Defense and the National Interest – As T.X. Hammes argues in The Sling and the Stone, 4GW began to take shape in the 1920s, and its roots go back to the dawn of history. An explanation of why it is just now becoming the dominant form of warfare.
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Israeli Navy – Navy's plans to procure new vessels frozen
Jerusalem Post – Israel has frozen ambitious plans for the purchase of large vessels that would have turned the Israeli Navy from a coast guard into a strategic arm of the defense apparatus.
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US Navy – U.S. Begins Aid Delivery in Sumatra
Washington Post – Seahawk helicopters from the USS Abraham Lincoln have begun delivering aid to survivors in Indonesia.
More from the Associated Press who has a reporter aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
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Geopolitics / Russia – Look back at Weimar ñ and start to worry about Russia
Daily Telegraph – Niall Ferguson on how Vladimir Putin is fast becoming as big a threat to Western security as he is to Russian democracy.
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Geopolitics / Water – Where Oil and Water Do Mix: Environmental Scarcity and Future Conflict in the Middle East and North Africa
Parameters – How water will become a resource that will lead to conflict in the Middle East and North Africa.
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US Marines – Osprey's fate is in Marines' hands
Copley News Service – The latest in the saga of the MV-22 Osprey.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – An OODA Loop Writ Large – 4GW and the Iraq War
Defense and the National Interest – In a new briefing, three retired officers – each hailing from a different service – lay out a vision for how the U.S. military must reorient itself to help meet security and reconstruction objectives in Iraq.
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Miscellaneous – The End of War
Toronto Star – An interesting and optimistic article to end the year on. Military historian Gwynne Dyer writes that humanity’s task over the next few years is to transform the world of independent states into a genuine global village.
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US Navy – U.S. forces increase disaster aid to S. Asia disaster aid to S. Asia
Honolulu Star Bulletin – The ships from the Maritime Prepositioning Squadrons on Diego Garcia and Guam are being activated for use in the Indian Ocean disaster relief efforts.
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US Navy – Pentagon Said to Offer Cuts in the Billions
New York Times – The Pentagon plans to retire one of the Navy’s 12 aircraft carriers – the USS John F. Kennedy, buy fewer amphibious landing ships for the Marine Corps and delay the development of a costly Army combat system of high-tech arms as part of $60 billion in proposed cuts over the next six years, Congressional and military officials said Wednesday.
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Chinese Navy – U.S. rule of Pacific waves faces China challenge
New York Times – Ever since the U.S. Marine Corps defeated Japanese forces here 60 years ago, the Marianas have been widely considered an American lake. Now, the United States may have to get used to sharing the western Pacific with China, the world’s rising naval power.
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US Marines – Bringing 'Jointness to the Tactical Level: Where Does the Marine Corps Fit In?
Marine Corps Gazette – Is it time to incorporate more jointness in Marine expeditionary unit operations?
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US Navy – San Diego-based Navy ships on way to help tsunami victims
San Diego Union Tribune – The USS Bon Homme Richard and Expeditionary Strike Group 5 as well as the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Battlegroup are on their way to the Indian Ocean to aid in disaster relief.
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Royal Australian Navy – Australia sends Navy ship, choppers to Indonesia
ABC – HMAS Kanimbla will sail from Sydney tomorrow and it will take helicopters and engineers to assist in the reconstruction effort.
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Singaporean Navy – Singapore dispatches medics, helicopters to tsunami-hit areas
The Star – A Singapore naval vessel will sail Friday to assist rescue and relief efforts off the west coast of Aceh, Sumatra’s northernmost province.
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US Navy – United Defense's Mk110 Gun To Arm LCS and New Destroyer
SeaPower – Naval news from around the industry.
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US Marines – Studies Aim to Refocus Urban Training, Tactics
SeaPower – As enemy insurgents continue to harass and kill U.S. troops in Iraq with suicide bombs and makeshift explosives, a major effort is under way at home to determine how U.S. forces can better prepare for such unconventional threats in the future.
Iraq – Little Stalingrad
Defense and the National Interest – William Lind on how it was necessary to destroy Fallujah in order to save it.
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Port Security – "Seacurity": Improving the Security of the Global Sea-Container Shipping System
RAND – The purpose of this document is to raise awareness concerning the current status of maritime security and its vulnerability to terrorism. The main obstacles in achieving a less vulnerable maritime system are identified. Beginning with issues regarding threats to maritime andómore specificallyóto container commerce, the report discusses the issues and possible solutions that these issues raise. The report concludes with a number of recommendations and references.
Iraq – Achieving Real Victory Could Take Decades
Washington Post – A fascinating interview with CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizai on “The Long War” against “Salafist jihadists.”
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Iraq – Election Ju-ju
Defense and the National Interest – William Lind on the upcoming elections in Iraq.
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US Navy – Navy providing some help to countries hit by tidal wave — may provide more
Associated Press – The US Navy says all of its ships and other assets survived south Asia’s killer tsunami with no significant damage.The closest US base to the affected area is on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. The base emerged unscathed.
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Indian Navy – Armed forces put on emergency alert
The Telegraph – The Indian Navy sortees to aid in disaster relief after more than 11,500 people die across Asia in massive waves triggered by the largest earthquake in 40 years.
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Fourth Generation Warfare – Strategic Defense Initiative
Defense and the National Interest – William Lind says distance from disorder is the key to winning the terror war. A major article on the theme of transforming 4GW into something that we can win.
Iraq – Army Historian Cites Lack of Postwar Plan
Washington Post – The U.S. military invaded Iraq without a formal plan for occupying and stabilizing the country and this high-level failure continues to undercut what has been a “mediocre” Army effort there, an Army historian and strategist has concluded.
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