Chinese Navy – China pays a port call to Guam.

• People’s Daily: Chinese fleet visit heart of US forces in the Pacific

Canadian Navy – Aboard HMCS Calgary, patroling in the Persian Gulf.

• Times Colonist: Weary sailors heading home

US Navy – The US is grounding EA-6B Prowlers due to wing wear, pending their repair.

• KOMO: Navy Grounds 40 Percent Of Prowler Fleet

Background – Iraq – Thomas Friedman and Ralph Peters opine as to what the US has at stake in Iraq and why the US must succeed. The Atlantic opines that Thomas Friedman’s view of the Middle East is all wrong. Who is right? Time will tell???

• New York Times: It’s No Vietnam
• New York Post: Another Vietnam? No.
• The Atlantic: The Friedman Principle

Background – Diplomacy – Niall Ferguson asks “What is Power?” – that is, which global players have power todayóand which are likely to acquire it in the coming decades?

• Hoover Digest: What Is Power?