America Just Can’t Help It By Tom Engelhardt

DeM Banter: when all you have is a hammer...everything looks like a nail...perhaps we are still using Industrial Revolution type tools to fight in an Information Age...something to ponder...Greater Things... Los Angeles Times October 9, 2012 Pg. 11 A great power without a significant enemy? That's what the U.S. has become. Osama bin Laden is …

To Save Lives, Learn The Afghan Culture By Javid Ahmad

DeM Banter: not sure I buy the entire argument below...but I do know Cultural Understanding is of an extreme importance...something we pondered years ago while at Hoover/Stanford. But what is interesting here is how the enemy evolves...and that is key...where we see innovation is needed to counter innovation....but our innovation is hindered by an Industrial …

Former General McChrystal Speaks About Complex World By Torsten Ove

DeM Banter: need to find the transcripts as the article seems a bit shallow, but could not agree more with the General ... "It's the tsunami coming." Drones are an issue and our education system is well beyond "in crisis." More than anything we need Strategy, Vision, and Leadership...still...wondering where the lions are.....thoughts? Pittsburgh Post-Gazette …

Shooting On Suspicion by James Kitfield

DeM Banter...my head hurts.... National Journal October 6, 2012 The president says he doesn't bluff, and Iran keeps enriching uranium. If everyone’s telling the truth, we're headed for a preventive war. Otto von Bismarck famously equated it to committing suicide out of fear of death. Former Air Force Gen. Curtis (Bombs Away) LeMay, the inspiration …

Missing From Our Two Wars: Clear Goals, Joint Forces By David Deptula

DeM Banter: nice piece from Gen Deptula...I would have to offer EBO is about dead...killed several times over, the concept in and of itself may not be totally wrong, but the term has way too much baggage. Not sure we need the Airpower barb at the end either...but minor points to an excellent piece on …

Ten Lessons The U.S. Should Learn From Afghanistan’s History By William Byrd

ForeignPolicy.com October 1, 2012 The AfPak Channel Afghanistan provides all too many examples of the wisdom of Winston Churchill's saying "those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." Great Britain forgot the hard-learned lessons from the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-42) and got caught in the misadventure of the Second Anglo-Afghan War …

A Test Of Wills: Air raids and cyberattacks lose appeal as Iranian defenses improve, By David A. Fulghum

DeM Banter: Options? Aviation Week & Space Technology October 1, 2012 Pg. 26 Washington Aerial bombing of Iran's nuclear and missile programs offers little political, deterrent or military value. That judgment encompasses bombing raids by either Israel or the U.S., contend a growing number of U.S. analysts. There is evidence that patience on the part …