Grazie alla segnalazione su The Interpreter, il bel blog del Lowy Institute for International Policy di Sidney, ho potuto leggere la trascrizione di un recentissimo discorso del National Security Adviser indiano Shivshankar Menon, uno dei 100 global thinkers secondo la rivista Foreign Policy. Oggetto dell'intervento di Menon è stato il ruolo delle forze armate nell'attuale sistema internazionale.
Ne consiglio la lettura. Si tratta di una bella lezione di "realismo".

"(…) The biggest difference between national societies and international society is that sanctions for not respecting laws within our societies are several and multilayered, ranging from social opprobrium to judicial punishment. There is no effective international equivalent of these sanctions for those who transgress international law, such as it is. The only effective sanction is force or the threat of its use, and the willingness of those who possess it to use it.
In other words, while domestic societies have evolved or are evolving towards rule of law, international society is still much closer to primeval anarchy, where to a very great extent “the strong do as they will and the weak do as they must.” 
Force is today the ultimate sanction in international society, and while it may be one of several sanctions, it is clearly the most widely studied and used. Its use is not getting any less frequent despite all the attempts to develop other means of suasion and persuasion. Military power remains central to great power competition which defines the global order.
The last sixty years have seen a dramatic increase in the frequency of conflict and its intensity, between and within societies. This is a result of new technologies of force and their widespread dissemination. In fact we seem to be entering a phase of increasing militarization of international relations. Look at recent developments in the Middle East, where conventional air power, covert and Special Forces, and internet social media have been used in new tactical combinations with old fashioned propaganda and international institutions to change regimes and create political outcomes. 
Secondly, as technology has developed, newer forms of power also have increasing effect. For instance today cyber actions in virtual space have kinetic effects that were once only possible through the use of traditional military force.
In other words the spectrum of conflict, and therefore of the use of force is widening. The state no longer has a monopoly of violence, and technology has empowered small groups and individuals to the point where they can pose credible threats to society, if not the state itself. We have only to think of the recent lethality of terrorist groups and their attacks. (…)"