US Naval Institute Proceedings – Crisis of Confidence
The Navy – at its highest levels – needs to change the way it buys and builds its ships.
Afghanistan – If We Lose Hearts And Minds, We Will Lose The War
The Spectator – If We Lose Hearts And Minds, We Will Lose The War
David Kilcullen, the man who helped think up the strategy that saved Iraq, saysthat high-tech weaponry is not the answer in Afghanistan. Only a genuine partnership with the people can help us win.
Geopolitics – Arctic Melt: Reopening a Naval Frontier
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Arctic Melt: Reopening a Naval Frontier
Changes in the Arctic environment – no matter the cause – are a great national security concern.
Geopolitics – The Revenge of Geography
Foreign Policy – The Revenge of Geography
Robert D. Kaplan writes that people and ideas influence events, but geography largely determines them, now more than ever. To understand the coming struggles, it’s time to dust off the Victorian thinkers who knew the physical world best. A journalist who has covered the ends of the Earth offers a guide to the relief map—and a primer on the next phase of conflict.
Chinese Navy – Welcome China to the Fight Against Pirates
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Welcome China to the Fight Against Pirates
The Chinese deployment to the Gulf of Aden is historic and significant.
Piracy – Can We Stop a Pirate 9/11?
Esquire – Can We Stop a Pirate 9/11?
Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that it’s no big stretch of the imagination for a foreign-policy expert to connect the operations of small-time Somali pirates with big-time terror groups. And, as leading naval defense commanders from around the world tell him, our ports aren’t yet prepared for a maritime mob’s next big attack. We’re not talking ransom notes here.
US Navy – How to Make Mentoring Work
US Naval Institute Proceedings – How to Make Mentoring Work
Great mentors foster successful protégés, but as with any relationship, successful mentorships often develop spontaneously. Is legislating mentoring the answer?
Disarmament – Seven Reasons Why Obama's Nuke-Free Utopia Won't Work
Esquire – Seven Reasons Why Obama’s Nuke-Free Utopia Won’t Work
Thomas P.M Barnett writes that the president wants to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Sounds like he’s fighting the good fight, but Esquire.com’s global-strategy expert argues that it’s absolutely the wrong one — a fight that might open globalization’s door to World War III.
Wargaming – Time for the Navy to Get into the Game!
US Naval Institute Proceedings – Time for the Navy to Get into the Game!
The Army is using high-quality video games to attract recruits and train Soldiers. Why can’t the Navy do the same for its Sailors?
Russian Navy – The Russian Navy revitalized
Armed Forces Journal – The Russian Navy revitalized
The Russian Navy today is not nearly as powerful as its predecessor, the Soviet Navy, at the peak of its strength in the mid-1980s. However, its prospects are brighter today than they were only few years ago. Russia seems to be determined to restore its status, and its Navy is perhaps the most effective instrument to achieve that end.
US Navy – Fear and Loathing in the Post-Naval Era
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.
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