The Atlantic – Robert Kaplan writes that as China and India vie for power and influence, Burma has become a strategic battleground. Four Americans with deep ties to this fractured, resource-rich country illuminate its current troubles, and what the U.S. should do to shape its future.
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Monthly Archives: August 2008
US Coast Guard – Coast Guard's Plans on Ice
Defense Technology International – One of the Coast Guardís duties is to patrol the freezing cold waters off the northernmost coast of our United States. And they canít do it in shoddy boats. Two of the three USCG polar icebreakers ñ the Polar Star and Polar Sea ñ have exceeded their intended 30-year service lives. And on the serviceís current schedule, the first replacement ship might not enter service for another decade.
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US Navy – Lockheed's New Combat Ship Passes Its Review From Navy
Wall Street Journal – After passing a U.S. Navy review, Lockheed Martin Corp. is closing in on delivering a new warship that will be a milestone in the defense contractor’s expanding foray into shipbuilding.
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US Navy – New challenge in drug war: semi-subs
Christian Science Monitor – Drug cartels have turned to a new and effective vehicle to smuggle their goods, using small, homemade “semi-submersibles” that are hard to detect and yet effective at carrying millions of dollars worth of cocaine and other illicit drugs that end up in the United States.
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Russian Navy – Cold War tension rises as Putin talks of Black Sea confrontation
The Times – A new Cold War between Russia and the West grew steadily closer yesterday after the Kremlin gave a warning about ìdirect confrontationî between American and Russian warships in the Black Sea.
Associated Press – US cancels plan to send military ship to Poti.
French Navy – 100 Days to Go Before Charles de Gaulle Returns to Active Duty
Defense Technology International – The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier came out of its dry dock in the Mediterraean port of Toulon on a beautiful August 22 dawn and has another 100 days of maintenance and upgrade at quayside before it can go back to sea.
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US Navy – Norfolk ship ready to bring more aid to Georgia
Virginian Pilot – The quick delivery of more than 50 tons of humanitarian aid to war-torn Georgia on Sunday left the crew of a Norfolk-based destroyer “extremely enthusiastic about the opportunity to help” and ready to do more.
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US Navy – Navy: Aging P-3s safe despite mishaps
Navy Times – The Navyís traditionally safe P-3 Orion patrol aircraft community has suffered six in-flight mishaps this fiscal year ó including its first Class A mishap in at least 10 years. But despite a steady uptick in mishaps, and the December grounding of 39 P-3s because of fears that wing sections could break off in flight, Navy and civilian officials insist the Orion is still safe to fly.
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Russian Navy – Russia cruiser to test weapons in crowded Black Sea
Reuters – Russia’s flagship cruiser re-entered the Black Sea on Monday for weapons tests hours after the Russian military complained about the presence of U.S. and other NATO naval ships near the Georgian coast.
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Russian Navy – After Georgia: Russia Takes Over Syria's Tartus Port
Defense Technology International – Moscow is flexing its muscles again in the eastern Mediterranean, and aims to reactivate old cold war naval installations with its ally, Syria.
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US Navy – US warship reaches Georgian port
BBC – A US warship has arrived in the Georgian port of Batumi carrying the first delivery of aid supplies by sea.
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US Navy – Repairs complete, the GW heads to Japan
Virginian Pilot – The carrier George Washington left San Diego on Thursday, bound once again for Japan after undergoing several months of repairs caused by a shipboard fire.
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Editorial Note – NOSI on break until Monday August 25
NOSI is taking a short break and will next update on Monday August 25th.
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US Coast Guard – A Push to Increase Icebreakers in the Arctic
New York Times – A growing array of military leaders, Arctic experts and lawmakers say the United States is losing its ability to patrol and safeguard Arctic waters even as climate change and high energy prices have triggered a burst of shipping and oil and gas exploration in the thawing region.
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US Navy – Pledging to Leave Georgia, Russia Tightens Its Grip
New York Times – Turkey refuses a US request to allow the hospital ship Comfort to transit the Bosphorus Straits to deliver aid to Georgia.
Baltimore Sun – USNS Comfort won’t go to Georgia
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US Navy – Navy reverses course, to seek third stealth destroyer
Associated Press – The Navy has changed course and decided to push for construction of a third DDG-1000 destroyer that would be built at Bath Iron Works.
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US Navy – Non-Nuclear Warhead Urged for Trident Missile
Washington Post – A National Research Council blue-ribbon panel of defense experts is recommending development and testing of a conventional warhead for submarine-launched intercontinental Trident missiles to give the president an alternative to using nuclear weapons for a prompt strike anywhere in the world.
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US Navy – Firebolt first U.S. Navy ship to dock in Iraq in 15 months
Virginian Pilot – Port of Call – Iraq???
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Royal Navy – 'Unacceptable' errors led to deaths in fire aboard sub on Arctic patrol
Guardian – A fire that killed two sailors aboard a nuclear-powered submarine as it patrolled beneath the Arctic ice was caused by a catalogue of errors that could have been avoided.
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US Navy – Navy Reacts To Missile Threats
Defense Technology International – Tests this summer of Raytheon Standard Missile 2 weapons from the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie were intended to demonstrate technology for a quick-reaction defense against ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. In the dry terminology of missile defense, this may not sound critical, but it indicates that the Navy is very worried about a new threat: the anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM).
Indications are that China, in particular, is developing an ASBM – an intermediate-range ballistic missile tipped with a guided warhead. The weapon outranges any sea-based weapon, including strike aircraft, and is hard to intercept with the most widely used versions of the Standard Missile, which are designed to hit aircraft.
The Navy is responding rapidly, according to RAdm Alan Hicks, program director for Aegis missile defense at the Missile Defense Agency.
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Chinese Navy – New Chinese Missiles Target the Greater Asian Region
International Assessment and Strategy Center – A look at China’s new anti-ship ballistic missiles.
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Russian Navy – Russian warship notice sought
Washington Times – Ukrainian military officials on Thursday vowed to uphold a decree ordering Russia to seek permission to move its Black Sea warships based in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, setting up a conflict between Russia and another pro-Western former Soviet republic.
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US Coast Guard – Arctic cold war as US sends a ship to claim riches under the ocean
The Times – A US Coast Guard cutter will depart for the Arctic this week as part of a race against Russia to claim the vast spoils of oil and natural gas below the sea floor that both nations are scrambling to exploit.
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Russian Navy – Russia's Black Sea Fleet Enters the Fray
Defense Technology International – During the recent conflict with Georgia, Russia has mobilized part of its fleet toward the East Black Sea region. There have been reports that Russia has plans to move elements of its Black Sea fleet to Ochamchira, Abkhazia, ostensibly to protect Russian civilians.
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Information Warfare – Cyberspace Barrage Preceded Russian Invasion of Georgia
New York Times – Weeks before physical bombs started falling on Georgia, a security researcher in suburban Massachusetts was watching an attack against the country in cyberspace.
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NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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