Defense and the National Interest – Part three in a series of articles about grand strategy in a 4GW Era. “Terrorism.” “Islamofascism” Iran. China. So many enemies – what’s a superpower to do?
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US Navy – Sharks are Pentagon's latest spy recruits
Daily Telegraph – Shark brain implants that could turn the fish into “stealth spies” are being studied in a research project funded by the Pentagon.
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US Marines – Marine training aims to prepare for Iraqi warfare
Virginian Pilot – With troops patrolling and fighting in hard-won, door-to-door battles against insurgents, the Marine Corps is going to great lengths to replicate the stresses and strains of the Iraqi war.
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Geopolitics / Grand Strategy – The Fate of Israel
Defense and the National Interest – Part two in a series of articles about grand strategy in a 4GW Era. Demonstrating the difficulty of distinguishing strong from weak in 4GW, and that choosing the wrong grand strategy can be terminal for a state.
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US Navy – Three more submarines coming to San Diego
Copley News Service – Following the directions from a recently released defense analysis to increase its presence in the Pacific, the Navy said it will shift six submarines from the East Coast to the Pacific Fleet.
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US Marines – Pendleton Marines to start third combat tour
Copley News Service – The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force will assume responsibility for Iraq’s volatile Anbar province Tuesday, starting the Camp Pendleton-based command’s third combat tour in the conflict that already has killed 657 Marines and sailors, and injured 5,255.
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Chinese Navy – China's Nuclear Forces
Imaging Notes – An exclusive preview of Chinaís limited nuclear capabilities, the full report of which will be published by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Federation of American Scientists later this year. The story features a first look at Chinaís nuclear submarine, the Xia, and shows how commercial remote sensing can unwrap some of the mysteries of countries and regions in the world to which we have limited access.
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Iran – Signs That the United States is About to Bomb Iran
StrategyPage – Before any major military operation, there are always tell tale signs. With all the talk about Israel or the United States bombing Iran’s nuclear weapons program, it would be wise to check for the signs before taking the pundit prattle too seriously.
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Geopolitics / Falklands – Falkland fear as Argentina steps up show of strength
Scotsman – A review of the current tensions surrounding the Falkland Islands.
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Iraq – In the Battle for Baghdad, U.S. Turns War on Insurgents
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks’ interviews with U.S. soldiers from top generals to front-line grunts in Tall Afar, Mosul, Ramadi, Balad and throughout Baghdad, as well as briefings at the U.S. military headquarters for the Middle East in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar, reveal a markedly different war from that seen in 2003 and ’04, or even last year.
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Geopolitics / Central Asia – U.S. Foreign Policy in Central Asia
Naval War College Review – The United States is limited in its ability to effect change in Central Asia by geopolitics, the nature of the local regimes, and a lack of leverage. American policy must therefore use what leverage it has more effectively, through better understanding of regional dynamics.
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US Navy – Commander says JFK should be retired ASAP
Virginian Pilot – Another nail in the coffin of the USS John F. Kennedy.
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US Marines – Marine Combat Artist Keeps Tradition Alive
Associated Press – The Marine Corps formally entered the world of military special operations Friday by establishing a separate command devoted to small-unit tactics and stealthy reconnaissance.
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US Marines – Marine Combat Artist Keeps Tradition Alive
Wall Street Journal – An interesting look at the Marine Corps’ official combat artist, Warrant Officer 1 Michael Fay, while he was in Iraq.
Here is his weblog, Fire and Ice that documents his recent tour of duty in Iraq. A soldier-artist’s sketchbook and view of the war that is fascinating to read and view???
US Navy – On the high-tech seas
Government Computer News – Light, fast and laden with IT, the experimental Stiletto would support special operations forces.
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Iraq – U.S. Counterinsurgency Academy Giving Officers a New Mind-Set
Washington Post – Thomas Ricks on how if the U.S. effort in Iraq ultimately is successful, one reason may be the small school started recently on a military base here by Army Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the U.S. commander in Iraq. Called the COIN Academy — using military shorthand for “counterinsurgency” — the newest educational institution in the U.S. military establishment seeks, as a course summary puts it, to “stress the need for U.S. forces to shift from a conventional warfare mindset” to one that understands how to win in a guerrilla-style conflict.
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Geopolitics – Send In the State Department
New York Times – Robert Kaplan writes that whatever the future holds for Iraq, within a year or two there will be far fewer American troops there, and the debate over whether our military is overstretched may subside. Yet because of a bloody counterinsurgency that no one in the military wants to repeat, Iraq has profoundly affected the Pentagon’s deployment strategies as it shifts toward a greater emphasis on the Pacific Rim while still facing a profusion of terrorist-related threats not just in the Middle East but also in Africa and elsewhere.
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Indian Navy – Indo-US naval exercise off Sri Lanka coast
Indian Express – What was planned as a simple passage exercise between aircraft carrier INS Viraat and the American USS Ronald Reagan supercarrier three days ago off Sri Lanka spontaneously became a full-fledged, joint-maritime war game???The message is clear: the two Navies can easily combine assets with minimum preparation in the event of a war-like scenario.
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US Navy – Navy pilots debate taking $125,000 bonus or running
Virginian Pilot – It costs the Navy $1 million to $1.5 million to train one Navy aviator. How do you persuade one to stay for five more years? How about $125,000?
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Information Warfare – Invasion of the Computer Snatchers
Washington Post – Hackers are hijacking thousands of PCs to spy on users, shake down online businesses, steal identities and send millions of pieces of spam. If you think your computer is safe, think again.
Think of the military implications of this???the article documents the activities of civilian hackers???but there would be obvious military applications of these processes.
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Operations Other Than War – U.S. Marines Aid Philippine Recovery
Associated Press – The Marines come ashore in the Philippines???
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Royal Navy – Navy plan for nuclear sub berths raises safety fears
Daily Telegraph – The Royal Navy is to install a series of nuclear submarine berths around Britain in a move that local authorities are calling the equivalent of “putting a nuclear reactor in the middle of town”.
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Geopolitics / Grand Strategy – The Myth of Grand Strategy
Defense and the National Interest – Part one in a series of articles about grand strategy in a 4GW Era.
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Operations Other Than War – Philippine Rescue Crews Hope for Miracle
Associated Press – The USS Essex and the USS Harper’s Ferry, along with 17 helicopters and 1,000 U.S. Marines, were diverted to the scene of landslides in the Phillipines from planned joint exercises.
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US Navy – Warner backs Navy effort to mothball JFK
Virginian Pilot – U.S. Sen. John W. Warner, who in December capped a successful drive to save the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy, on Friday jumped to the forefront of a new effort to retire the ship.
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