Breaking the New Axis

Seth Cropsey is the founder and president of Yorktown Institute. He served as a naval officer and as Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy. He has authored two books on U.S. naval power, Mayday: The Decline of American Naval Supremacy (2014) and Seablindness: How Political Neglect Is Choking American Seapower and What to Do About It (2017). He is a member of the Naval War College Press Advisory Board and publishes frequently on strategy and U.S. foreign policy in major media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal. Cropsey lives in Bethesda, MD.Harry Halem is Senior Fellow at Yorktown Institute, Senior Fellow in Defense at the London-based Policy Exchange, and a Younger Generation Leader in Euro-Atlantic Security. He holds an MA in philosophy and international relations from the University of St Andrews, an MSc in political theory from the London School of Economics (LSE), and is a doctoral candidate in international relations at LSE. He frequently advises financial institutions on defense technology and future warfare and often works on Eastern European operational and strategic questions. He has published in noted military-focused outlets like Parameters and Military Strategy magazine. Halem lives in London.

"Breaking the New Axis: A U.S. Grand Strategy for Eurasia is a book to be read and heeded.  Authors Seth Cropsey and Harry Halem do more than revise Sir Halford Mackinder’s prognosis at the end of the nineteenth century that: 'Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland. Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island. Who rules the World Island commandst eh world.' They provide a blueprint for ensuring that the principal revisionist powers of Eurasia, Russia and the Peoples Republic of China, do not rewrite the rules of international discourse in their favor. “ — H.R. McMaster, author of Battlegrounds and At War with Ourselves"If the United States is to remain free, secure and prosperous, it must actively contest, deter, and even defeat the powers that seek to harm and displace us. Seth Cropsey and Harry Halem's Breaking the New Axis is the best account of the grand strategy required to safeguard American interests and advance the leading global position the United States has achieved in its 250 years of existence."  —John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy and author of Oceans Ventured: Winning the Cold War at Sea "Breaking the New Axis is a vital and urgently needed blueprint for American power. Cropsey and Halem brilliantly diagnose the integrated threat posed by China, Russia, and Iran, and provide a sophisticated grand strategy to secure the entire Eurasian landmass. This is mandatory reading for anyone serious about securing American interests against a maturing hostile coalition." — Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.), 16th Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and author of 2084: A Novel of the Next War and The Admiral's Bookshelf “The United States has not faced such daunting adversary in 150 years. An authoritarian Axis—China, Russia and Iran—has economic resources far superior to the Axis of the late 1930s. Yet this new Axis also has frailties, such as almost complete ideological disunity. Seth Cropsey and Harry Halem propose a bold strategy ‘to break apart, and ultimately defeat, the Eurasian Axis in a long-range strategic competition.’ This is a must-read analysis of contemporary grand strategy by two scholars with a profound understanding of modern military realities.” — Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford, and author of 16 books, including The War of the World "Breaking the Axis opens the strategic aperture on Eurasia and delivers a comprehensive, compelling, and much-needed approach to counter and prevail against the combined intentions and actions of Russia, Iran, and China.  Moreover, Cropsey and Halem show that thoughtful, informed strategic thinking can—and must—replace the reactive crisis-response drift of recent decades."—Adm. Gary Roughead, USN (Ret.), the 29th Chief of Naval Operations and Distinguished Military Fellow at the Hoover Institution“America does not have the luxury of choosing which threats to address in the twenty-first century. Beijing, Moscow, and Tehran are marching in lockstep to challenge U.S. leadership, and the moment demands a comprehensive response. Cropsey and Halem reframe this reality from a problem into an opportunity. Using geopolitics, they expose the connections between Eurasia’s three theaters and recommend practical courses of action for policymakers. A must-read for anyone who cares about preserving American leadership.” — Michael Sobolik, author of Countering China's Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance