US Naval Institute Proceedings – Fear and Loathing in the Post-Naval Era
Since the United States has not fought a real naval battle since World War II, justifying the high cost of a large Fleet of warships and aircraft is a tall order.
Geopolitics / Pakistan – Pakistan’s Fatal Shore
The Atlantic – Pakistan’s Fatal Shore
Robert D. Kaplan writes that with its “Islamic” nuclear bomb, Taliban- and al-Qaeda-infested borderlands, dysfunctional cities, and feuding ethnic groups, Pakistan may well be the world’s most dangerous country, a nuclear Yugoslavia-in-the-making. One key to its fate is the future of Gwadar, a strategic port whose development will either unlock the riches of Central Asia, or plunge Pakistan into a savage, and potentially terminal, civil war.
Brazilian Navy – Why Does Brazil Need Nuclear Submarines?
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Why Does Brazil Need Nuclear Submarines?
Brazil’s developing nuclear program shows its increasing global prominence.
Chinese Navy – China's Increasing Naval Threat Overstated
Defense Tech – China’s Increasing Naval Threat Overstated
Norman Polmar is not so impressed with the Chinese Navy…
Chinese Navy – An Undersea Deterrent?
US Naval Institute Proceedings – An Undersea Deterrent?
China’s investment in a nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine force and the accompanying infrastructure indicates a major effort to take the boats to sea.
Geopolitics / Justice – Despite Rhetoric, Obama Still Following Cheney's Lead in Dictatorial Justice
Esquire – Despite Rhetoric, Obama Still Following Cheney’s Lead in Dictatorial Justice
Thomas P.M. Barnett writes it seems like the former vice-president is the one piggybacking on the new president’s detainee policy spotlight, but a top foreign-policy analyst argues that, when it comes to tribunals, it’s the other way around: the Obama administration is maintaining the practice of inventing justice as America sees fit.
Chinese Navy – On the Verge of a Game-Changer
US Naval Institute Proceedings – On the Verge of a Game-Changer
A Chinese antiship ballistic missile could alter the rules in the Pacific and place U.S. Navy carrier strike groups in jeopardy.
US Marines – Gates Opaque on EFV Call
Defense Tech – Gates Opaque on EFV Call
Norman Polmar writes that one of the decisions not yet made by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is the future of the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), the new “amtrac” being developed for the Marine Corps.
Geopolitics / China – The trillion dollar question: China or America?
Daily Telegraph – The trillion dollar question: China or America?
Who is going to come out of the economic crisis stronger and with the whip hand – China or America, asks Niall Ferguson.
French Navy – Brazil Recovers Debris From Missing Aircraft
Washington Post – Brazil Recovers Debris From Missing Aircraft
Brazil’s defense minister confirmed Tuesday that a swath of debris found floating in the Atlantic Ocean contains remnants of an Air France jetliner, which evidently went down with the loss of all 228 passengers and crew on board. Involved in the search are C-130’s from the Brazilian Air Force and French Navy Breguet-Atlantics.
Here are photos aboard the Breguet-Atlantics
Here is more about the aircraft in French at Le Point – LE BREGUET ATLANTIQUE 2 AU LARGE DU BRÉSIL – À la recherche de l’épave de l’AF 447 and here is the same page translated into English.
Piracy – Pirates, Inc.: Inside the booming Somali business
Christian Science Monitor – Pirates, Inc.: Inside the booming Somali business
A look at piracy from the Somali side: Meet the modern-day brigands behind the sometimes sophisticated, always risky operations that raked in an estimated $80 million in ransoms in 2008.
Information Warfare – Contractors Vie for Plum Work, Hacking for U.S.
New York Times – Contractors Vie for Plum Work, Hacking for U.S.
The government’s urgent push into cyberwarfare has set off a rush among the biggest military companies for billions of dollars in new defense contracts. The exotic nature of the work, coupled with the deep recession, is enabling the companies to attract top young talent that once would have gone to Silicon Valley. And the race to develop weapons that defend against, or initiate, computer attacks has given rise to thousands of “hacker soldiers” within the Pentagon who can blend the new capabilities into the nation’s war planning.
Geopolitics / Pakistan – Pakistan on the Brink
New York Review of Books – Pakistan on the Brink
Ahmed Rashid (again) on Pakistan’s current state…
Information Warfare – Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace Wars
New York Times – Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace Wars
The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.
North Korean Navy – Four Reasons North Korea Won't Stop Being a Pain in the World's Ass
Esquire – Four Reasons North Korea Won’t Stop Being a Pain in the World’s Ass
Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that this week’s tests were a local propaganda success gone globally awry, and a foreign-policy expert has bad news for us: The totalitarian, war-crime-worthy Pyongyang government and its cult of personality aren’t going away anytime soon — unless, of course, Obama calls Kim Jong-Il’s bluff.
North Korean Navy – North Korea Threatens Attack on South
Washington Post – North Korea Threatens Attack on South
North Korea vowed Wednesday to attack South Korea if its ships are searched as part a U.S.-led effort to interdict vessels carrying missiles or weapons of mass destruction. It also declared that the truce that ended the Korean War was no longer valid.
Geopolitics / China – China at the Wheel of the World: Sissy or Superpower?
Esquire – China at the Wheel of the World: Sissy or Superpower?
Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that the Chinese may be helping the States, but can they help themselves? The view from Beijing is a tea party hell-bent on global leadership, but if the government can’t give up its moribund socialist movement, America might be riding solo well after Obama.
French Navy – France to Open Naval Base in Abu Dhabi
Wall Street Journal – France to Open Naval Base in Abu Dhabi
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday his nation’s first military base in the Gulf is an important step in international cooperation to fight piracy and safeguard crucial oil routes.
Royal Navy – Super-destroyer to guard 2012 Games
The Times – Super-destroyer to guard 2012 Games
The Royal Navy is on standby to deploy the world’s most advanced destroyer to protect the 2012 Olympics from a 9/11-style attack. Security chiefs are drawing up plans to moor one of the navy’s new Daring class of Type 45 destroyers in the Thames estuary. The ship, which boasts a sophisticated antiair missile system, would be ready to shoot down hijacked aircraft or small passenger jets flown towards London or the Olympic site by terrorists.
Afghanistan – Stalemate in Now Zad
Wall Street Journal – Stalemate in Now Zad
A single company of U.S. Marines is slugging it out with the Taliban in Afghanistan’s toughest ghost town. The battle shows how limited troop numbers have hurt the war—and why the U.S. is changing its strategy.
Canadian Navy – Canadian, Italian navies stop pirate attack on Norfolk-based cargo ship
Virginian Pilot – Canadian, Italian navies stop pirate attack on Norfolk-based cargo ship
The Maersk Virginia, a 950-foot U.S.-flagged container ship owned by Maersk Line Ltd. of Norfolk, escaped an attack by pirates today in the Gulf of Aden, Maersk said. The Canadian and Italian navies helped stave off the attack.
Intelligence – Gulags, Nukes and a Water Slide: Citizen Spies Lift North Korea's Veil
Wall Street Journal – Gulags, Nukes and a Water Slide: Citizen Spies Lift North Korea’s Veil
With sleuthing and satellite images captured by Google Earth, a dozen or so citizen snoops are filling in the blanks on secretive North Korea’s map.
Geopolitics / Indian Ocean – China's accidental empire is a growing danger
The Times – China’s accidental empire is a growing danger
As the world’s newest superpower expands trade and flexes its military muscle, a perilous regional arms race looms.
Afghanistan – Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands
New York Times – Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands
C.J. Chivers writes that Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces. Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition marking. The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.
Royal Australian Navy – Navy to the rescue as pirates attack in the Gulf
The Age – Navy to the rescue as pirates attack in the Gulf
Royal Australian Navy warships have raced to the aid of merchant vessels under fire from pirates in the Gulf of Aden, in the area commonly known as Pirate Alley.
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
You must be logged in to post a comment.