The Return of Great Powers: Russia, China, and the Next World War

by Jim Sciutto

In our conversations, then Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley dubbed this his “declaratory policy” of international affairs. “My read of history is, when foreign heads of state make declaratory policy and it’s publicly stated and then repeated several different times, it is in people’s interest to believe them—what I call declaratory policy in international politics,” Milley told me. “When Saddam Hussein says publicly he’s going to invade Kuwait, it’s a good idea to listen to him, right? When Hitler says, and writes in Mein Kampf, I’m going to kill the Jews, you got to listen to him. When Kim Il Sung says, I’m going to invade South Korea, probably listen to him. When Mao Zedong says, If you get within twenty-five miles of the Yellow River, I’m coming across the border . . .”

Sage advice