Japanese fighter jet pilots are getting no rest these days. In a statement released Wednesday, the Japanese Defense Ministry revealed that Japanese fighter jets were scrambled against Chinese planes a record high 415 times during the year ending in March. That number is up 36 percent from a year earlier – and is the highest […]
“The worst thing we can do, the most dangerous thing we can do is continue to isolate nations, is to continue to not engage nations. Great powers engage.” Foreign Policy compiled a list of “Ten Hagel Quotes You Need to Know,” including the above quote from a keynote speech at the Israel Policy Forum in New […]
This article is a follow-up to “Three Flops That Make Leon Panetta Sad.” I talked a fair bit last week about the various costly mistakes the U.S. military has made in the context of the upcoming sequestration. A survey conducted by the Program for Public Consultation, the Stimson Center and the Center for Public Integrity […]
Events lay bare just how strategically isolated Islamabad has become. As my last post noted, the events of the past week show that New Delhi is sitting pretty diplomatically, being courted ardently by both Washington and Beijing. Conversely, they also laid bare just how strategically isolated Islamabad has become. Pakistan’s most recent troubles began with […]
New Delhi is being wooed by both Washington and Beijing, though its ultimate choice is becoming increasingly clearer A previous post focused on the unexpected improvement in India’s strategic position in its own neighborhood. Events this week brought evidence of how New Delhi is emerging as an important pivot point on Asia’s broader geopolitical stage. […]
We’re all very well aware of the political predicament Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is currently facing. In a “damned if does, and damned if he doesn’t” scenario, Iraq’s political boss is stuck between the presumed necessity of US military support to secure his fragile government and the obvious friction a continued troop presence would create […]
Did the US get away clean? Almost. As close to it, maybe, as Fate allows. For the past few days, another story, a sidebar to the bigger report, has been gaining steam: one of the Stealth Blackhawks used to invade the bin Laden compound crashed as a result of a ‘hard landing.’ An accident. No matter. It turns out that the Stealth Helicopters used to transport the Navy SEALs are “never-before-seen,” state-of-the-art military technology, composed of carbon fibers that resist standard detection by the enemy. Cutting edge, top-secret, and not available to the world.
But let’s talk about bin Laden. The first notion we can discard is that the US pulled this feat off alone–that our intelligence and military capabilities allowed a convoy of Blackhawk helicopters carrying teams of Navy Seals, along with gunships (loaded with 100+ Army Rangers or Marines) flying defense above the Blackhawks, to penetrate, probably from Afghanistan, 100 miles or more into Pakistan’s airspace to one of the country’s most heavily guarded locations (Pakistan’s ‘West Point’) without detection by Pakistan’s intelligence/ military forces or without encountering Pakistani fighter jets.
President Obama’s expected and whispered about Pentagon reshuffle heralds the likelihood of a rather more rapid draw down in Afghanistan than has been entertained so far. The reshuffle also suggests that in one swift move, President Obama is looking to get the CIA and the Pentagon entire to cooperate on, and finish up well, what […]
A recent series of mysterious bombings in the Philippines have led some to wonder if it is just a more severe case of the usual-suspects, Muslims separatist groups based in Mindanao, or a possible conspiracy led by the Filipino army, the Arroyo opposition, or the Macapagal-Arroyo government itself. The Philippines has seen more than 60 […]