Blogger's Note: Pondering what we have done in the Mid-East and where we are headed in the next decade... seems like a powder keg akin to Europe prior to WWI. SmallWarsJournal.com July 6, 2012 This Week at War Rather than winding down with the planned departure of NATO troops by 2014, the war in Afghanistan …
The Drone Blowback Fallacy by Christopher Swift
View Original / Christopher Swift / Foreign Affairs Blogger's Note: Strong piece, as usual from Foreign Affairs. The author does address some of the deeper and more strategic issues at the end of the article...but the entire drone campaign leaves so many issues that must be addressed...this is a very good piece in addressing the tactical and slightly …
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A Primer For American Military Intervention By Mark Helprn
Wall Street Journal July 5, 2012 With the heart of an infantryman, the president must feel what Churchill called 'stress of soul' for each of the wounded and the dead. In either 2013 or 2017, a new president will take office. The economy notwithstanding, the world will remain a dangerous place, and military intervention may …
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American strategy in Afghanistan flunks Sun Tzu By GIAN GENTILE
Blogger's Note: singing my song, but what are we doing to train our future leaders on how to create, formulate, and nurture strategic ideas? There are some ASG grads out there, I know....I would have to say we are not doing a great job, further...not sure it is considered a high value ability or commodity. …
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They Knew How To Lead By Tony Perry
Los Angeles Times July 4, 2012 Pg. D4 Book Review The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King -- The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea. By Walter R. Borneman. Little, Brown: 561 pp., $29.99 In his superbly reported new book, "The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King -- The Five-Star Admirals Who Won …
McChrystal: Time to bring back the draft by Josh Rogin
Blogger's note: highly contentious, but something I have pondered many times...many good things with the draft, but many bad as well, a ton of 3rd and 4th order effects as well...good and bad...something to think about on the 4th thecable.foreignpolicy.com July 3rd 2012 Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander of international forces in Afghanistan, …
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4 Leadership Lessons From The Founding Fathers by Doug Dickerson
view original / fastcompany.com July 3rd 2012 6:21 AM Now inscribed on the Library of Congress, James Madison's words are as true today as they were in 1829: “The happy Union of these States is a wonder; their Constitution a miracle; their example the hope of Liberty throughout the world.” In forging such a nation, …
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Defense Cuts Of $500 Billion Vex Officials As Ax Nears By Laura Litvan
Bloomberg.com July 2, 2012 Bloomberg News Overseeing a series of mandated U.S. budget cuts in the 1980s and 1990s, former White House official Barry Anderson was none too popular with agency officials as he insisted that the reductions be applied uniformly. Anderson recalls a minuscule 0.0013 cut to all domestic programs in 1991 that had …
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America’s ‘Pacific Pivot’ Craze By Max Boot
Los Angeles Times July 2, 2012 Pg. 13 Is there any organization outside of Hollywood more prey to intellectual fads than the Department of Defense? A decade ago the buzzword around the Pentagon was "transformation." Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld wanted to force radical change to take advantage of information technology. So the individual …
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No Danger In A Nuclear Iran? Really? By Jeff Jacoby
Blogger's note: rebuttal to the 18 June Waltz piece. Boston Globe July 1, 2012 ARE YOU concerned about Tehran's drive for nuclear weapons? Political scientist Kenneth Waltz isn't. A senior research scholar at Columbia University and former president of American Political Science Association, Waltz writes in the new issue of Foreign Affairs that it's time …
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