Foreign Affairs – Center Stage for the Twenty-first Century: Power Plays in the Indian Ocean
Robert D. Kaplan writes that already the world’s preeminent energy and trade interstate seaway, the Indian Ocean will matter even more as India and China enter into a dynamic great-power rivalry in these waters.
Defense Tech – Navy Surface Force in Big Trouble
Normal Polmar writes that the Obama administration, looking for potential budget cuts, may take aim at the trouble-plagued Navy surface ship programs.
The Atlantic – India’s New Face
Robert D. Kaplan introduces us to Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the brightest star in the Hindu-chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party. Under Modi, Gujarat has become an economic dynamo. But he also presided over India’s worst communal riots in decades, a 2002 slaughter that left almost 2,000 Muslims dead. Exploiting the insecurities and tensions stoked by India’s opening to the world, Modi has turned his state into a stronghold of Hindu extremism, shredding Gandhi’s vision of secular coexistence in the process. One day, he could be governing the world’s largest democracy.
Armed Forces Journal – Fighting piracy
International coordination is key to countering modern-day freebooters.
Patrol craft’s sailors can do it all – and they must
Life aboard the patrol craft USS Delta…
Washington Post – Why We Should Get Rid of West Point
Tom Ricks says it is time to close the service academies and spend the funds instead on ROTC programs at colleges.
Wall Street Journal – China, Friend or Foe?
The Pentagon views the rapidly expanding Chinese military as the U.S.’s top potential rival. What is the reality of the “China threat?”
Wall Street Journal – U.S. Weighs Changes in Strategy to Fight Pirates
Senior Pentagon planners are debating a shift in military strategy to crack down on piracy off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden.
Aviation Week and Space Technology – Predator C Avenger Makes First Flights
A new, reduced-signature, unmanned aircraft—the long-rumored, 20-hr.-endurance, pure-jet Predator C Avenger—has emerged from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ workshops after a 3½-year gestation period paced by massive growth in UAV production and the use of unmanned designs in combat. The UAV’s undeniably stealthed-up exterior offers several clues about how the aircraft could be employed.
Xinhua – Navy admiral: China to develop sophisticated marine weapon systems
Large surface combat ships, supersonic cruise aircraft, high-speed intelligent torpedoes … These are a few sophisticated marine weapons China plans to build.
Reuters – Navies to guard undersea cable from Somali pirates
Foreign navies have agreed to protect a vessel installing an undersea high-speed Internet cable from pirates off the coast of Somalia.
Virginian Pilot – Commander shares his pride in Bainbridge’s rescue effort
An interview with the commanding officer of the USS Bainbridge.
BBC – French warship captures pirates
A French warship has captured 11 pirates off the coast of Kenya
Washington Post – Another U.S. Cargo Ship Escapes Somali Pirate Attack
Somali pirates Wednesday attempted to commandeer another U.S. cargo ship, the Liberty Sun, but the attack was thwarted, and the ship is headed toward port here with naval guards.
New York Times – Anarchy on Land Means Piracy at Sea
Robert D. Kaplan’s observations on the piracy situation off of Somalia.
Daily Telegraph – Pirates must be hunted down and their vessels sunk on sight
The sooner we tackle this menace, the sooner our seas will be safe again, argues military historian Sir John Keegan.
Washington Post – How SEALs Carried Out Their Mission
The operation to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips involved dozens of Navy SEALs, who parachuted from an aircraft into the scene near dark Saturday, landing in the ocean.
Washington Post – Navy Kills 3 Pirates, Rescues Ship Captain
An American captain held hostage for five days by Somali pirates in a lifeboat adrift in the Indian Ocean was rescued unharmed Sunday in a surprise U.S. military operation in which snipers killed three pirates with the captain tied up just feet away, American military officials said. A fourth pirate was in U.S. custody.
Defense Tech – MV-22 Osprey Going To Sea
Normal Polmar writes that the Marine Corps is about to deploy a squadron of Bell-Boeing MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft aboard an amphibious assault ship. The pending departure of the USS Bataan (LHD 5) will mark the first time that an Osprey squadron has “gone to sea” for operations with a Marine assault unit.
Foreign Affairs – The Geoengineering Option: A Last Resort Against Global Warming?
As climate change accelerates, policymakers may have to consider “geoengineering” as an emergency strategy to cool the planet. Engineering the climate strikes most as a bad idea, but it is time to start taking it seriously.
CNN – More pirates searching for lifeboat
Pirates in ships are searching for the lifeboat containing four pirates and their hostage — the captain of a freighter they failed to hijack earlier this week — according to a U.S. military official with knowledge of the situation.
Politico – Pentagon preps for economic warfare
The Pentagon sponsored a first-of-its-kind war game last month focused not on bullets and bombs — but on how hostile nations might seek to cripple the U.S. economy, a scenario made all the more real by the global financial crisis.
New Yorker – Can Iran Change?
The high stakes in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection campaign.
Washington Post – FBI Hostage Negotiators Helping Navy With Ship Captain’s Rescue
A U.S.-operated container ship that was attacked by Somali pirates steamed toward a Kenyan port Thursday with armed guards on board, as the U.S. Navy and FBI hostage negotiators continued efforts to free the ship’s captain, who was being held by the pirates in a lifeboat drifting in the Indian Ocean.
New Yorker – Syria Calling
Is Syria the Obama Administration’s chance to engage in a Middle East peace.
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