Geopolitics / Middle East – Turkey and Iran carve up a ruptured Arab world

Christian Science Monitor – Martin van Creveld writes that many analysts say the Middle East is the focus of a geopolitical power struggle between the United States and Iran. That misses the primary thread of events – namely, the ongoing soft partition of the Arab republics between Turkey and Iran, with Turkey the stronger power.

Piracy – Seized Pirates in High-Seas Legal Limbo, With No Formula for Trials

New York Times – C.J. Chivers writes that the many navies involved in counterpiracy patrols off Africa’s northeastern shore have learned the pirates’ habits and sharpened interdiction efforts. Hijackings have declined sharply in the past year. But where interdiction ends, an enduring problem begins: what to do with the pirates that foreign ships detain?

Royal Navy – The Security Implications of Scottish independence

Royal United Services Institute – The victory of Scottish nationalists in the recent Scottish Parliamentary elections brings closer the possibility of Scotland’s independence. With Britain’s nuclear arsenal located largely in Scotland, policymakers must now consider what independence would entail for the security of the United Kingdom.