From the Article:
“So there are no lessons at all? Nothing for the U.S., Israel, or Pakistan?

Kaplan: No.”

I had not been impressed with Kaplan’s judgement over the last few years. Even less impressed after this interview.

There are several lessons the west could learn.

Wars (including insuregencies) end when someone wins & someone loses. That has direct application to the Palestinian situation.

The West now has no ability to influence events by shutting off arms supplies or by embargoes. That was obvious from Saddam’s Iraq, and the Sri Lankan situation reinforces it. Direct application to North Korea.

The media are important, and can be handled successfully in one of two ways. Either get them as card-carrying supporters (e.g., the BBC in the Palestinian situation) or kill them (as in Sri Lanka or Checnya). Direct application to how the West handles media in future conflicts.

But Kaplan saw none of that. Didn’t fit the left-wing, anti-US mold, I suppose.