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 It also declared that the truce that ended the Korean War was no longer valid.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Economist – Seabed mining: The unplumbed riches of the deep
And why they’ll wait a while longer before being disturbed.
The Economist – The scramble for the seabed: Suddenly, a wider world below the waterline
Coastal states have now made their bids for vast new areas of continental shelf.
BBC – UK ‘at risk of sea-borne attack’
Britain is vulnerable to terrorist attack from the sea because no single body is responsible for protecting the UK’s coast, MPs have warned.
The Economist – An awkward absence
America is missing out by being stand-offish towards the law of the sea. So is the sea.
Foreign Affairs – The Ways of Syria
As Washington considers a rapprochement with Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, Itamar Rabinovich’s commanding new book makes clear that change will not come quickly or easily — and, if the past is any indication, it may not come at all.
Washington Post – A Single-Minded Focus on Dual Wars
Greg Jaffe on Secretary of Defense Gates’ attempt to change the military.
BBC – China asserts sea border claims
A UN commission hoping to agree new maritime boundaries looks set to pit China against some of its neighbours.
New York Times – In Bleak Afghan Outpost, Troops Slog On
C.J. Chivers accompanies another US Army patrol in Afghanistan.
The Times – Russia warns of war within a decade over Arctic oil and gas riches
Russia raised the prospect of war in the Arctic yesterday as nations struggle for control of the world’s dwindling energy reserves.
Virginian Pilot – Sailors on Blackwater anti-piracy ship claim harrassment
If three pending legal cases are any indication, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the Blackwater counterpiracy ship.
Washington Post – Petraeus’s Tougher Fight
David Ignatius has a nice review of what General Petraeus’ strategy will be…
Wall Street Journal – In Attics and Closets, ‘Biohackers’ Discover Their Inner Frankenstein
Hobbyists are tinkering with the building blocks of life in the comfort of their own homes. But are these biohackers a threat to national security?
Daily Telegraph – Britain and Argentina lodge rival claims to seabed around Falklands
Britain and Argentina have lodged competing claims for 460,000 square miles of seabed around the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.
New York Times – In Afghanistan, Soldiers Bridge 2 Stages of War
New York Times – Turning Tables, U.S. Troops Ambush Taliban With Swift and Lethal Results
New York Times – Pinned Down, a Sprint to Escape Taliban Zone
Here are three other articles written by acclaimed journalist and former Marine officer C.J. Chivers about US Army troops in Afghanistan in April 2009.
Time – North Korea Invades! (And Other Pentagon War Games)
A look at some current wargames being run by the US military.
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