Associated Press – The top U.S. military commander in the Pacific said he’s “perplexed and concerned” by China’s last-minute decision to deny a U.S. aircraft carrier entry to Hong Kong for a previously scheduled port visit.
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US Navy – Aegis Make Over
Defense Technology International – Its origins date back to the 1970s. Yet the U.S. Navy’s Lockheed Martin-built Aegis weapon system will have to soldier on well into the 2030s. The arrival of the Aegis-equipped Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) at BAE Systems San Diego Ship Repair, Calif., will herald a major renovation for this most widely-used naval combat system in service today.
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Swedish Navy – Sweden's Next Spy Ship
Defense Technology International – Sweden is going ahead with a plan to replace its current signal intelligence (Sigint) vessel, the 1,400-ton HMS Orion (A 201) built in the 1980s, with the much larger, 3,600-ton HMS Carlskrona (M 04) that is to be converted from its current role as a training ship to a Sigint platform.
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Iraq – Inside the Surge
New Yorker – Jon Lee Anderson writes that the American military finds new allies, but at what cost?
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Nuclear Warfare – U.S. Secretly Aids Pakistan in Guarding Nuclear Arms
New York Times – Over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified program to help Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistanís president, secure his countryís nuclear weapons???But with the future of that countryís leadership in doubt, debate is intensifying about whether Washington has done enough to help protect the warheads and laboratories, and whether Pakistanís reluctance to reveal critical details about its arsenal has undercut the effectiveness of the continuing security effort.
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Geopolitics / Long War – Can the War on Terror Be Won? – How to Fight the Right War
Foreign Affairs – It can, but only if U.S. officials start to think clearly about what success in the war on terror would actually look like. Victory will come only when Washington succeeds in discrediting the terrorists’ ideology and undermining their support. These achievements, in turn, will require accepting that the terrorist threat can never be eradicated completely and that acting as though it can will only make it worse.
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US Navy – US bolsters platforms to defend Iraq's oil
Daily Telegraph – The US-led coalition is building a permanent security base on Iraq’s oil pumping platforms in the Gulf to act as the “nerve centre” of efforts to protect the country’s most vital strategic asset.
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Iraq – Iraqis Wasting An Opportunity, U.S. Officers Say
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks writes that senior military commanders in Iraq now portray the intransigence of Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government as the key threat facing the U.S. effort in Iraq, rather than al-Qaeda terrorists, Sunni insurgents or Iranian-backed militias.
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Royal Navy – No Tanking
Defense Technology International – A British Defense Ministry decision to halt air-to-air refueling of its Nimrod MR2 maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft will almost certainly curtail the aircraftís operational availability in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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US Navy – Dangerous waters: Ignoring operational art at sea could doom U.S. maritime strategy
Armed Forces Journal – The new U.S. maritime strategy to be unveiled this fall is expected to fill the lack of a clear and well-articulated vision of the role of U.S. maritime forces in defense and protection of the national interests at sea and of those of its allies and other friendly nations. However, the lack of sound theory and doctrine for the employment of maritime forces at the operational level of war might pose some serious limitations and ultimately doom the execution of the new U.S. maritime strategy.
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Geopolitics / Burma – Asia's Forgotten Crisis: A New Approach to Burma
Foreign Affairs – Over the past decade, Burma has gone from being an antidemocratic embarrassment and humanitarian disaster to being a serious threat to its neighbors’ security. The international community must change its approach to the country’s junta.
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German Navy – Fast Responders
Defense Technology International – Germany is deploying two fast patrol boats to augment the U.N.ís naval force off Lebanon.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – Open-Source Warfare
IEEE Spectrum – Terrorists are leveraging information technology to organize, recruit, and learnóand the West is struggling to keep up.
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Iran – The Secret History of the Impending War with Iran That the White House Doesn't Want You to Know
Esquire – Two former high-ranking policy experts from the Bush administration say the U.S. has been gearing up for a war with Iran for years, despite claiming otherwise. It’ll be Iraq all over again.
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Dutch Navy – Bright Archer Takes Off
Defense Technology International – Both landing platform dock (LPD) ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN), HrMs Johan de Witt (L 801) and Rotterdam (L 800) are en-route to an area southwest of England today for the first exercise of the NLMARFOR one-star battle staff using the command facilities on the new, yet-to-be-commissioned, Johan de Witt.
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Geopolitics / Pakistan – A Second Coup in Pakistan
Washington Post – Ahmed Rashid comments that President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency rule this weekend will only encourage further civil strife, nationwide protests and greater territorial gains by the extremist Pakistani Taliban.
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Piracy – Somali pirates free Taiwan boat
BBC – Pirates have freed a Taiwanese vessel and its crew, kidnapped almost six months ago off the coast of Somalia.
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US Navy – U.S. Navy begins exercises in Gulf waters
Associated Press – The U.S. Navy said it had begun a series of exercises in the Gulf and wider Gulf waters on Friday involving a U.S aircraft carrier and two expeditionary assault ships.
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US Navy – Mahan or Corbett?
Defense and the National Interest – William Lind asks what is the role of the navy in Fourth Generation Warfare.
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Geopolitics / Environmentalism – Neptune's Navy
New Yorker – A very interesting look at one eco-warrior’s wild crusade to save the oceans.
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US Navy – US seeks to remove pirates from ships
Associated Press – The U.S. Navy on Friday kept its eye on a Japanese tanker taken over by pirates off Somalia’s coast.
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Norwegian Navy – Attention U.S. Navy: Littoral Combat Craft For Sale
Defense Technology International – The Norwegian Chief of Defense is to present his proposal for the country’s next multi-year defense plan on Monday Nov. 5 — and the Skjold-class program to acquire six super-fast (60-kt.) littoral combat craft is expected to be one of the main casualties.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – 12 Myths of 21st-Century War
American Legion – Raph Peters writes that “Unaware of the cost of freedom and served by leaders without military expertise, Americans have started to believe whatever’s comfortable.”
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Royal Navy – Navy to patrol Gulf in the spring
Daily Telegraph – HMS Illustrious will be deployed in the Gulf next spring.
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Nigerian Navy – Nigeria navy in deadly oil clash
BBC – At least two people have been killed in a clash between the Nigerian navy and suspected militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
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