US Marines – Semper Fly: Marines in Space

Popular Science – As any battlefield commander will tell you, getting troops to the fight can be as difficult as winning it. And for modern-day soldiers, the sites of conflict are so far-flung, and the political considerations of even flying over another country so complicated, that rapid entry has become nearly impossible. If a group of Marine Corps visionaries have their way, however, 30 years from now, Marines could touch down anywhere on the globe in less than two hours, without needing to negotiate passage through foreign airspace. The breathtaking efficiency of such a delivery system could change forever the way the U.S. does battle.
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Chinese Navy – Maritime Geostrategy and the Development of the Chinese Navy in the Early Twenty-first Century

Naval War College Review – A Senior Captain in the Chinese Peopleís Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, writing in 2004 in Chinaís most prestigious military journal, surveys the now favorable geostrategic environment for accelerated Chinese maritime development, thereby articulating a rationale for a PLA Navy that is prepared to “defend a larger scope.”
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Geopolitics / Immigration – Immigration Nation

Foreign Affairs – The United States is far less divided on immigration than the current debate would suggest. An overwhelming majority of Americans want a combination of tougher enforcement and earned citizenship for the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. Washington’s challenge is to translate this consensus into sound legislation that will start to repair the nation’s broken immigration system.
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US Coast Guard – Costly Fleet Update Falters

Washington Post – A multibillion-dollar effort to modernize the Coast Guard’s fleet has suffered delays, cost increases, design flaws and, most recently, the idling of eight 123-foot patrol boats that were found to be not seaworthy after an $88 million refurbishment.

The sidelining of eight of 10 Miami-based cutters worsens a patrol-boat crisis while the Coast Guard is preparing for an exodus of Cubans that could happen when dictator Fidel Castro is no longer in power, Coast Guard leaders acknowledge.

More broadly, congressional critics warn that early mistakes in the 25-year modernization program, called Deepwater — the Coast Guard’s largest contract ever — are hobbling the service’s transformation into a front-line homeland security force.
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Chinese Navy – China's Aircraft Carrier Dilemma

Naval War College Review – What even a modest aircraft carrier can do, in a variety of roles, has impressed itself upon the Chinese. They have avoided buying the wrong platform at the wrong timeóconventional large-deck ships may no longer be their ìgold standardîóbut aircraft carriers of some kind may yet complement their submarine-centered navy.
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