime Minister Bennett? Do you know him personally and what are your first impressions upon his designation?

I am very happy that Naftali Bennett was sworn in as Prime Minister. I know him, of course, and I think that he is a worthy person. Obviously, he doesn’t have a longtime experience considering his short time in national politics. But how experienced was President Obama when he was elected President?

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La grammaire du pouvoir

On By Marc NadeauIn Abraham Lincoln, Éditions Perrin, Bill Clinton, François Mitterrand, Général Henri Bentégeat, Histoire, Jacques Chirac, Lyndon B. Johnson, Politique, Sophie Marceau, Winston Churchill1 Comment

Les ors de la République : Souvenirs de sept ans à l’Élysée (Perrin) a retenu mon attention parce que j’avais de très bons commentaires à propos des talents littéraires de son auteur, le Général Henri Bentégeat. Après en avoir terminé la lecture, je dois avouer que je n’ai pas été déçu. Loin de là.

Toujours intéressé par tout ce qui entoure la Res militaris, je souhaitais naturellement me renseigner davantage à propos de celui qui fut le trait d’union entre les forces armées et les présidents Mitterrand et Chirac. J’ai toujours admiré le premier et j’avais toujours cultivé une distance avec le second. Le Général Bentégeat m’a permis de rencontrer dans ses pages un personnage beaucoup plus complexe et profond que l’impression qui m’en était donnée, mais là n’est pas l’essentiel de mon propos.

À vrai dire, c’est avec délectation que j’ai sillonné les scènes du pouvoir esquissées dans le style invitant et parfois acéré de l’auteur. Pour tout dire, Mitterrand s’amuse toujours à observer les membres de son entourage conjuguer la grammaire du pouvoir. Lors d’un déjeuner avec le Sphinx (surnom donné à François Mitterrand pour sa capacité à toujours bien cacher son jeu), l’adjoint de son chef d’état-major particulier se retrouve assis à côté de lui. Voici la suite :

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Wellington was not an easy figure to build into a romantic hero

On By Marc NadeauIn Alan Forrest, Battle of Waterloo, Duke of Wellington, History, Maréchal Lannes, Maréchal Ney, Napoléon, Scots Greys, Sir Thomas Picton, The Folio SocietyLeave a comment
The Duke of Wellington (source: National Army Museum)
(Cliquez ici pour la version française)

I recently had the tremendous pleasure of exchanging with internationally renowned author and historian Alan Forrest about his book on the Battle of Waterloo. Here is the content of our discussion.

Professor Forrest, it’s been a real treat for me to read and review your amazing book on this blog. Many thanks for accepting to answer a few questions for our readers.

I have always nourished a deep interest and admiration about the Duke of Wellington (the first name of my blog was Wellington.World). But he clearly lacked the “romantic poignancy” of his French opponent in the battlefield. Do you feel he has been mistreated / misjudged by history?

I do not think there is any reason to feel that Wellington has been misjudged. He enjoys a high reputation as a military commander, careful in his preparations for battle and alert to the threat of enemy attack. His record in the Peninsular campaign – where he did not, of course, have to face Napoleon – is impressive; and at Waterloo his use of the terrain and his tactics in the face of repeated French attacks have been widely praised. He was, it is true, a more defensive tactician than Napoleon, but I don’t think that that has led to his military qualities being undervalued, and certainly not in Britain.  On the other hand, he was not an easy figure to build into a romantic hero, in contrast to Napoleon who did so much to create his own romantic narrative and who fascinated even those who had no reason to support his ambitions (Walter Scott, for instance, or Goethe, or Byron). 

What is your global appreciation of the Iron Duke? Has he been overrated?

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Waterloo’s Band of Brothers

On By Marc NadeauIn Band of Brothers, Battle of Waterloo, Brendan Simms, Field Marshal Blücher, Gettysburg, History, King's German Legion, La Haye Sainte, Napoléon, Omaha Beach, Sir John Keegan, Steven Spielberg, Tom HanksLeave a comment

For about five hours on the fateful afternoon of July 18th, 1815, a band of brothers of 400 soldiers forming the 2nd Light Battalion of the King’s German Legion – a unit of the British Army – thwarted Napoleon’s plan of breaking up the center of the Duke of Wellington’s lines at Waterloo. Stoically, “these men, and their reinforcements, held off Napoleon for long enough to change the course of the battle.”

When I lived in Scotland and in the aftermath of my visit on the battlefield of Waterloo few months prior to these fantastic months, I was curious to read more about the iconic battle and those who took part in it. And I still am. I was therefore captivated by the publication of The Longest Afternoon: The Four Hundred Men who Decided the Battle of Waterloo (Penguin Books) by renowned Cambridge Professor and author Brendan Simms.

Even though the book was published 7 years ago, it remains one of my favorites. I am always lukewarm to embrace the notion that one specific battle definitively changed the course of a war or that a single event sealed victory or defeat. I came to understand that wars and battles are much more complex than that. But the story brough forward by Brendan Simms doesn’t fail to convince that a small group of men (400 out of more than 74 000 under the orders of the Iron Duke) could make a difference on the battlefield. When dusk fell after the battle, only 42 out of the initial 400 remained. That’s a survival rate of 10%.

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Putin was certainly quite pro-Netanyahu

On By Marc NadeauIn Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mark Galeotti, Naftali Bennett, Penguin Random House Canada, Politics, Russia, Syria, Vladimir PutinLeave a comment
Russian President Vladimir Putin and then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (source: The New York Times)

In his last speech as Prime Minister of Israel last Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu evoked his proximity with President Vladimir Putin the following way:

“We developed special relations with Russia, not just with Russia as a state, we also nurtured a direct close line with the president of Russia. And in so doing, we guaranteed the freedom of maneuver of the Israeli Air Force in the skies of Syria in order to prevent Iran entrenchment on our Northern border.”

A news outlet stressed the fact that the former Prime Minister of Israel “[…] boasted of his friendship with Putin and was a frequent guest in Russia.”

I have always found the closeness between Putin and Netanyahu to be extremely interesting, not to say simply fascinating. Notably in the context of the increasing presence of Russia in the Middle East.

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The Hero Code: “Find what you’re good at and give it to others”

On By Marc NadeauIn Abbottabad raid, Admiral William McRaven, Giving, Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Book Group Canada, Journal of Strategic Studies, Military, Osama bin Laden, SEALs, Special Forces, Taylor & Francis, The Hero Code, US NavyLeave a comment

Ever since I watched his famous speech “Make Your Bed”, I have been captivated by the career and thought of retired Admiral William H. McRaven, the former commander of the Navy SEALs. I was therefore excited to receive a copy of his most recent book The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived (Grand Central Publishing).

While I was reading it, an article from the Journal of Strategic Studies caught my attention. Written by National Security Affairs Professor James J. Wirtz, “The Abbottabad raid [during which Osama bin Laden was permanently neutralized by Navy SEALs] and the theory of special operations” elaborates about the theory of special operations, whose father was none other than Admiral McRaven. He theorized it in his master’s degree thesis in a period when, in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, we lived in a “[…] new, unipolar world, [where] U.S. special forces would be relegated to tertiary missions within a Cold-War force structure that appeared bloated, obsolete and ripe for significant reductions.”

McRaven’s work sought “[…] to demonstrate that a tactic and unit deemed largely irrelevant by conventionally-minded officers and civilian strategists could actually achieve strategically and politically important effects, but only if planned and executed by special operators themselves against significant targets in proper ways.” And you can figure that the devil was – and still is – in the details.

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Every Man can be a Hero

On By Marc NadeauIn Courage, D-Day, First Division, HarperCollins, History, Humility, Jim DeFelice, Military, Normandy, Ray Lambert, US Army, Valor, William MorrowLeave a comment

Back in early September 2015, my family and I rented a car in Paris to spend a day in Normandy. I had always dreamt of visiting Juno Beach, where we fellow Canadians landed 77 years ago today. While strolling on the sand, I kept thinking about the level of bravery and heroism required to conduct such an unusual task. Because running to a possible and likely death is certainly not an ordinary action.

Ever since, I have tried to read as much as I can about the men of June 6, 1944. I reviewed Alex Kershaw’s and Giles Milton’s excellent books here. Late last night, I finished reading The Hero Code by retired Admiral William McRaven and Peter Caddick-Adams’ Sand and Steel is on my summer reading list.

Earlier this week, I finished reading the gripping D-Day memoir Every Man a Hero by Ray Lambert and Jim DeFelice (William Morrow). I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself with Admiral McRaven’s book, which I plan to review soon on this blog, but let’s just say that I found the answer to a lingering question between these covers.

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