Defense and the National Interest – William Lind compares todays Royal Navy to Hornblower’s.
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Monthly Archives: April 2007
US Navy – Navy cancels second LCS ship from Lockheed, blaming cost overruns
Associated Press – The U.S. Navy on Thursday said it was canceling a widely criticized Lockheed Martin Corp. contract to build a next-generation combat ship after negotiations to control cost overruns failed.
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Iraq – 3 Generals Spurn the Position of War 'Czar'
Washington Post – The White House wants to appoint a high-powered czar to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority to issue directions to the Pentagon, the State Department and other agencies, but it has had trouble finding anyone able and willing to take the job.
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US Navy – Navy Chief to Shipbuilders: You Suck
Wired – The Secretary of the Navy is pissed. And that is really good news.
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US Navy – Calming the Waters in the Gulf
Washington Post – David Ignatius says a May 1972 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union to prevent dangerous incidents at sea is a model for how to begin reducing dangerous tensions with Iran.
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Royal Navy – 'Faye whispered, there's going to be a rape'
Daily Telegraph – The first graphic accounts of the tears, humiliation and mental torture of the 15 freed Royal Navy hostages emerged yesterday.
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Miscellaneous – Conversations
Defense and the National Interest – Excellent article by William Lind on how “management by walking around” can be practiced by the military.
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Iraq – U.S. Military 'In Peril': McCaffrey
Defense News – Sean Naylor analyzes retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey’s recent report on Iraq.
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Iraq – Politics Collide With Iraq Realities
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks writes that there are two Iraq wars being waged, according to military officers on the ground and defense experts: the one fought in the streets of Baghdad, and the war as it is perceived in Washington.
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Geopolitics / Iran – Time for DÈtente With Iran
Foreign Affairs – To tame the growing power of Iran, Washington must eschew military options, the prospect of conditional talks, and attempts to contain the regime. Instead, it should adopt a new policy of dÈtente. By offering the pragmatists in Tehran a chance to resume diplomatic and economic relations with the United States, it could help them sideline the radicals and tip Iran’s internal balance of power in their favor.
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History – The rise and fall of navies
New York Times – Paul Kennedy takes a historian’s view of some current naval trends.
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Royal Navy – Britons Speak Publicly on Captivity in Iran
Washington Post – British sailors and marines who were held captive by Iran for nearly two weeks said Friday they were seized in Iraqi waters, held in solitary confinement and subjected to intense psychological pressure, including fear at one point that they were about to be executed.
Royal Marines – Marines swoop into Taliban 'heart of darkness'
Daily Telegraph – With the Royal Marines in action in Afghanistan.
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US Navy – TACAIR Integration Hits the Wall
Air Force – Big plans to combine Navy and Marine Corps air in a single operational force have come apart.
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Royal Navy – British sailors set to come home
BBC – The 15 Royal Navy crew held captive by Iran are preparing to fly home after being freed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a “gift” to the UK.
Daily Telegraph – Questions the Navy chiefs must now answer.
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Royal Navy – Navy accused of failures and complacency
Daily Telegraph – Royal Navy intelligence gathering has been criticised as being “poor” for allowing 15 personnel to fall into the hands of the Iranians.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – US helps fight against Abu Sayyaf
BBC – A look at how the US is successfully fighting non-state actors in the Philippines – Except for Humvees on the beach and armed guards, the US Navy Seals base in Jolo island in the southern Philippines looks more like a hang-out for surf bums than a military base for an elite anti-terrorist task force.
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Iraq – Abizaid's Long View
Washington Post – David Ignatius’ exit interview with General Abizaid of CENTCOM.
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Royal Navy – Power struggle in Iran over hostages
The Times – The fate of the 15 British marines and sailors held in Tehran may depend on the outcome of a power struggle between two of Iranís top generals.
Meanwhile Niall Ferguson puts the crisis in perspective for the UK:
Daily Telegraph – Iran targeted the Security Council’s weakest link: us.
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Chinese Navy – China is accused of fuelling Pacific arms race as submarine orders rise
Daily Telegraph – A dramatic increase in the number of submarines being built in southeast Asia has sparked claims that a new arms race is under way beneath the waves in the Western Pacific.
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History – Help was weeks away as 88 men waited in the Falklands dark for 3,000 invaders
Daily Telegraph – Major Mike Norman shares his memories of defending the islands against an over-whelming Argentine force of 3,000 soldiers.
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Geopolitics / Iraq – Iraq's Civil War
Foreign Affairs – The White House still avoids the label, but by any reasonable historical standard, the Iraqi civil war has begun. The record of past such wars suggests that Washington cannot stop this one — and that Iraqis will be able to reach a power-sharing deal only after much more fighting, if then. The United States can help bring about a settlement eventually by balancing Iraqi factions from afar, but there is little it can do to avert bloodshed now.
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