I don’t care for Michael Lind, but even a severely broken Timex is correct at least twice a day. I would take it a step further and say that, while proxy wars would be a better strategy in places like Africa and south Asia, should crises arise due to TROP, I still believe that we should strike hard and fast when we know our enemies are on the ropes, and not care about “the Muslim street” if key jihadists are easily within the rifle scopes of either us or our proxies.
There’s a problem with Lind’s strategy: call it the Iran-Contra Effect. Once you engage in a strategy that emphasizes proxy wars, you have to accept that your own proxy may, from time-to-time, do things in the course of that war that offends US sensibilities.
The Contras weren’t choirboys, but they were effective. The Democrats were too squeamish to accept that what was going on down in Nicaragua was a real dogfight.
If we were to have followed Lind’s strategy in the Balkans, we probably would have gotten behind the Serbs in their attempt to clear Kosovo. Ooops! Can’t do that since “Ethnic Cleansing” is a crime.