AMERICA CAN TAKE A BREATHER. AND IT SHOULD. By Richard N. Haass

DeM Banter:  I was fortunate to have lunch with Richard Haas while at Stanford--amazing man.  Agree with 99.72% of the comments below, but...what is stellar...this is the beginning of an American National Security Strategy.  I know that Quantum Look is just a bent DeMarco Plan...but if one were to parse that against what Haas is …

Russian Air Power Makes A Splash At Paris Air Show By Daniel Michaels

DeM Banter: After recently speaking with several NASA Astronauts here at OTS... it was sad to realize we now rely on the Russians to get our astronauts into space. Now the Russians dominate tech at the Paris Airshow... all I can think is... HEY, that used to be us...(great book by Friedman but the way) …

Pentagon Shoots Down Kerry’s Syria Airstrike Plan By Jeffrey Goldberg

DeM Banter: This falls in the interesting times category for sure, especially when you look at the article posted earlier today regarding crews sitting on the ramp and "pretending" to fly because we don't have enough training hours. We have spent a good bit of time at the m100Group talking about choices... this was a …

Interview Gen. Denis Mercier Chief of Staff, French Air Force by Andrew Chuter

DeM Banter: Austerity measures in action...it is indeed odd that we have yet to hear that fact that about 30% of our combat fleet in the USAF is grounded as we debate action in Syria. Interesting times... Defense News June 17, 2013 Pg. 30 The French Air Force is facing a problem that is increasingly …

Slash The Budget, But Don’t Close Unneeded Bases? Columbus (GA) Ledger-Enquirer

DeM Banter: It does make it tough to balance the military budget... June 13, 2013 The Pentagon says it doesn't want them, doesn't need them and can't afford to maintain them. Two congressional armed services panels say that's just tough -- you're stuck with them. So at a time of budget squeezing, the Defense Department's …