The Foreign Service Journal, March 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MARCH 2019 79 be better able to control its borders and counter terrorism if the country were out- side the E.U.” They also indirectly endorse the idea that the anger of Tory leaders such as David Cameron about Boris Johnson’s decision to support “Leave” is to some extent justified. “Although it is not pos- sible to say with certainty that ‘it was Boris [John- son]wot done it,’ he was considerably more popular than the leader of the Remain campaign, Prime Minister David Cameron,” the authors waspishly note. “As a very high-profile establishment Conservative representing the official Vote Leave campaign, Boris Johnson helped to attract ‘polite Euro- skeptics’ who otherwise might have been put off voting Leave because it involved acknowledging—to themselves if not to others—that they were siding with the highly controversial Nigel Farage and assorted other ‘deplorables.’” Leadership matters in the face of populism. Of particular relevance to policymak- ers, the authors of Why Britain Voted note, Britain in 2016 was only number six on the list of E.U. countries where immi- gration is least popular: “Growth in Euro- skepticism across the E.U. is not some- thing confined to the U.K.” They conclude by offering up the prospect of Czech-exit, Hungary-exit and other XYZ-exits where discontent about immigration mirrors or exceeds Britain’s. As long as the economic benefits of E.U. membership continue flowing toward these Eastern European member- states, the exit scenarios are unlikely. But what about when E.U. monetary transfers diminish or end—partly due to Brexit? Will Brexit make Britain richer or poorer? In the heat of the campaign, Boris Johnson famously remarked that for Britons, supporting Brexit would be “having our cake and eating it” too; Brexit would allow the U.K. to keep the benefits without the costs of membership. A few months later, European Council Presi- dent Donald Tusk responded. Johnson’s metaphor—dubbed “cakeism” in Brussels—was “pure illusion, that one can have the E.U. cake and eat it too. To all who believe in it, I propose a simple experiment. Buy a cake, eat it and see if it is still there on the plate.” Tusk’s words may be the last on the subject. And Brexit’s epitaph, as well. Retired Senior Foreign Service Officer An- drew S.E. Erickson served from 1990 to 2017. His service included tours at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva and the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, as well as Embassies Luxembourg and Sara- jevo. He now resides in Germany. Where Are the Diplomat-Warriors? Warrior Diplomat: A Green Beret’s Battles fromWashington to Afghanistan Michael G. Waltz, Potomac Books, 2014, $34.95/hardcover, $17.99/Kindle, 432 pages. Reviewed by James “Jim” Maicke September 2018 marked the 17th anniver- sary of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. Launched to retaliate against Osama bin Laden and the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida terrorist attacks, the U.S. operation in Afghanistan still has Washington’s politi- cal andmilitary leadership grasping for a victory strategy, or at least a resolution that would allow for an honorable conclusion benefiting long-termU.S. national security. As the political pendulum swung back and forth over the years, the Afghanistan campaignmorphed from a counterterror- ist-centered strategy to a full-blown coun- terinsurgency effort, focused on building a war-torn Afghanistan as a viable Central Asian partner state. It now seems to be returning once again to a counterterrorism effort against the Islamic State. Michael Waltz’s Warrior Diplomat offers a firsthand account and understand- ing of the trials and tribulations of combat- ing terrorism, counterinsurgency, regime change and nation-building fromboth the political andmilitary perspective. Mastery of these tasks will be essential for the future success of U.S. foreign policy and interven- tion operations. Lieutenant Colonel Michael G. Waltz, an officer of the U.S. Army Special Forces (informally known as the “Green Berets”), is one of the few individuals who have participated both in policymaking and on the battlefield of this prolonged conflict. During multiple tours of duty in Afghani- stan, he has led Special Forces teams in the fight against a Taliban insurgency and worked alongside NATO allied and Afghan partner forces through the different phases of the war. Waltz’s military resumé is fairly typical of a U.S. Special Forces officer. What sets him apart is that when he was not on the ground in Afghanistan leading combat operations and hosting tribal elder engage- ments, Waltz worked as a country director for Afghanistan inside the Pentagon’s Office of the Secretary of Defense–Policy and as an adviser in the Office of the Vice President under Dick Cheney. Charged with contributing to strategic- level policy development, Waltz would then lace up his combat boots and become a critical instrument of U.S. policy, wit-