New York Review of Books – Pakistan on the Brink
Ahmed Rashid (again) on Pakistan’s current state…
Monthly Archives: May 2009
Information Warfare – Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace Wars
New York Times – Pentagon Plans New Arm to Wage Cyberspace Wars
The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, administration officials said Thursday, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare.
North Korean Navy – Four Reasons North Korea Won't Stop Being a Pain in the World's Ass
Esquire – Four Reasons North Korea Won’t Stop Being a Pain in the World’s Ass
Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that this week’s tests were a local propaganda success gone globally awry, and a foreign-policy expert has bad news for us: The totalitarian, war-crime-worthy Pyongyang government and its cult of personality aren’t going away anytime soon — unless, of course, Obama calls Kim Jong-Il’s bluff.
North Korean Navy – North Korea Threatens Attack on South
Washington Post – North Korea Threatens Attack on South
North Korea vowed Wednesday to attack South Korea if its ships are searched as part a U.S.-led effort to interdict vessels carrying missiles or weapons of mass destruction. It also declared that the truce that ended the Korean War was no longer valid.
Geopolitics / China – China at the Wheel of the World: Sissy or Superpower?
Esquire – China at the Wheel of the World: Sissy or Superpower?
Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that the Chinese may be helping the States, but can they help themselves? The view from Beijing is a tea party hell-bent on global leadership, but if the government can’t give up its moribund socialist movement, America might be riding solo well after Obama.
French Navy – France to Open Naval Base in Abu Dhabi
Wall Street Journal – France to Open Naval Base in Abu Dhabi
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday his nation’s first military base in the Gulf is an important step in international cooperation to fight piracy and safeguard crucial oil routes.
Royal Navy – Super-destroyer to guard 2012 Games
The Times – Super-destroyer to guard 2012 Games
The Royal Navy is on standby to deploy the world’s most advanced destroyer to protect the 2012 Olympics from a 9/11-style attack. Security chiefs are drawing up plans to moor one of the navy’s new Daring class of Type 45 destroyers in the Thames estuary. The ship, which boasts a sophisticated antiair missile system, would be ready to shoot down hijacked aircraft or small passenger jets flown towards London or the Olympic site by terrorists.
Afghanistan – Stalemate in Now Zad
Wall Street Journal – Stalemate in Now Zad
A single company of U.S. Marines is slugging it out with the Taliban in Afghanistan’s toughest ghost town. The battle shows how limited troop numbers have hurt the war—and why the U.S. is changing its strategy.
Canadian Navy – Canadian, Italian navies stop pirate attack on Norfolk-based cargo ship
Virginian Pilot – Canadian, Italian navies stop pirate attack on Norfolk-based cargo ship
The Maersk Virginia, a 950-foot U.S.-flagged container ship owned by Maersk Line Ltd. of Norfolk, escaped an attack by pirates today in the Gulf of Aden, Maersk said. The Canadian and Italian navies helped stave off the attack.
Intelligence – Gulags, Nukes and a Water Slide: Citizen Spies Lift North Korea's Veil
Wall Street Journal – Gulags, Nukes and a Water Slide: Citizen Spies Lift North Korea’s Veil
With sleuthing and satellite images captured by Google Earth, a dozen or so citizen snoops are filling in the blanks on secretive North Korea’s map.
Geopolitics / Indian Ocean – China's accidental empire is a growing danger
The Times – China’s accidental empire is a growing danger
As the world’s newest superpower expands trade and flexes its military muscle, a perilous regional arms race looms.
Afghanistan – Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands
New York Times – Arms Sent by U.S. May Be Falling Into Taliban Hands
C.J. Chivers writes that Insurgents in Afghanistan, fighting from some of the poorest and most remote regions on earth, have managed for years to maintain an intensive guerrilla war against materially superior American and Afghan forces. Arms and ordnance collected from dead insurgents hint at one possible reason: Of 30 rifle magazines recently taken from insurgents’ corpses, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, identical to ammunition the United States had provided to Afghan government forces, according to an examination of ammunition marking. The presence of this ammunition among the dead in the Korangal Valley, an area of often fierce fighting near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, strongly suggests that munitions procured by the Pentagon have leaked from Afghan forces for use against American troops.
Royal Australian Navy – Navy to the rescue as pirates attack in the Gulf
The Age – Navy to the rescue as pirates attack in the Gulf
Royal Australian Navy warships have raced to the aid of merchant vessels under fire from pirates in the Gulf of Aden, in the area commonly known as Pirate Alley.
Geopolitics / Sea – Seabed mining: The unplumbed riches of the deep
The Economist – Seabed mining: The unplumbed riches of the deep
And why they’ll wait a while longer before being disturbed.
Geopolitics / Sea – The scramble for the seabed: Suddenly, a wider world below the waterline
The Economist – The scramble for the seabed: Suddenly, a wider world below the waterline
Coastal states have now made their bids for vast new areas of continental shelf.
Royal Navy – UK 'at risk of sea-borne attack'
BBC – UK ‘at risk of sea-borne attack’
Britain is vulnerable to terrorist attack from the sea because no single body is responsible for protecting the UK’s coast, MPs have warned.
Geopolitics / Sea – An awkward absence
The Economist – An awkward absence
America is missing out by being stand-offish towards the law of the sea. So is the sea.
Geopolitics / Syria – The Ways of Syria
Foreign Affairs – The Ways of Syria
As Washington considers a rapprochement with Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, Itamar Rabinovich’s commanding new book makes clear that change will not come quickly or easily — and, if the past is any indication, it may not come at all.
Transformation – A Single-Minded Focus on Dual Wars
Washington Post – A Single-Minded Focus on Dual Wars
Greg Jaffe on Secretary of Defense Gates’ attempt to change the military.
Geopolitics / Spratleys – China asserts sea border claims
BBC – China asserts sea border claims
A UN commission hoping to agree new maritime boundaries looks set to pit China against some of its neighbours.
Afghanistan – In Bleak Afghan Outpost, Troops Slog On
New York Times – In Bleak Afghan Outpost, Troops Slog On
C.J. Chivers accompanies another US Army patrol in Afghanistan.
Geopolitics / Arctic – Russia warns of war within a decade over Arctic oil and gas riches
The Times – Russia warns of war within a decade over Arctic oil and gas riches
Russia raised the prospect of war in the Arctic yesterday as nations struggle for control of the world’s dwindling energy reserves.
Piracy – Sailors on Blackwater anti-piracy ship claim harrassment
Virginian Pilot – Sailors on Blackwater anti-piracy ship claim harrassment
If three pending legal cases are any indication, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the Blackwater counterpiracy ship.
Afghanistan – Petraeus's Tougher Fight
Washington Post – Petraeus’s Tougher Fight
David Ignatius has a nice review of what General Petraeus’ strategy will be…
Fourth Generation Warfare – In Attics and Closets, 'Biohackers' Discover Their Inner Frankenstein
Wall Street Journal – In Attics and Closets, ‘Biohackers’ Discover Their Inner Frankenstein
Hobbyists are tinkering with the building blocks of life in the comfort of their own homes. But are these biohackers a threat to national security?
NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence™ 
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