Foreign Affairs – The Soviet Victory That Never Was

Could the Soviet Union have won its war in Afghanistan? Today, the victory of the anti-Soviet mujahideen seems preordained as part of the West’s ultimate triumph in the Cold War. To suggest that an alternative outcome was possible — and that the United States has something to learn from the Soviet Union’s experience in Afghanistan — may be controversial. But to avoid being similarly frustrated by the infamous “graveyard of empires,” U.S. military planners would be wise to study how the Soviet Union nearly emerged triumphant from its decade-long war.

New York Times – Shave Every Day. Shower Every Two Months.

CJ Chivers with the Marines in Afghanistan.

Defense Technology International – The Tenth Fleet

The U.S. Navy will stand up its cyber operations unit, the so-called Tenth Fleet, this week.

Virginian Pilot – Navy sued to halt training near endangered whales

Environmental groups sued the Navy on Thursday to halt plans for an offshore training range that they fear would threaten endangered right whales, which migrate to nearby waters off Georgia and Florida each winter.

New York Times – The Hidden Dangers of Helmand Province, Part II

More from CJ Chivers with the Marines in Afghanistan.

Sea Power – 2010 Almanac Highlights – Status of the US Coast Guard

The status of the US Coast Guard as of January 2010.

New York Times – In Digital Combat, U.S. Finds No Easy Deterrent

On a Monday morning earlier this month, top Pentagon leaders gathered to simulate how they would respond to a sophisticated cyberattack aimed at paralyzing the nation’s power grids, its communications systems or its financial networks. The results were dispiriting. The enemy had all the advantages: stealth, anonymity and unpredictability. No one could pinpoint the country from which the attack came, so there was no effective way to deter further damage by threatening retaliation. What’s more, the military commanders noted that they even lacked the legal authority to respond — especially because it was never clear if the attack was an act of vandalism, an attempt at commercial theft or a state-sponsored effort to cripple the United States, perhaps as a prelude to a conventional war.

New York Times – The Hidden Dangers of Helmand Province, Part I.

More from CJ Chivers with the Marines in Afghanistan.

Virginian Pilot – Crew bonds with Haitians through karaoke, Cheez-Its, church

Aboard the USS Bataan.

Sea Power – 2010 Almanac Highlights – Status of the US Marines

The status of the US Marine Corps as of January 2010.

New York Times – Foot on Bomb, Marine Defies a Taliban Trap

On patrol with CJ Chivers and Marines in Afghanistan.

New York Times – Welcome to ‘The Mansion’

With CJ Chivers and the Marines at Combat Outpost Sullivan, the home in Helmand Province for much of Weapons Company, First Battalion, Third Marines.

Associated Press – US Marines end role in Iraq

The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan.

Chronicle Herald – Still a long way to go

Canadian sailors and soldiers have established a beachhead of hope in the port city of Jacmel, cleaning up, delivering aid, medical care and even toys, and laying the groundwork for a more ambitious effort in the weeks ahead. Sailors from HMCS Halifax and members of DART, the military’s Disaster Assistance Response Team, have taken over the concrete pier and waterfront lot in the shadow of the ruined town, where lovely French colonial buildings have fallen to rubble.

BBC – US Navy keen to show its sensitive side in Haiti

We are in Cassagne, an impoverished rural hamlet which felt the full force of the earthquake. Flying in on a marine helicopter, I witnessed Mother Nature’s grim lottery: some houses untouched by the tremor, alongside homes completely flattened. A community in need at the best of times, and now completely shattered, is adapting to a humanitarian invasion.

Virginian Pilot – In a Haitian village of 10,000, five local sailors find a way ahead

Navy Lt. Joel Castillo pulled a notebook from under his arm Friday afternoon and studied his list: The main water distillery broke down during the earthquake. The biggest church in town is half-collapsed and the rubble is blocking roads. The hospital survived but has only three patients; even the severely wounded are too afraid to step indoors for treatment…

Virginian Pilot – On the Bataan in Haiti, need arrives in waves

When the Bataan left Norfolk Naval Station for Haiti eight days ago, its doctors and corpsmen knew they’d be treating casualties of the magnitude-7 earthquake of Jan. 12. But they weren’t expecting so many so fast.

Air Force – A Specter Haunts the Carrier

The growing threat posed by China, not to mention political woes, has shaken up the US Navy.

Economist – China’s assertiveness at sea: Choppy Waters

East and south, China makes a splash.

The Times – US to increase troops in Haiti by a third as rescue teams pull back

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and the USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group will join the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group who are already in Haiti.