Could Trump’s “America First” isolationism, professed during his electoral campaign, decrease the U.S.’ role in the world, and ultimately its security?
Could Trump’s “America First” isolationism, professed during his electoral campaign, decrease the U.S.’ role in the world, and ultimately its security?
Senior military leaders fear that the administration will develop a foreign policy that focuses too heavily on military solutions with little regard to other “tools” in the U.S. policy kit.
Trump praised him as “a general’s general” and the point person for a muscular U.S. foreign policy. Does Gen. Mattis’ own rhetoric fit Trump’s casting call?
Will the Obama administration’s recent report on the use of military force influence the Trump’s administration conduct of foreign policy?
Coinciding with Kerry’s visit to Beijing for high-level security talks, a Chinese fighter jet carried out an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. spy plane.
Each year, the intelligence community presents an annual threat assessment to Congress. They publish an unclassified version that I and many other national security geeks read very closely.
Was the British Army an effective force in bringing stability and order to Iraq’s Shiite heartland in Basra? Were British troops efficient and effective in confronting the insurgencies they faced in Afghanistan and Iraq? And, as a major Western military power, did they study their enemy?
American airpower employed against IS lines of communication can be effective at halting its momentum and supporting Iraqi forces in driving it back, but only if the Obama administration couples airstrikes with a strategy to undermine the Islamic State’s strongholds in Syria.
This week marks the 71st anniversary of the Battle of Midway. The battle took place 4 – 7 June in 1942 and proved to be the turning point in the war against Japan, just 6 months following the devastating Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Winston Churchill summed it up best: “This memorable American victory was […]
Nearly nine years ago, Senator Hagel charted out “A Republican Foreign Policy” in the July/August 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs. Hagel summarized this foreign policy with seven principles: 1) Leadership in the Global Economy: “The rule of law, property rights, advances in science and technology, and large increases in worker productivity all have contributed […]
Given the criminal billions available to ambitious ‘private wealth handlers’ inside the world’s biggest banks, the historic willingness of financial institutions to ‘look the other way,’ and the paltry repercussions, fines and deferred prosecution, for AML (anti-money laundering) non-compliance—it’s clear that powerful incentives continue to drive (and reassure) high-wire account executives ISO under-the-table commissions from traffickers (1-2 percent), and big bonuses from appreciative employers…
For years, the US government, along with FATF (the talking head for the AML community), has told banks the key is to ‘know your customer.’
Wrong.
The message should be “Know your banker.”
Listen.
The easiest way for criminals to launder dirty dollars is simply to pay a banker to do it, someone who manages millions a year for a financial institution that will never look him in the eye and announce, no-punches-pulled, that money laundering is a criminal offense, the kind that can land you in jail.
Been off the blogosphere for the last month because of a project I was working on. Thought I’d get back into the saddle by looking into the latest on Afghanistan. On July 10th in response to a reporter’s question, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said the surge had been a success. In response to some […]
In my last blog, I ended with a quote from a 2011 Foreign Affairs magazine article written by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III. In the article he stated the Department of Defense has a five pillar strategy for operating in cyberspace: “…treating cyberspace as an operational domain, like land, air, […]
Grumbles have been filtering out lately, from the CIA and other agencies running covert ops, that The Rule is lately being violated, sacrificed to the needs of self-promoting administration officials (Leon Panetta? 60 Minutes?) who simply cannot keep their mouths shut, cheerleaders jazzed by pre-election jitters who rush to claim kudos for their boss via contacts with the mainstream press–oblivious to the blowback suffered by US intelligence or the foreign nationals who do risk, despite the financial benefits, prison sentences or execution on their own turf.
Such is the case with Shakil Afridi, the 48 year old Pakistani physician recruited and paid (well, no doubt) by the CIA to help in the identification of Osama bin Laden prior to the assault on the dictator’s compound by US special forces. Clearly, Afridi did the US a great service. And the mainstream press recognizes this, all, without exception, on fire with righteous indignation about Pakistan’s decision to allow Afridi to be tried in Pakistan for treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison.
Isn’t Pakistan our friend?
Grow up…
In the March/April 2012 issue of Foreign Policy Magazine, Thomas Rid wrote an article called Think Again: Cyberwar. The subtitle was: Don’t Fear the Digital Bogeyman Virtual Conflict is Still More Hype Than Reality. He states his premise up front: “Time for a reality check: Cyberwar is still more hype than hazard. Consider the definition […]