If you want to resolve international conflict, you must begin by understanding everyone’s needs.
Vice Admiral Charles W. Martoglio, US Navy (ret), served as one of our military’s leading strategists, planners, and politico-military advisors. According to Martoglio, “all nations act in their own self interests, all the time, without exception – even the United States.” If you know that, good strategists can look at multiple situations, see where national interests overlap, and can work together to lower the risk of conflict. The goal is to find “zones of cooperation” – areas of overlapping interests, a willingness to work together… and trust.
Within that context, Martoglio returns to Osher to discuss the numerous challenges facing Europe and European cohesion, NATO’s evolution, and its current role in the security of both America and Europe. Martoglio examines how Russia got to where it is today and the motives behind its current activity in Eastern Europe, Syria, and across its periphery. He concludes with an assessment of why America will remain the most powerful nation in the world, economically, diplomatically, and militarily, for generations to come.
Charles W. Martoglio is currently a Senior Research Fellow at UC San Diego and an advisor to the US Department of Defense.