CNN – More pirates searching for lifeboat
Pirates in ships are searching for the lifeboat containing four pirates and their hostage — the captain of a freighter they failed to hijack earlier this week — according to a U.S. military official with knowledge of the situation.
Politico – Pentagon preps for economic warfare
The Pentagon sponsored a first-of-its-kind war game last month focused not on bullets and bombs — but on how hostile nations might seek to cripple the U.S. economy, a scenario made all the more real by the global financial crisis.
New Yorker – Can Iran Change?
The high stakes in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection campaign.
Washington Post – FBI Hostage Negotiators Helping Navy With Ship Captain’s Rescue
A U.S.-operated container ship that was attacked by Somali pirates steamed toward a Kenyan port Thursday with armed guards on board, as the U.S. Navy and FBI hostage negotiators continued efforts to free the ship’s captain, who was being held by the pirates in a lifeboat drifting in the Indian Ocean.
New Yorker – Syria Calling
Is Syria the Obama Administration’s chance to engage in a Middle East peace.
Wall Street Journal – Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated By Spies
Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials. The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven’t sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.
BBC – Drama as US crew recapture vessel
US crew members have recaptured their ship after it was hijacked by Somali pirates, but their captain is still being held hostage by the attackers. Meanwhile the USS Bainbridge is steaming to the scene.
BBC – Rules frustrate anti-piracy efforts
The international effort to stop piracy off Somalia has not worked and the effort clearly needs to be stepped up into a higher gear.
Washington Post – Short ’06 Lebanon War Stokes Pentagon Debate
Greg Jaffe writes that a war that ended three years ago and involved not a single U.S. soldier has become the subject of an increasingly heated debate inside the Pentagon, one that could alter how the U.S. military fights in the future.
Virginian Pilot – War demands put crimp in Navy’s air, sea time
The recent surge in global demand for all things Navy has caused the service to burn through its funding more quickly than planned. As a result, the service is tightening its belt for the rest of the fiscal year, which translates into fewer hours in the air and fewer days at sea.
Armed Forces Journal – A balancing act
The shortfall of nuclear-powered attack submarines in the US Navy can be mitigated with conventional subs.
Foreign Affairs – The Japan Fallacy: Today’s U.S. Financial Crisis Is Not Like Tokyo’s “Lost Decade”
The financial crisis of 2008 need not usher in a replay of Japan’s “lost decade” of the 1990s. The current crisis is the result of correctable policy mistakes rather than deep structural flaws in the economy.
Daily Telegraph – 60 years on, Nato has become the victim of its own success
John Keegan writes that NATO needs to adopt a wider peace-keeping mission under the UN.
Virginian Pilot – Destroyers’ role in focus as world monitors N. Korea
Just 18 Navy ships have the ability to destroy a ballistic missile hurtling through the air at thousands of miles per hour…
Christian Science Monitor – Smarten up naval sonar to save the whales
Jean-Michel Cousteau says the Bush administration may be gone, but whales and other marine life along our coasts will be hearing from it for years to come – literally.
Virginian Pilot – Ship prepares to take help, smiles to several nations
The hospital ship Comfort left Wednesday on the Navy’s latest humanitarian mission to Central America and the Caribbean. Over the next four months, the vessel will visit Antigua, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Panama. The rotating 850-member crew of doctors, nurses, medical technicians and others plan to spend two weeks in each country, performing operations and providing medical and dental care both on board and on shore. The cruise is part of a Navy mission called Continuing Promise, which is designed to partner with host countries on medical and engineering projects and build goodwill. The mission is the fourth such cruise to the region, following Comfort’s 2007 trip and those of the amphibious assault ships Boxer and Kearsarge in 2008.
Defense Technology International – More Than One Ford In Trouble?
Are there problems with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), which is supposed to replace steam catapults aboard the Navy’s next carrier, Gerald R. Ford.?
Virginian Pilot – Dynamic new ramp gives military cargo vessel a lift
The Cape Rise left its home at the mouth of Scotts Creek on Monday, on the way to pick up Marine cargo for the war in Afghanistan. The ship, a roll-on/roll-off cargo vessel, was already a useful machine, but now it has a new feature to make loading all that cargo easier: a massive stern ramp that can be lowered by a single person, thanks to computer-controlled hydraulics.
US Naval Institute – Chinese Develop Special “Kill Weapon” to Destroy U.S. Aircraft Carriers
With tensions already rising due to the Chinese navy becoming more aggressive in asserting its territorial claims in the South China Sea, the U.S. Navy seems to have yet another reason to be deeply concerned. After years of conjecture, details have begun to emerge of a “kill weapon” developed by the Chinese to target and destroy U.S. aircraft carriers.
(Special thanks to TH for the pointer to this)
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