From the monthly archives:

December 2013

If an editor wants to publish a tough red-meat, anti-China Op-Ed, a veritable constellation of excellent contributors are available. But Edward N. Luttwak is not one of them. His piece in the Wall Street Journal is so weak it cannot stand unaddressed–and the idea that his work might impact national policy should frighten everybody. To give you some […]

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Navy: Own Your Service’s Pro-Female Legacy

by admin on December 28, 2013

Back in December 2008, when somebody named Michèle Flournoy was being eyed for a high DOD position, I penned a wry little post over at the U.S. Naval Institute blog, suggesting that the U.S. Navy do more to showcase how the Service has, over the years, done a lot to provide an equal playing field for women. […]

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When Blog Themes Echo Across the Pacific

by admin on December 24, 2013

It is always fun when a mere blog posting echoes about in news stories or in policy. Most of the time it is all just coincidence and means little. But, this time, I’m amused that, after I posted a rather surprisingly well-trafficked post “Just Where Did We Think Japan Was Going…In 2003” that, on 20 […]

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So…the CV-22 Osprey chalks up more combat experience in South Sudan, with three CV-22 Osprey aircraft apparently taking ground fire on descent into what was probably the Osprey’s first noncombatant evacuation operation (NEO). Four of the approximately 46 aboard were reportedly hurt, and the Ospreys aborted their mission and diverted to an alternative landing zone. […]

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The 5 December encounter between the USS Cowpens (CG-63) and an unidentified Chinese amphibious vessel means that it might be time to revisit some old policy/training questions stemming from a 2005 collision.  The collision involved the Arleigh Burke Class destroyers USS Mcfaul (DDG-74) and the USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81): The collision occurred while the ships were […]

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Mulling the Glenn Defense Marine Asia Fiasco

by admin on December 13, 2013

With Glenn Defense Marine Asia, the Navy is getting some overdue graduate-level training in how harbors—harbors everywhere–do business. The results aren’t pretty, and, as we are discovering with Inchcape, this episode will not be the first time harried American bureaucrats discover that loose-and-fast waterfront business culture (a culture not just confined to Asia, but Africa, […]

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I am fascinated by our Capital’s crop of public national security prognosticators.  As these good folks race to produce more “guidance” on how American security should evolve, too few of us take the time to review and evaluate their prior work. That must change. So….Given the rapidly-changing nature of the Pacific, I thought it might […]

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