Washington Post – Thomas Ricks writes that as fighting in Iraq enters its fifth year, an increasing number of experts in foreign policy and national strategy are arguing that the biggest difference between the Vietnam and Iraq wars may be that the Iraq war will inflict greater damage to U.S. interests than Vietnam did.
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Monthly Archives: April 2007
Geopolitics / Japan – Japan Is Back:Why Tokyo's New Assertiveness Is Good for Washington
Foreign Affairs – Kenneth Pyle’s new book argues that a resurgence of Japan’s power and purpose has Tokyo poised to play a bigger role on the international stage. Pyle is right, and it is a good thing for Washington and Asian security.
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Iraq – Army Officer Accuses Generals of 'Intellectual and Moral Failures'
Washington Post – An active-duty Army officer is publishing a blistering attack on U.S. generals, saying they have botched the war in Iraq and misled Congress about the situation there.
“America’s generals have repeated the mistakes of Vietnam in Iraq,” charges Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, an Iraq veteran who is deputy commander of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. “The intellectual and moral failures . . . constitute a crisis in American generals.”
Read the article: Armed Forces Journal – A failure in generalship.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – Van Creveld's Latest
Defense and the National Interest – William Linds looks at the British Army’s success in Northern Ireland, one of the few cases where the state’s armed forces have prevailed over non-state forces.
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US Navy – Searching for a strategy
Armed Forces Journal – The very core of the Navy’s transformation is Sea Power 21. The Navy is making a major effort to create a new maritime strategy, to be formally completed in June. Perhaps it is also necessary to refocus, modify and refine its Sea Power 21 concept???
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Piracy – Google Map Tracks Modern Day Pirate Attacks
Wired – The International Chamber of Commerce’s Commercial Crime Services now provides a Google Maps mashup showing all documented pirate attacks for each of the last three years.
View the Piracy Attacks Map.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – A Tactics Primer
Defense and the National Interest – William Lind on why the US remains mired in Second Generation Warfare.
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US Navy – Blue Beret
Armed Forces Journal – British maritime authority Martin Murphy says the Navy can no longer afford to sit out at sea; it must take the irregular fight to where the irregular enemy crouches, close to shore and along the maritime fingers that stretch into urban centers. To take on that specialized task, the Navy needs a special force. He proposes the creation of a “blue berets” unit.
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Russian Navy – In search of the Caspian Sea Monster
The Register – A fun look at the status of some “wing in ground effect” programs.
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US Marines – Report On Haditha Condemns Marines
Washington Post – The Marine Corps chain of command in Iraq ignored “obvious” signs of “serious misconduct” in the 2005 slayings of two dozen civilians in Haditha, and commanders fostered a climate that devalued the life of innocent Iraqis to the point that their deaths were considered an insignificant part of the war, according to an Army general’s investigation.
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US Navy – Navy's newest fast-attack sub, North Carolina, is christened
Virginian Pilot – Under a cloudless Carolina-blue sky, shipbuilders and the Navy on Saturday celebrated the christening of the North Carolina, the nation’s newest fast-attack submarine.
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Transformation – Robot wars
The Economist – An attempt to build an ethical robotic soldier.
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Geopolitics / China – Chinese Lessons:Nixon, Mao, and the Course of U.S.-Chinese Relations
Foreign Affairs – Margaret MacMillan’s engaging narrative history shows how Nixon’s trip to visit Mao helped end the Cold War. But neither leader anticipated how fast China would rise or how that rise would force the U.S.-Chinese relationship to evolve.
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Geopolitics / Environment – US generals urge climate action
BBC – The U.S. military is increasingly focused on a potential national security threat: climate change.
Washington Post – Military Sharpens Focus on Climate Change.
Read the full report: Center for Naval Analyses – National Security and the Threat of Climate Change.
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Iraq – Meet the Press Transcript for April 15, 2007
Meet the Press – General Zinni comments on the current situation in Iraq and the Central Command area of responsibility.
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Editorial Note – NOSI will be on break until Saturday April 21
NOSI will be taking a short break and will be back on Saturday April 21. See you then!
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Geopolitics / Environment – The Power of Green
New York Times Magazine – Thomas Friedman describes what America needs to regain its global stature – Environmental leadership. A fascinating, thoughtful peace on a possible strategy for winning The Long War.
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Royal Navy – Revealed: the MOD plan to move Trident
The Scotsman – Military chiefs are drawing up plans to move the UK’s nuclear missiles south of the Border as concern mounts that Scotland is heading towards independence. The Ministry of Defence is so worried about the march of the Nationalists it has closely examined four sites for Trident’s replacement outside of Scotland.
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Royal Navy – A verse from 'Pinafore' explains it all
Daily Telegraph – Niall Ferguson comments on the current state of the Royal Navy, in light of its recent crisis with Iran.
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Air Power – The Pilotless Plane That Only Looks Like Child's Play
New York Times – If youíre the type of shopper who spends billions of dollars on lethal military gadgets, and youíre ever invited to visit General Atomics Aeronautical Systems – the small, privately held San Diego company that has quickly become one of the military industryís most celebrated businesses – take a bit of advice: accept a ride on the corporate jet.
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US Marines – U.S. Calls Slain Afghans Civilians
Washington Post – A preliminary U.S. military investigation indicates that more than 40 Afghans killed or wounded by Marines after a suicide bombing in a village near Jalalabad last month were civilians, the U.S. commander who ordered the probe said yesterday.
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US Navy – New Navy ship San Antonio found to be rife with flaws
Virginian Pilot – The new amphibious ship San Antonio failed to complete a series of sea trials in late March, and faces $36 million in repairs during the next three months. The Norfolk-based ship, the first of a new generation of helicopter and troop transports, could not be sea-tested during a five-day inspection period because one of its two steering systems completely failed.
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US Navy – Day of the dolphins
San Diego Union Tribune – A look at the US Navy’s sea mammals program.
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Geopolitics / Diplomacy – The New New World Order
Foreign Affairs – Controversies over the war in Iraq and U.S. unilateralism have overshadowed a more pragmatic and multilateral component of the Bush administration’s grand strategy: its attempt to reconfigure U.S. foreign policy and international institutions in order to account for shifts in the global distribution of power and the emergence of states such as China and India. This unheralded move is well intentioned and well advised, and Washington should redouble its efforts.
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US Marines – A Combat Mission Two Decades in the Making
Washington Post – After more than 20 years in development at a cost of billions of dollars, the long-troubled V-22 Osprey will head to Iraq in September for its first combat missions.
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