Mastermind Century Group

DeM Banter: interesting...and all part of the toothpaste theory...squeeze the tube and it will go somewhere and...it will change form. Washington Post January 31, 2013 Pg. 17 The Obama administration is working with its allies to frame a strategy to combat what might be called "al-Qaeda 2.0" - an evolving, morphing terrorist threat that lacks …

Continue reading "A Spreading Al-Qaeda Cancer By David Ignatius"

DeM Banter: military cutbacks and a pivot east? Anyone care to start a pool on the date of engagement? USA Today January 29, 2013 Pg. 8 The Obama administration's decision to give non-combat, air support to French forces trying to beat back Islamic militants who are threatening to overrun Mali, so far, hasn't caused much …

Continue reading "U.S. Military Role In Mali Probably Won’t Be Far Off France alone can’t defeat Islamists By DeWayne Wickham"

DeM Banter: so many issues here and it is not simply the GOP and Congress...decline of Empire? NYTimes.com January 22, 2013 London -- DIPLOMACY is dead. Effective diplomacy -- the kind that produced Nixon's breakthrough with China, an end to the Cold War on American terms, or the Dayton peace accord in Bosnia -- requires …

Continue reading "Diplomacy Is Dead By Roger Cohen"

DeM Banter: extremely interesting...Washington's recent fascination with Ike. The Eisenhower doctrine was part of a much larger strategy...The New Look. Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state. Eisenhower singled out the Soviet threat in …

Continue reading "Reviving Eisenhower’s Doctrine By David Ignatius"

DeM Banter: and then there's D.P.R.K. ....hummmmm New York Times January 25, 2013 Pg. 8 WASHINGTON — A blunt and explicit threat on Thursday from North Korea that its weapons programs would "target" the United States, and that it would proceed with a third and "higher-level" nuclear test, poses a stark challenge to the Obama …

Continue reading "North Korea Issues Blunt New Threat To United States By David E. Sanger and Choe Sang-hun"

DeM Banter: are there other options? New York Times January 26, 2013 Pg. 19 CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--CITING an escalating dispute over islands in the East China Sea, The Economist warned last week that “China and Japan are sliding toward war.” That assessment may be too alarmist, but the tensions have bolstered the efforts of some American …

Continue reading "Work With China, Don’t Contain It By Joseph S. Nye Jr"

DeM Banter: let the games begin... New York Times January 25, 2013 Pg. 4 LONDON — A prominent British human rights lawyer said on Thursday that a United Nations panel he leads would investigate what he called the "exponential rise" in drone strikes used in counterterrorist operations, "with a view to determining whether there is …

Continue reading "U.N. Panel To Investigate Rise In Drone Strikes By John F. Burns"