James Stavridis is a retired four-star U.S. Navy admiral and NATO supreme allied commander who serves today as the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. His latest book is The Leader's Bookshelf.
Canadian blue helmets check their weapons, 17 April 1993 near Tuzla's airport, waiting to depart for the Moslem enclave of Srebrenica, where some 30000 refugees hope to be evacuated from. (Photo credit should read PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/Getty Images)
An Afghan security personnel member stand inside a charred building after a Taliban attack in Kabul on October 6, 2015. On the evening of October 5, four suicide attacker targeted a house in Kabul, injuring seven police and leaving the militants dead, a police spokesman said. AFP PHOTO/ Noorullah Shirzada (Photo credit should read Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images)
A Turkish fighter of the jihadist group Al-Nusra Front, bearing the flag of Al-Qaeda on his jacket (C-back), holds position with fellow comrades on April 4, 2013 in the Syrian village of Aziza, on the southern outskirts of Aleppo. AFP PHOTO / GUILLAUME BRIQUET (Photo credit should read Guillaume Briquet/AFP/Getty Images)
Security wait for the arrival of US Secretary of State John Kerry at Ben Gurion Airport on January 2, 2014 near Tel Aviv, Israel. Kerry traveled to the Mideast for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials to finalize a framework to guide the final stages of a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement. AFP PHOTO/ POOL / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
A crane carry part of 9,517 weapons seized from the FARC and ELN guerrillas criminal gangs and organized crime, before being melted in furnaces of the National Steel Factory (Sidenal), on November 25, 2014 in Sogamoso, Boyaca department, Colombia. The metal (iron and steel), obtained from these weapons will be used in the manufacture of rods used to reinforce the foundations and columns of schools and hospitals in areas of armed conflict. AFP PHOTO/Guillermo LEGARIA (Photo credit should read GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/Getty Images)
epa04854605 A visitor poses for a photograph in front of the last Cuban flag that was lowered from the Cuban Embassy in Washington on 03 January 1961 when relations between the United States and Cuba were severed, in their new embassy in Washington, DC, USA, 20 July 2015. The United States and Cuba restored full diplomatic relations on 20 July after more than five decades of frosty relations rooted in the Cold War. EPA/ANDREW HARNIK / POOL
Iranian women walk past the "Gate of All Nations" at the ancient Persian city of Persepolis near Shiraz in southern Iran on September 26, 2014. Persepolis, is one of the greatest architectural complexes of the ancient world, built atop a huge limestone platform. It was the main royal residence and ceremonial center of the Achaemenid empire of Persia (550-330 BC), but was later burned and plundered by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. AFP PHOTO/BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 10: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Kremlin May 10, 2015 in Moscow, Russia. Merkel is on a one-day visit to Russia. (Photo by Alexander Aksakov/Getty Images)
epa03384443 An exhibitor arranges books at her booth during the Moscow International book Fair at the Russian Exhibition Center, in Moscow, Russia, 05 September 2011. The book fair runs from 05 to 10 September. EPA/YURI KOCHETKOV
