Beware CTBT Cheaters! We have a Garmin and we know how to use it! In addition to finding your way home and locating enemy targets, researchers at The Ohio State University have found another use for our little Garmin: detecting clandestine nuclear tests. The Global Security Newswire reports today on the work of Ralph Von […]
Two of my FPA blogger colleagues offer differing assessments of the war in Afghanistan. In the optimistic camp is Gail Harris of the FPA U.S. Defense blog. She participated in several Bloggers Roundtables sponsored by the U.S. Defense Department and blogged about it in three parts (here, here, and here). She notes that NATO is […]
In the context of all the Iranian nuke news, Reuters has run a couple of basic, layperson-accessible FAQs, or “Factboxes”, on uranium enrichment and how uranium ore becomes civilian nuke fuel. They are reasonably accurate.
On the HIV/AIDS front, news has been coming fast and furiously this week and last, as the United Nations conducts its High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, South Africa hosts its HIV/AIDS conference in Durban and the media takes the opportunity to commorate the 30-year anniversary of the global fight against AIDS. I thought I’d link to […]
“Counter Terrorist Trends and Analysis” published by the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research includes commentary-type articles with analysis on existing and emerging trends on topics such as terrorism and political violence, homeland security, religion and violence, and all other areas of security, broadly defined. Please see the June 2011 issue for an […]
Recent events in North Africa and the Middle East have brought to the forefront the fragility of government institutions and have questioned the legitimacy of authoritarian regimes in a number of developing nations. The right form of governance for the right society has never been easy to identify. A lot of times, societies have adopted […]
Longtime nuke journalist and now Senior Associate at Carnegie Mark Hibbs has written an update on the ongoing saga regarding the Dair Alzour site in Syria. Readers will recall that the site was bombed four years ago by the Israeli military because it believed, along with the U.S., that the Syrians were hiding a DPRK-supplied […]
Brazil has relied on sugar cane-derived ethanol for much of its auto fleet for years. However, the industry has hit a soft patch in investment. Since 2005, the country has built 117 ethanol mills, but after the five currently coming on line are finished there are no plans for further expansion. When you consider that […]
On this anniversary of the D-Day invasion that set the allies on course to victory in WWII I wanted to write a few words to commemorate the day but this day is now almost over and my draft is rather meager. After all, so many words have already been written about D-Day, what can I […]
Australia rethinks policy for asylum-seeking children Australian government says all children will be considered on case-by-case basis under refugee swap being negotiated with Malaysia, softening its policy on unaccompanied child asylum seekers following criticism from UN agencies and human rights groups. All children will be considered on a case-by-case basis under a refugee deal being […]
Here’s the conclusion to my series on Afghanistan based on several Department of Defense sponsored Bloggers Roundtables I participated in over the last several weeks. On May 3rd, Major General Richard Mills, United States Marine Corp, spoke on the topic The Evolving Security Situation in Afghanistan. General Mills is the former commander, Regional Command Southwest. […]
There was a very important bit of reporting in the NY Times yesterday: A Warming Planet Struggles to Feed Itself. Among the most important things it does is illustrate quite clearly how the extremes of temperature and precipitation that are becoming the norm are negatively affecting agricultural production. Productivity losses generate higher prices which, in […]
The idea that American leadership is civilian and accountable is a fallacy. Why is this important? The US war effort in Afghanistan is lacking true civilian leadership, and the existing leadership (military) is avoiding accountability through obfuscation, self-aggrandizement, and attempts to overly intellectualize the conflict. We need to examine why this has been allowed to happen, as well as what we can do about it.
“It’s like Platoon in the mountains.” That was a response by one viewer of this documentary. It’s a valid observation. Restrepo tells the story of the 2nd Platoon of Battle Company in the 173rd Airborne Combat Team on its deployment in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008. The title refers to the platoon outpost, named after […]
Now that a recent outbreak of a deadly strain of E. Coli that hit Europe in late May has been contained by stepped up screening, governments and consumers are questioning how the outbreak of such a deadly bacteria emerged and how can future outbreaks be prevented. First, what is known: At the time of this […]