In a pre-Christmas New York Times op-ed, Alan Kuperman wrote about the potential downside to a U.S.-led preventive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities: As for knocking out its nuclear plants, admittedly, aerial bombing might not work. Some Iranian facilities are buried too deeply to destroy from the air. There may also be sites that American […]
Holiday hiatus is now officially over. Much happened over the past two weeks, of course – an attempted terrorist attack against a U.S. commercial airplane, a Chinese prosecution of a dissident, an Iran-Iraq border dispute, an Iranian crackdown on Ashura, the shift of U.S. public attention to Yemen which, as a New York Times op-ed […]
Note: I wrote this opinion piece last week but was unable to load on the web site due to problems with my travel computer. Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer Topic: Pregnant Soldiers When I woke up the day after Christmas and checked the morning news, I was very happy to hear, […]
Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer Topic: Flight 253, Intelligence Failure? In the aftermath of the recent failed Christmas day terrorist attack by a young Nigerian man, the airwaves and print media are once again filled with cries of “intelligence failure”. As I watched the talking heads give their “expert” analysis of […]
Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer Topic: Year in Review Overview: Overall defense issues played out pretty much as expected in 2009. In a January 27, 2009 testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates identified Afghanistan as the greatest military challenge and stated “we have not had […]
I’ll be away for the next couple weeks on holiday hiatus. For your special holiday surprise, click….. HERE! See you in 2010.
Overview: 2009 was the year of rising powers. Everyone – experts, analysts, leaders, and the media – is talking about the dawn of a new world order as the global balance of power begins to reflect the economic rise of China, India, Brazil, and others. Several rising powers proved surprisingly resilient during the financial crisis […]
This year has been rife with “law and security strategy” activity. Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, infiltrating Gaza in an assault that later prompted the controversial Goldstone Report. Pakistan struck “Sharia law for peace” deals with the Taliban to stave off social unrest in Pakistani territory. The UN General Assembly debated the fate of the […]
* Is the war in Afghanistan moral? Patrick Frost of FPA Afghanistan and I have found ourselves debating the issue in the comments sections of one of his posts. Check it out. * Though maybe we could forgo this whole moral debate and simply seek the advice of robots. * And on an unrelated note, […]
It’s been, indeed, a transitional year for the world. In the midst of a devastating global economic downturn, Barack Obama took the U.S. presidency January 20. In many ways, it has been the year of Obama. A strategic review of Afghan policy in March ended with sending more troops—and President Obama doubled down on a […]
Speaking of R2P, might I wet your palate with a preview of the FPA-produced Great Decisions episode on R2P? The whole thing will air on PBS next year…
Copenhagen in the news today. 1) The talks are seemingly stalled, and most are pointing at a dispute over climate aid to developing countries. 2) The chief of the climate summit, Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard, has stepped down from her post, after calls for increased transparency. The Danish Prime Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, will […]
GailForce Reflections of a retired Baby Boomer On December 16, two days before scheduled UN talks on its nuclear program, and in a not so subtle warning to the U.S. and its allies, Iran test fired, the Sajjil-2, the latest variant of their ongoing missile development program. The missile is powered by solid […]
I’ve wanted to touch on a major development in Indian politics: the partition of the state of Andhra Pradesh. Residents of Hyderabad and its surrounding environs claimed, in the most basic sense, that the surrounding rural areas were depriving them of its proper share of economic growth/wealth. After a dramatic hunger strike, by K. Chandrasekhar […]