US Navy – Navy, Environmentalists Await Sonar Ruling

Posted on by

Washington Post – A federal judge in California is scheduled to release a decision this week that will outline what the Navy must do to protect whales and other marine mammals from the loud blasts of its sonar equipment.

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper’s ruling in the closely watched case, expected by week’s end, will not only affect Navy training exercises scheduled for the waters off Southern California over the next year but could also clarify how closely the military must follow environmental laws.
more…

Geopolitics / Long War – Recasting the Long War as a Joint Sino-American Venture

Posted on by

Baker Center Journal of Applied Public Policy – Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that the way forward in the Long War is with the Chinese:

In this so-called long war against the global jihadist movement, the Bush administrationís greatest failure has been its lack of strategic imagination. It has added the right enemies to our to-do list, but failed to enlist the necessary new allies, giving our people the misperception that itís America against the world.

This need not be the case. Our natural allies are now located on the frontiers of globalization, or among the three billion-plus new capitalists who joined global markets over the last generation, chiefly among them the Chinese.

more…

Geopolitics – Forgetting the Obvious

Posted on by

American Interest – Robert D. Kaplan writes “Some truths are so obvious that to mention them in polite company seems either pointless or rude. What is left unstated, however, can with time be forgotten. Both of these observations apply today to the American way of war. It is obvious that a military can only fight well on behalf of a society in which it believes, and that a society which believes little is worth fighting for cannot, in the end, field an effective military. Obvious as this is, we seem to have forgotten it.”
more…

Geopolitics / Asia – Winning Asia: Washington's Untold Success Story

Posted on by

Foreign Affairs – Pundits, academics, and Bush bashers insist that the United States is losing ground in Asia, but they are wrong. The Bush administration’s Asia policy has been an unheralded success. Improved relations with China, stronger U.S.-Japanese cooperation, North Korea’s gradual nuclear disarmament, and expanding regional alliances have made Asia more prosperous and secure than it has been in decades.
more…

Afghanistan – Into the Valley of Death

Posted on by

Vanity Fair – A strategic passage wanted by the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Afghanistanís Korengal Valley is among the deadliest pieces of terrain in the world for U.S. forces. One platoon is considered the tip of the American spear. Its men spend their days in a surreal combination of backbreaking labor-building outposts on rocky ridges-and deadly firefights, while they try to avoid the mistakes the Russians made. Sebastian Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington join the platoonís painfully slow advance, as its soldiers laugh, swear, and run for cover, never knowing which of them wonít make it home.
more…

French Navy – French Navy Uses Second Life to Recruit

Posted on by

Defense Technology International – From 29 November to 4 December a virtual frigate (which looks remarkably like the yet-to-be-built Franco-Italian FREMM) called in on Second Life which could be visited 24 hours a day and where youngsters could meet virtual sailors who would answer questions about the jobs and careers they might have if they joined the French Navy.
more…

Geopolitics / Asia – Washington's Eastern Sunset: The Decline of U.S. Power in Northeast Asia

Posted on by

Foreign Affairs – After 60 years of U.S. domination, the balance of power in Northeast Asia is shifting. The United States is in relative decline, China is on the rise, and Japan and South Korea are in flux. To maintain U.S. power in the region, Washington must identify the trends shaping this transition and embrace new tools and regimes that broaden the United States’ power base.
more…