NOSI - Naval Open Source Intelligence: Geopolitics

Geopolitics / Burma - Lifting the Bamboo Curtain

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:26:29 GMT

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.

Geopolitics / Georgia - Putin Makes His Move

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:03:53 GMT

Washington Post - Robert Kagan succinctly places the Russian - Georgian War in proper perspective...

Daily Telegraph - Vladimir Putin sends emphatic message of global importance: Russia's pounding of Georgia means it will use force to protect all 25 million Russians in states that belonged to the Soviet Union

Geopolitics / China - China’s war on nature

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:39:21 GMT

Financial Times - Niall Ferguson looks at the current state of China today and the challenges it faces.

Geopolitics / Sudan - Beyond Darfur: Sudan's Slide Toward Civil War

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 10:04:02 GMT

Foreign Affairs - While the crisis in Darfur simmers, the larger problem of Sudan's survival as a state is becoming increasingly urgent. Old tensions between the Arabs of the Nile River valley, who have held power for a century, and marginalized groups on the country's periphery are turning into a national crisis. Engagement with Khartoum may be the only way to avert another civil war in Sudan, and even that may not be enough.

Geopolitics - The Age of Nonpolarity: What Will Follow U.S. Dominance

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:29:46 GMT

Foreign Affairs - The United States' unipolar moment is over. International relations in the twenty-first century will be defined by nonpolarity. Power will be diffuse rather than concentrated, and the decline as that of nonstate actors increases. But this is not all bad news for the United States; Washington can still manage the transition and make the world a safer place.

Geopolitics - The Future of American Power: How America Can Survive the Rise of the Rest

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:59:04 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Fareed Zakaria writes that despite some eerie parallels between the position of the United States today and that of the British Empire a century ago, there are key differences. Britain's decline was driven by bad economics. The United States, in contrast, has the strength and dynamism to continue shaping the world -- but only if it can overcome its political dysfunction and reorient U.S. policy for a world defined by the rise of other powers.

Geopolitics / Asia - Robert Kaplan on the new balance of power

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 09:16:49 GMT

Spero - An essay summarizing Robert Kaplan's keynote address at Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Fourth Annual Partners Brunch.

Geopolitics - War Plans

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:04:42 GMT

New York Times - Niall Ferguson review's Philip Bobbitt's new book, entitled "The Wars for the Twenty-First Century."

Geopolitics / India - Oh! Kolkata!

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 10:35:01 GMT

The Atlantic - Robert Kaplan writes that Calcutta has been renamed. Now, with investment on the rise, tech companies moving in, and a growing middle class, can it be reborn?

Geopolitics / NATO - Equal alliance, unequal roles

Michael D'Alessandro — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 09:13:52 GMT

New York Times - Robert Kaplan on the future of NATO.

Geopolitics / Arctic - Arctic Meltdown: The Economic and Security Implications of Global Warming

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:02:37 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region. Unless Washington leads the way toward a multilateral diplomatic solution, the Arctic could descend into armed conflict.

Geopolitics / Venezuela - An Empty Revolution: The Unfulfilled Promises of Hugo Chávez

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 08:46:40 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Even critics of Hugo Chávez tend to concede that he has made helping the poor his top priority. But in fact, Chávez's government has not done any more to fight poverty than past Venezuelan governments, and his much-heralded social programs have had little effect. A close look at the evidence reveals just how much Chávez's "revolution" has hurt Venezuela's economy -- and that the poor are hurting most of all.

Geopolitics / Nationalism - Us and Them: The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 09:05:25 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. But in fact, it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit, it is galvanized by modernization, and in one form or another, it will drive global politics for generations to come. Once ethnic nationalism has captured the imagination of groups in a multiethnic society, ethnic disaggregation or partition is often the least bad answer.

Geopolitics / Resiliency - America the Resilient: Defying Terrorism and Mitigating Natural Disasters

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 12:13:55 GMT

Foreign Affairs - A climate of fear and a sense of powerlessness caused by the threats of terrorism and natural disasters are undermining American ideals and fueling political demagoguery. Rebuilding the resilience of American society is the way to reverse this and respond to today's challenges.

Geopolitics / Bangladesh - Waterworld

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:38:34 GMT

The Atlantic - Robert Kaplan writes that with rising Islamic fundamentalism, weak government, and not enough dry land for its 150 million people, Bangladesh could use a break. Instead, it must face the catastrophic threat of climate change.

Geopolitics / China - The $1.4 Trillion Question

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:56:07 GMT

The Atlantic - James Fallows writes that the Chinese are subsidizing the American way of life. Are we playing them for suckers - or are they playing us?

Geopolitics - Waving Goodbye to Hegemony

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:26:10 GMT

New York Times Magazine - Just a few years ago, America’s hold on global power seemed unshakable. But a lot has changed while we’ve been in Iraq — and the next president is going to be dealing with not only a triumphant China and a retooled Europe but also the quiet rise of a ‘"second world."

Geopolitics / Democracy - Slow But Sure

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:16:36 GMT

Financial Times - Niall Ferguson writes: Has the democratic wave broken? Is the tide of political freedom now ebbing after the spectacular flow that began in 1989? Recent events on nearly every continent certainly give real cause for concern to those who dream of a world governed by the ballot box rather than the bullet. But they may also provide an overdue opportunity to think more realistically about the way the process of democratisation works.

Geopolitics / Pakistan - Next-Gen Taliban

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:58:07 GMT

New York Times Magazine - Pakistan’s younger Islamic militants are bringing the jihad waged in Afghanistan back home: breaking with senior mullahs, renouncing elections and killing police officers, soldiers and, perhaps, Benazir Bhutto.

Geopolitics / Iran - The Costs of Containing Iran

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:44:15 GMT

Foreign Affair - The Bush administration wants to contain Iran by rallying the support of Sunni Arab states and now sees Iran's containment as the heart of its Middle East policy: a way to stabilize Iraq, declaw Hezbollah, and restart the Arab-Israeli peace process. But the strategy is unsound and impractical, and it will probably further destabilize an already volatile region.

Geopolitics / Russia - The Myth of the Authoritarian Model: How Putin's Crackdown Holds Russia Back

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 09:57:42 GMT

Foreign Affairs - A growing conventional wisdom holds that Vladimir Putin's attack on democracy has brought Russia stability and prosperity -- providing a new model of successful market authoritarianism. But the correlation between autocracy and economic growth is spurious. Autocracy's effects in Russia have in fact been negative. Whatever the gains under Putin, they would have been greater under a democratic regime.

Geopolitics / China - The Rise of China and the Future of the West: Can the Liberal System Survive?

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 10:27:09 GMT

Foreign Affairs - China's rise will inevitably bring the United States' unipolar moment to an end. But that does not necessarily mean a violent power struggle or the overthrow of the Western system. The U.S.-led international order can remain dominant even while integrating a more powerful China -- but only if Washington sets about strengthening that liberal order now.

Geopolitics / China - Long Time Coming: The Prospects for Democracy in China

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 10:35:05 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Is China democratizing? The country's leaders do not think of democracy as people in the West generally do, but they are increasingly backing local elections, judicial independence, and oversight of Chinese Communist Party officials. How far China's liberalization will ultimately go and what Chinese politics will look like when it stops are open questions.

Geopolitics - Forgetting the Obvious

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:40:35 GMT

American Interest - Robert D. Kaplan writes "Some truths are so obvious that to mention them in polite company seems either pointless or rude. What is left unstated, however, can with time be forgotten. Both of these observations apply today to the American way of war. It is obvious that a military can only fight well on behalf of a society in which it believes, and that a society which believes little is worth fighting for cannot, in the end, field an effective military. Obvious as this is, we seem to have forgotten it."

Geopolitics / Long War - Recasting the Long War as a Joint Sino-American Venture

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:43:53 GMT

Baker Center Journal of Applied Public Policy - Thomas P.M. Barnett writes that the way forward in the Long War is with the Chinese:

In this so-called long war against the global jihadist movement, the Bush administration’s greatest failure has been its lack of strategic imagination. It has added the right enemies to our to-do list, but failed to enlist the necessary new allies, giving our people the misperception that it’s America against the world.

This need not be the case. Our natural allies are now located on the frontiers of globalization, or among the three billion-plus new capitalists who joined global markets over the last generation, chiefly among them the Chinese.

Geopolitics / Pakistan - It's The Tribes, Stupid!

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 13:50:46 GMT

The Atlantic - Robert Kaplan says that quelling anarchy in Iraq, Pakistan, and elsewhere, will require building on tribal loyalties-not imposing democracy from the top down

Geopolitics / Africa - The Next Frontier

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 12:25:42 GMT

The Atlantic - Robert Kaplan says the creation of AFRICOM, the U.S. military's new Africa Command, offers the hope of steady, low-key progress in the war on terror.

Geopolitics / Pakistan - A Second Coup in Pakistan

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 09:30:27 GMT

Washington Post - Ahmed Rashid comments that President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule this weekend will only encourage further civil strife, nationwide protests and greater territorial gains by the extremist Pakistani Taliban.

Geopolitics / Environmentalism - Neptune's Navy

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 11:09:57 GMT

New Yorker - A very interesting look at one eco-warrior's wild crusade to save the oceans.

Geopolitics / Burma - Asia's Forgotten Crisis: A New Approach to Burma

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 11:31:13 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Over the past decade, Burma has gone from being an antidemocratic embarrassment and humanitarian disaster to being a serious threat to its neighbors' security. The international community must change its approach to the country's junta.

Geopolitics / India - America's Strategic Opportunity With India: The New U.S.-India Partnership

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 11:58:01 GMT

Foreign Affairs - The rise of a democratic and increasingly powerful India is a positive development for U.S. interests. Rarely has the United States shared so many interests and values with a growing power as we do today with India. By reaching out to India, we have made the bet that the future lies in pluralism, democracy, and market economics.

Geopolitics / Asia - Winning Asia: Washington's Untold Success Story

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 09:43:54 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Pundits, academics, and Bush bashers insist that the United States is losing ground in Asia, but they are wrong. The Bush administration's Asia policy has been an unheralded success. Improved relations with China, stronger U.S.-Japanese cooperation, North Korea's gradual nuclear disarmament, and expanding regional alliances have made Asia more prosperous and secure than it has been in decades.

Geopolitics / Asia - Washington's Eastern Sunset: The Decline of U.S. Power in Northeast Asia

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 11:29:21 GMT

Foreign Affairs - After 60 years of U.S. domination, the balance of power in Northeast Asia is shifting. The United States is in relative decline, China is on the rise, and Japan and South Korea are in flux. To maintain U.S. power in the region, Washington must identify the trends shaping this transition and embrace new tools and regimes that broaden the United States' power base.

Geopolitics - A Disciplined Defense: How to Regain Strategic Solvency

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 13:48:32 GMT

Foreign Affairs - The United States now spends almost as much on defense in real dollars as it ever has before -- even though it has no plausible rationale for using most of its impressive military forces. Why? Because without political incentives for restraint, policymakers have lost the ability to think clearly about defense policy. Washington's new mantra should be "Half a trillion dollars is more than enough."

Geopolitics / Long War - Can the War on Terror Be Won? - How to Fight the Right War

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:21:47 GMT

Foreign Affairs - It can, but only if U.S. officials start to think clearly about what success in the war on terror would actually look like. Victory will come only when Washington succeeds in discrediting the terrorists' ideology and undermining their support. These achievements, in turn, will require accepting that the terrorist threat can never be eradicated completely and that acting as though it can will only make it worse.

Geopolitics / Energy - Pentagon backs plan to beam solar power from space

Michael D'Alessandro — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:37:37 GMT

New Scientist - A futuristic scheme to collect solar energy on satellites and beam it to Earth has gained a large supporter in the US military. A report released yesterday by the National Security Space Office recommends that the US government sponsor projects to demonstrate solar-power-generating satellites and provide financial incentives for further private development of the technology.

National Security Space Office - Space-Based Solar Power As an Opportunity for Strategic Security

Geopolitics / United States - The Next Five States

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 08:49:52 GMT

Esquire - Thomas P.M. Barnett asks: In the lives of men and nations, either you are growing or you're dying. In our time, the Soviet Union imploded, China is adding back lost colonies, and Europe is now the European Union. So why did the United States stop growing? And what will our next five states be?

Geopolitics / Russia - The Tsar's Opponent

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:30:07 GMT

New Yorker - Garry Kasparov takes aim at the power of Vladimir Putin.

Geopolitics - Salute and Disobey?

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:31:13 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Did the Bush administration disregard military expertise before the Iraq war? Should military leaders have done more to protest in response?

Geopolitics - Smart Samaritans

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 08:18:24 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Paul Collier offers strong recommendations for helping "the bottom billion" -- those living in poor countries caught in growth traps. But he cannot overcome a basic problem: how to create growth where no functioning economy exists.

Geopolitics / China - When Congress Stops Wars

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:48:36 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Since the Democrats regained control of Congress, the Hill has been alive with the sound of hearings. Congress' earlier slumber and recent awakening should come as no surprise: for the last six decades, the partisan composition of Congress has defined the politics of war. Now facing a Democratic majority, President George W. Bush will find it far more difficult to stay in Iraq.

Geopolitics / China - The Great Leap Backward?

Michael D'Alessandro — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:47:18 GMT

Foreign Affairs - China's environmental woes are mounting, and the country is fast becoming one of the leading polluters in the world. The situation continues to deteriorate because even when Beijing sets ambitious targets to protect the environment, local officials generally ignore them, preferring to concentrate on further advancing economic growth. Really improving the environment in China will require revolutionary bottom-up political and economic reforms.

Geopolitics / Russia - The making of a neo-KGB state

Michael D'Alessandro — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 08:48:23 GMT

The Economist - Political power in Russia now lies with the FSB, the KGB's successor

Geopolitics - Dollar Diplomacy

Michael D'Alessandro — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:10:11 GMT

New Yorker - Niall Ferguson reviews how much did the Marshall Plan really matter?

Geopolitics / Religion - The Politics of God

Michael D'Alessandro — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 11:49:26 GMT

New York Times Magazine - After centuries of strife, the West has learned to separate religion and politics - to establish the legitimacy of its leaders without referring to divine command. There is little reason to expect that the rest of the world - the Islamic world in particular - will follow.

Geopolitics / Pakistan - A False Choice in Pakistan

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:52:54 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Americans are increasingly frustrated with Pakistan's counterterrorism efforts, but the United States should resist the urge to threaten President Pervez Musharraf or demand a quick democratic transition. Getting Islamabad to play a more effective role in the war on terrorism will require that Washington strike a careful balance: pushing for political reform but without jeopardizing the military's core interests.

Geopolitics / Grand Strategy - Grand Strategy for a Divided America

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:53:04 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Deep divisions at home about the nature of the United States' engagement with the world threaten to produce failed leadership abroad -- and possibly isolationism. To steady U.S. global leadership and restore consensus to U.S. foreign policy, U.S. commitments overseas must be scaled back to a more politically sustainable level.

Geopolitics / Diplomacy - The Art of Peace: Bringing Diplomacy Back to Washington

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 11:06:05 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Washington has abandoned diplomacy in favor of military power. In Statecraft, Dennis Ross urges U.S. officials to resurrect the United States' peacemaking tradition and restore its international reputation.

Geopolitics / Soviet Union - Seeing Red: Why Communism Really Failed

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 11:01:08 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Robert Service's Comrades! tells the story of world communism -- but leaves the reader still hungry for explanations of why the movement lasted so long and what, if anything, it accomplished.

Geopolitics - Entente Infernale: How 300 Years of Anglo-French Rivalry Shaped the World

Michael D'Alessandro — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 11:31:59 GMT

Foreign Affairs - Robert and Isabelle Tombs' superb chronicle of 300 years of Anglo-French rivalry reveals how the love-hate relationship between France and the United Kingdom has left an indelible mark on today's world.