– The National Interest – Fascinating article by James Webb on how Congress is dangerously absent without leave in the realm of our foreign policy.

– Air Force – An air war would likely be tougher there than what the US saw in Serbia or Libya.

– Time – Very interesting essay by Chuck Spinney on the complexity of the terrorism situation in Africa, and how the US underestimates it…to our strategic disadvantage.

– Washington Post – Bitter maritime disputes between China and its neighbors have recently sent fighter jets scrambling, ignited violent protests, and seen angry fishermen thrown in jail. But beneath all the bellicose rhetoric and threatening posture, China also has been waging a quiet campaign, using ancient documents, academic research, maps and technical data to bolster its territorial claims.

– Geopolitics / Israel – The Party Faithful – The settlers move to annex the West Bank—and Israeli politics. An interesting view of the future of Israeli – and thus Middle Eastern politics – and the implications.

– New York Times – David Brooks’ very interesting insight into the choice of the next SecDef: “As the federal government becomes a health care state, there will have to be a generation of defense cuts that overwhelm anything in recent history…As this sort of crunch gradually tightens, Medicare will be the last to go. Spending on things like Head Start, scientific research and defense will go quicker. These spending cuts will transform America’s stature in the world, making us look a lot more like Europe today. This is why Adm. Mike Mullen called the national debt the country’s biggest security threat. Chuck Hagel has been nominated to supervise the beginning of this generation-long process of defense cutbacks. If a Democratic president is going to slash defense, he probably wants a Republican at the Pentagon to give him political cover, and he probably wants a decorated war hero to boot.”

– National Intelligence Council – A fascinating prediction of what the US intelligence community thinks the world will look like in 2030. If you can’t read the whole report, try the Executive Summary.

– Air Force – The US and Australia are bolstering their close but quiet military relationship.

– New York Times – Niall Ferguson reminds us that history does not turn on a dime…

– Foreign Policy – The Arctic is the Mediterranean of the 21st century.

– German Radio – The countries bordering the Caspian Sea are increasingly flexing their military muscles. The Iran crisis and unresolved conflicts over natural resources have added to the tensions in the region.

– The Diplomat – In his new book, The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, Robert Kaplan (Stratfor Global Intelligence) contends that current global conflicts, including wars, political instability, and clashes over religion, can be better understood and even forecasted through close examination of the maps that chart our world. In this Q&A, The National Bureau of Asian Research’s Abraham Denmark asks Kaplan how this theory relates to the Asia-Pacific and what challenges geography will present for the United States’ policy toward the region.

– Economist – The bickering over islands is a serious threat to the region’s peace and prosperity.

– Wall Street Journal – To understand today’s global conflicts, forget economics and technology and take a hard look at a map, writes Robert D. Kaplan.

– Wall Street Journal – James Webb on the current state of affairs in the South China Sea.

– Newsweek – Niall Ferguson does not believe our future is as bright as Silicon Valley would lead us to believe…an interesting look at a historian’s view of the future.

– BBC – South Korea’s president is visiting islands also claimed by Japan, in a move set to raise diplomatic tensions.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – The first draft of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was completed in 1982. The treaty provided a broad legal framework governing movement on the sea and the proper handling of sea-based resources. By 1994, treaty revisions had alleviated U.S. concerns regarding deep seabed mining. President Bill Clinton signed and forwarded it to the Senate for advice and consent, but it was never ratified.

– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan analyses the current situation in Syria.

– The Atlantic – Robert D. Kaplan on how a former enemy became a crucial U.S. ally in balancing China’s rise

– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan writes that the Obama administration “pivot” to the Pacific, formally announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last November and reiterated more recently by the president himself, might appear like a reassertion of America’s imperial tendencies just at the time when Washington should be concentrating on the domestic economy. But in fact, the pivot was almost inevitable.

– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan compares the situation in Europe in 1848 to today’s Arab Spring.

– BBC – British efforts to help topple Colonel Gaddafi were not limited to air strikes. On the ground – and on the quiet – special forces soldiers were blending in with rebel fighters. This is the previously untold account of the crucial part they played.

– New York Times Magazine – To know the future of Egypt, watch what happens to Mohamed Beltagy, the embattled hero of the revolution.

– 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.