One of my correspondents writes to ask, "is there any difference between 'shock and awe' and what historians call 'gunboat diplomacy'?"
The obvious response is that they are quite different things. "Shock and awe" is a tactical concept -- using overwhelming firepower to paralyze, disorganize, and debilitate an enemy. "Gunboat diplomacy" involved the coordinated use of military power and diplomatic initiatives to advance the nation's interests at a time when naval power was the only effective way in which a nation could project its military force far from its shores.
However, I think he was getting at another, far more interesting, question. "In what ways is the current administration's aggressive use of military force similar to or different from the gunboat diplomacy of a century ago? I'd welcome any comments.
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