CounterStrikeMedia - Geography & Strategy

HOW, WHY THE MAP MISLEADS; 3 WAY NUKE PROBLEM

9/10/2023

Why Our Generals Don't Win

How Land And Sea Powers Look At The Map
by Jakub Grygiel via The National Bureau Of Asian Research
Each state, or to be more precise, each leader, has a mental map of the surrounding world. Such maps are drawn by history, culture, religion, and of course geographic knowledge, and they inform the strategic posture of the state: how one sees the world shapes how one acts in it.

MACKINDER FORUM

Chris Ford On How The US Can Reduce Vulnerabilities In Semiconductor Supply Chains
interview with Christopher Ford via Hoover Daily Report
In this interview with Kharis Templeman, Chris Ford makes the case for why the US needs an "insurance policy" to reduce dependencies and strengthen semiconductor supply chains. He outlines ideas like tax incentives, training workers, gathering supply chain data, and strategic stockpiling of chips.

The CCP Absorbs China’s Private Sector

Pakistan’s interim government: A challenging road ahead

U.S. LAST AFRICAN OUTPOST, NIGER

8/7/2023

Transforming How the Army Fights in the Future, with Gen. James Rainey and Lt. Gen. Laura Potter
Aaron sat down with Gen. James Rainey and Lt. Gen. Laura Potter to discuss the article, "Delivering the Army of 2030," which was published on August 6.

Goldwater Ripples: How Defense Reform Made the Fighting Force More Diplomatic, by George Greanias
To understand the accumulation of individual practices and changes that have undergirded America’s contemporary approach to global engagement, it might be more useful to consider the recent history of U.S. “defense diplomacy.”

In Niger, the US seeks to hang on to its last, best counterterrorist outpost in West Africa

"It’s time for a policy change on the northern border," Jacob Nagel, Israel Hayom

Delivering the Army of 2030

Will China Embrace Nuclear Brinkmanship As It Reaches Nuclear Parity?
By Michael Tkacik, The Diplomat: “In the future, China may incorporate nuclear weapons into its framework of political threats, intimidation, and even the use of force to achieve its international goals."

Thoughts on the Industrial Policy Debate

Bring on the Counterrevolution
Conservatives need a national agenda that reclaims American institutions from the Left. A blueprint exists, from a surprising source.
/ Read here

Stephen Blank writes: The latest coup clarifies Russia’s instruments of power, tactics and goals for nations in Africa, if not, other developing states in other regions. It also may explain why Putin did not disband Wagner after the June mutiny, because of its centrality to Russia’s global strategy. Clearly the West, despite its superior aggregate power in all dimensions, still lacks any idea of how to coordinate them on behalf of a comprehensive strategy. Nor does it yet fully appreciate the rising importance of African countries to the global contest now underway. While it is not too late to forge such a strategy, if we want to help African states prosper, improve their conditions and reduce the likelihood of new conflicts, the time to begin doing so is now. – The Hill

NUCLEAR THREATS IN WAR: THE CHALLENGE

7/22/2023

Arms Control in the Emerging Deterrence Context
By Keith B. Payne & David J. Trachtenberg, National Institute for Public Policy: “Colin S. Gray frequently remarked that arms control works best when least needed, i.e., arms control works best when the parties involved do not have inimical political goals that create hostilities between them and there are few pressures for competitive armament."

China’s Technology Strategy: Leverage Before Growth
Dan Blumenthal and Derek Scissors | American Enterprise Institute
The US has done little to blunt Chinese predation, indirectly supporting it with money and technology. If the most innovative American companies lose intellectual property and market share without consequence, China will control more sectors of the global economy.
Full Story

XI: THE PARTY FOR WAR & DISNEY DEFEATED IN U.S. CULTURE WAR; HOW REBUILDING NIGERIA MATTERS

7/7/2023

DECISIVE DECADE AGAINST CHINA IS NOW; HOW RUSSIA OUT-PERFORMS IN THE GREAT GAME

6/21/2023

CHINA: NEW CONSCRIPTS

4/20/2023

A Note of Caution: How Sanctions Can Undermine U.S. Interests,

The New Saudi State Sets Off Into Uncharted Geopolitical Waters

Leveraging the National Technology Industrial Base to Address Great-Power Competition

China’s Big Economic Challenge

When Wars Are Fought in Cities, Nobody Wins
By David Tuck, The Strategist (ASPI): “‘Cities simply aren’t designed to withstand conflict,’"

A Surplus of Strategists—But a Lack of Good Strategy
By Josh Kerbel & Jake Sotiriadis, The National Interest: "What does the U.S. government have to show for millions spent on strategic education?"

What Should a Strategist Know and Do, and Why
By Adam Matei, Kira Graves & David Benson, Military Strategy Magazine: "For some, strategy is a definite course of action; for others, a bag of tricks."

Turkey's Elections: Nationalist Identity Politics Wins Out Over Misery

China: Growing and Going to Sea

America and the Idea of Eurasia
By Seth Cropsey, RealClearDefense: "Europe, the Middle East, and Asia are inextricably linked. Any American attempt to separate them strategically will fail."

The Most Important Event of Modern Post-World War II History
By Francis P. Sempa, The American Spectator: "We are still paying the price for the loss of China to Mao’s communists."

Two Supreme Court cases this term highlight a confusion between commutative and distributive justice.
READ MORE ›

SUDAN: PROXY WAR BETWEEN CAIRO & TURKEY

4/20/2023

UKRAINE ABROAD: ITS COMPLICATED

4/17/2023

SETH CROPSEY: THE GREAT REBALANCE

4/10/2023

In Defense of Denial: Why Deterring China Requires New Airpower Thinking

A World of Blocs

Why The Marines Matter

THE GREAT REBALANCE

What “judicial reform” is really about

Israeli Sovereignty and American Intervention

Iran Attacking Israel on Multiple Fronts

Recruit or Retain:
DoD’s Manpower Problem

Time Is Money: The Importance of On-Time Annual Appropriations
Elaine McCusker | AEIdeas

America Needs a Cold War Strategy for China

China Is Its Own Worst Enemy

Stress Testing American Grand Strategy II: Critical Assumptions and Great-Power Rivalry
Hal Brands, Peter D. Feaver, and William Inboden | April 2023

Although American politics today are defined by sharp, bitter disagreement, a bipartisan US grand strategy for great-power competition has emerged.

This report makes explicit 17 critical assumptions underpinning US grand strategy today and subjects them to an intellectual stress test. In other words, it asks whether they can bear the weight of world affairs.

Prevailing in great-power rivalry is likely to be more difficult, expensive, dangerous, and all-consuming than US policymakers have so far been willing to admit—or than the American public presently understands.
READ MORE

Strategic Thinking About Europe (with Dr. Hal Brands)

Why Palestinians Cannot Resume Peace Talks with Israel

Analysis: Iran Leverages Armed Groups Against Israel

destructive_decoupling_by_michael_spence_-_project_syndicate.pdf
File Size:	139 kb
File Type:	pdf

provocations-5-goldman.pdf
File Size:	6665 kb
File Type:	pdf

Mercy Otis Warren wanted her countrymen to remember the terrible burden of being unfree.
READ MORE ›

Exploiting China’s Maritime Vulnerability

China’s (Rough) Economic Trajectory to 2050

America Needs a Cold War Strategy for China
Dan Blumenthal and Randall Schriver | National Interest
America needs a comprehensive strategy that organizes and coordinates America’s considerable policy tools to achieve victory—especially in the economic arena.
Full Story

Silicon Valley Bank’s Wake-Up Call for the Federal Reserve
Desmond Lachman | 19fortyfive.com
We must hope it is not beyond the Fed’s grasp to anticipate that there will be many other casualties of its newfound monetary policy religion, as high interest rates and a weaker economy increase the incidence of loan defaults.
Full Story

The US Hands China the Middle East—at Its Own Peril
Michael Mazza and Shay Khatiri | New York Post

U.S. UNDER BIDEN DOSEN'T DO DETERRENCE

3/21/2023

China’s Military Buildup Shows Its Ambitions Go Well Beyond Taiwan

Why The Marines Matter
Submarine Construction Delays

Offshore Balancing: The British Analogy, 1688–1763

The Future of Conservative Internationalism

Expert Commentary on the 2022 National Security Strategy

Why the Monroe Doctrine Still Matters

Chinese influence in Latin America is growing. This poses a threat to vital US security interests in an underappreciated region.
The Monroe Doctrine warned against allowing hostile great powers fresh entry into the Western Hemisphere. It remains a timely warning 200 years later.
The Biden administration’s Latin America policy is informed by liberal guilt over Cold War legacies rather than by any clear strategy to counteract Chinese influence in the region.
The United States must renovate its Latin America policy in a way that takes seriously the expanding regional threat from China.

READ MORE

U.S. WAR DOMINANCE QUESTIONED

3/17/2023

Russia Is Fueling China’s Nuclear Weapons Expansion

Wagner Group And The IRGC: The Rise Of Self-Sustaining Military Proxies
The Black Sea Strategic Triangle In 2023 And Beyond
John Taylor: Where Should The Fed Funds Rate Be To Combat Inflation?
Persuasion, Coercion, and Compellence
China Has Three Roads to Taiwan: The US Must Block Them All
Nine Recommendations to Presidential Candidates on China Policy

China’s brokerage of the agreement to restore ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran is a major turning point for the Middle East. But, Beijing may find its regional relations undermined if implementation of the deal fails

U.S., Iran May Be Negotiating Payoff for American Hostages

The National Interest’s Leon Hadar: China wants to bring peace to the Middle East? Good luck with that

Deterring a Chinese Military Attack on Taiwan

Discussing China's Three Roads to Taking Taiwan

According to Dan Blumenthal and Frederick W. Kagan, China has three roads to victory over Taiwan, and the US must act urgently to obstruct all of them.

Zach Cooper on A New China Playbook

Annika Ganzeveld, Zachary Coles, Amin Soltani, Kitaneh Fitzpatrick, and Frederick W. Kagan write: Iranian officials have also emphasized the importance of indoctrinating and ideologizing the population, frequently calling on educational institutions and the media to “explain the issues related to hijab and chastity.” These policies do not address Iranian grievances about the government’s inability to stabilize the Iranian economy, disregard for the rights of women and religious minorities, and crackdown on civil liberties such as freedom of speech. – Institute for the Study of War

Brandon Patterson and Dino Bozonelos write: Thus, however iniquitous they believed it to be, British leaders concluded that a relatively intact Turkish empire was vital to holding back a Russian drive toward the straits, and ultimately the Middle East. Liberalism was forced to compromise given the geopolitical realities. Britain’s defense of Turkey did not imply any degree of ideological approbation or compatibility of domestic institutions, nor did it require an alliance—the arrangement was pragmatic and conditional. The United States will be obliged to make similar calculations moving forward, wherein Turkey is neither entirely adversarial nor an ally, but something in between. – The National interest

How Iran’s Regime Is Threatened by Its Clerics

The Axis of Tyrannies

Deal Or No Deal

It Is Time For A New Hezbollah Policy

Who Is Poisoning Iranian Schoolgirls?

A Year After Germany’s “Sea Change,” Policy Change Remains Elusive, by George Bogden

Iran, China and the Panama Canal: Is the US Being Encircled? by Lawrence A. Franklin

The Reagan Institute released its first National Security Innovation Base Report Card report card,
The report card's advice for the Pentagon:

"Foster stronger relationships with the private investment community.
"Scale up workforce development programs to increase domestic STEM output and skilled trades.
"Establish additional mechanisms to increase the foreign talent pipeline for critical national security technologies.
"Create additional technology-focused international alliances and partnerships.
"Make bigger, bolder, more flexible investments in new capabilities."

"Big Tech” Is a Big Deal in the Strategic Competition with China
Klon Kitchen | AEIdeas
Technology has always been a key variable in geostrategic change. Klon Kitchen notes that to fully leverage the private sector’s capability, the US must deliberately address three key challenges to the American science and technology enterprise. First, America must confront Chinese technological theft and aggression. Second, the US must help allies understand that a strategy of “regulate first and ask questions later” will hurt—not help—the West and risk ceding the advantage to Beijing. Finally, facts and geopolitical realities must constrain domestic debates about technology and innovation. Ultimately, Western tech companies and the US government must recognize that the long-term interests of both are better served through national security partnerships. Continue here.>>

WAR-GAMING CHINA: THE RESULTS

3/15/2023

https://www.csis.org/analysis/first-battle-next-war-wargaming-chinese-invasion-taiwan

CHINA BEGINS WAR PREP

3/2/2023

How China Understands and Assesses Military Balance
China sees itself as the weaker side in the overall military balance with the United States, largely because it has made only limited progress in the key areas that will define future warfare. Those include informatization and system-of-systems–based operations.
Read more »

The Three Vladimir Putins

Protests across Iran as schoolgirl poisonings spread nationwide
The chain of suspected poisoning attacks on girls' schools continued unabated, prompting furious Iranians to chant against authorities who are scrambling for answers.

The Importance Of Putting Aside The Personal In US-Saudi Relations

Our Christophobic Ruling Caste

The Black Sea

IAEA chief heads to Tehran, as Iran's 83.7% enrichment triggers alarm

Turkey's economy grows 5.6% in 2022, but labor’s income share shrinks

Saudi Arabia moves forward with bids for nuclear plant
The kingdom has received bids to build its first nuclear power plant and South Korea is reportedly expressing interest.

CHINA LASERS HAWAII

Tehran Regime Targets U.S. Homeland -- Kill Lists and Kidnappings by Benjamin Weinthal
Fox News
March 1, 2023
https://www.meforum.org/64206/tehran-regime-targets-us-homeland-kill-lists

AFGHAN POLICY TRAP Read more »
The U.S. 'Policy Trap' in Afghanistan: A Look Back

Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III on Iraq: Twenty Years After the Fall of Saddam Hussein
by Marilyn Stern
Middle East Forum Webinar
February 24, 2023
https://www.meforum.org/64205/ambassador-l-paul-bremer-iii-on-iraq-twenty-years

Rethinking Assumptions About China
By Robert Peters, RealClearDefense: "If the war in Ukraine is teaching the United States anything, it is that great powers can unexpectedly suffer battlefield defeat because expectations and assumptions about their military prowess are outdated."

John Roy Price’s memoir of welfare policy under Richard Nixon is a time capsule of policy and politics.
READ MORE ›

In our eagerness to appreciate sexual difference, it is important not to reduce women to something less than what they are.
READ MORE ›

HOW DOMESTIC POLICY SHAPES FOREIGN POLICY; THE BATTLE OF YARMOUK AND THE EXPANSION OF ISLAM

2/22/2023

TEXAS NATIONAL SECURITY REVIEW

IS ISLAM A CHRISTIAN HERESY?

IBN BATTUTA EXPLORER

KHALID IBN AL-WALID

5 TYPES OF SPECIAL OPERATOR MISSIONS

NEW DELHI: A BLUE NAVY ARRIVES; SOUTH KOREA MAY GO NUCLEAR; EXAMINING GREAT BATTLE LEADERSHIP

2/9/2023

INDIA'S WAR-FIGHTING BUDGET SUBPAR

The Era of Coalitions: The Shifting Nature of Alignments in Asia
Zack Cooper | ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute

Secure Communities: Stopping the Salafi-Jihadi Surge in Africa
Emily Estelle Perez | American Enterprise Institute

Putting Slack and Margin Back in the Military
Mackenzie Eaglen | AEIdeas

Matching the Defense Budget to Strategy
Elaine McCusker and Emily Coletta | AEIdeas

The Military Should Turn Its Network Innovation Upside Down
John G. Ferrari | Military Times

Can the Mujahedin-E-Khalq Survive Its Leader’s Death?
Michael Rubin | 19fortyfive.com

MARINE CORPS TAKES ON CHINA INC.

1/26/2023

Africa and the West: A Work in Progress by Stephen Blank

Navy Readies New Tools, Training After Connecticut Submarine Collision
By Megan Eckstein, Defense News: “The U.S. Navy submarine force is nearly done implementing reforms following an October 2021 undersea collision of attack submarine Connecticut."

How to Keep War With China From Being a Pick-Up Game
By Bryan Clark, Defense One:"INDOPACOM needs a joint force headquarters now, not when crisis arrives."

Improving Foreign Policy Outcomes Requires Investment in Alternative Perspectives
By Heather Levy, Strategy Bridge: "The failure of national security planners to adequately incorporate multiple perspectives into United States foreign policy has proven costly both financially and in terms of failure to achieve policy objectives."

How to Rebalance the Navy’s Strategic Culture
By Scott Mobley, Proceedings: "To be most effective, the U.S. Navy’s culture must equally leverage three pillars: operational, technocentric, and strategy-centric influences."

Assessing the National Security Strategy, with Christopher Preble, Melanie Marlow, and Zack Cooper

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2023/01/the-u-s-marine-corps-now-an-access-denial-force-to-fight-china/

The Pentagon’s new defense strategy is out. Now the real work begins, experts say
The new National Defense Strategy keeps the Pentagon’s focus locked on China
Three key takeaways from the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy
Tear up the National Defense Strategy and start again, recognizing reality

AMAZON US NAVAL WAR STRATEGY

DoD’s Kendall Says ‘Revolving Door’ Is Too Thick
By Tiny Tim, The War Zone: “The Defense Department’s top procurement official is taking aim at watchdog-type laws that are put in place to discourage corruption in government.”

The Evolution of America’s China Strategy
By Joseph S. Nye, The Strategist (ASPI): ". . . The Pentagon thus refers to China as its ‘pacing challenge’."

CCP Constitutional Change Strengthens Xi’s Power but Avoids Total Personality Cult
By Masaaki Yatsuzuka, The Strategist (ASPI): "Why was the party chairmanship not restored?"

The Case for Getting Rid of the National Security Strategy, by Justin Logan and Benjamin Friedman

Keeping Civil-Military Relations Civil, with Risa Brooks, Alice Hunt Friend, and Ronald Krebs

TACTICAL NUCLEAR DETERRENCE

1/11/2023

STRATEGIKA

FDD IRAN Read Full Monograph

CFR AFRICA IN TRANSITION

Don’t Drive Away Smart Students,

Beheading the Hydra
By Seth Cropsey, RealClearDefense: "The U.S.’ Brittle Logistical System is a Crucial Vulnerability in Great-Power War."

Strategika Issue 82: Tactical Nuclear Weapons
via Strategika

Deterrence, Air Defense, And Munitions Production In A New Missile Age
by Thomas Karako via Strategika

Egypt’s inflation increases into 2023

It's Not Easy Being a Women (Or a Girl) in Turkey by Burak Bekdil
Gatestone Institute
December 30, 2022
https://www.meforum.org/63995/it-not-easy-being-a-women-or-a-girl-in-turkey

WAR GAME CHINA Bloomberg CNN CSIS DefenseScoop Taiwan News

Sudan Moves Forward on Forming Civilian Government. Sudanese political parties on Monday began final talks on a deal to transition to a civilian government. Negotiating parties agreed to an outline deal last month, but critics said it was unrepresentative. Other remaining issues include the dissolving of institutions established by ousted leader Omar al-Bashir, transitional justice, security reform, and ongoing resistance from former rebel leaders. Reuters UN News

China Accelerating Military Ties with Africa. China is boosting its security influence in Africa, according to data from the RAND corporation. The data shows that China is accelerating arms transfers to African countries and increasing the deployment of Chinese private military and security contractors (PMSCs) to protect African infrastructure. The data also shows that most African countries that received Chinese military support have also received Russian security aid. Of note is the fact that most Chinese PMSCs in Africa mainly provide defensive services, namely for Chinese industrial projects. South China Morning Post

Africa's Sahel Region: Enter Russia's Wagner Group to Make It Worse

China Cements its Position in the Middle East

GPF CHINA & THE PHILIPPINES

The Cockroach and the Sparrow
By Matthew Omolesky, The American Spectator: "A fable about Russian dictators offers hope against hope about the end of the country’s dynasty of despotism."

THE STRATEGY OF DENIAL: US AGAINST CHINA

12/18/2022

Don’t Fight the Last War

U.S., CHINA:
China’s Nukes Use U.S. Technology
By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times: “Pentagon says growing stockpile built through legal, illegal means.”

Breaking China’s Hold
China’s Threat to Global Democracy

Don’t Drag the Military into Politics
Kori Schake | War on the Rocks
Americans’ respect for their military is plummeting. Kori Schake argues that if America wants to retain a military that brings all parts of the citizenry together into an effective fighting force, it should better insulate the military from being a pawn in political disputes. This will require more discipline from military leaders and greater recognition by politicians of the damage they are doing to US national security by castigating the professionalism and nonpartisan commitment of America’s armed forces. Military leaders should stick to the core functions of the profession and master saying, “That’s a more appropriate question for the secretary of defense.” Politicians should stop hiding behind uniforms when enacting unpopular policies. Politicizing the military will make it weaker—not stronger. Learn more here. >>

The Armed Conflict Survey 2022: Americas Regional Analysis
The fast-growing business of the synthetic drug fentanyl, largely controlled by Mexican drug-trafficking organisations, is drawing international attention to the Americas.
Addressing geopolitical drivers and security spillovers, The Armed Conflict Survey 2022 provides an assessment of the fentanyl emergency and what it is likely to mean for US counter-narcotics as the opioid crisis in North America worsens.
READ MORE

Congress Missed an Opportunity to Ask the Right Questions on Yemen
Katherine Zimmerman | Hill
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and Global Counterterrorism recently held a hearing on the situation in Yemen. Katherine Zimmerman argues that while the hearing was valuable, Congress missed the opportunity to ask the right questions. Yemen’s location means the US has a permanent interest in ensuring that the situation does not threaten maritime security in the gulf, and the Biden administration has leaned heavily into diplomacy to help end Yemen’s war. Congress should have taken this opportunity to ask what leverage the US holds over the Houthis in negotiations, who is responsible for negotiating the release of US citizens, what actions the US can take to prevent human rights violations, and how USAID is balancing emergency aid to Yemen. Continue here. >>

Military Expenditure: Transparency, Defence Inflation and Purchasing Power Parity
Set amidst the context of an increasingly challenging global economic outlook and a more fraught security environment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, this paper discusses recent developments in military expenditure and the factors that must be considered in order to make accurate assessments and comparisons.
READ MORE

Japan's transformational national-security documents
In releasing three historic strategy documents in December, Japan announced that it will follow a new approach to national security in the coming years defined by higher defence spending, the acquisition of counterstrike missile capabilities and a push to overcome the civil-military divide that has long undermined its defence sector.
READ MORE

AMAZON

@ElbridgeColby

China Pursuing Counter to US JADC2. China is reportedly developing a military operational concept called Multi-Domain Precision Warfare (MDPW) to counter the Pentagon’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) concept, according to US defense officials. MDPW reportedly aims to replicate JADC2’s coordination of command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in enemy systems. Officials add that the Chinese military is looking at expanding systems destruction warfare, where warfare is not solely focused on military forces but also targets underlying systems and infrastructure. C4ISRNET

A New Cyber Strategy To Restore Civil-Military Normalcy
By Marc Losito, RealClearDefense: “Milton Friedman, the late-Nobel laureate, used the analogy of "a fool in the shower" to describe the scalding consequence of policy overcorrection.”

These Are The Top 7 Times The Military Went Woke In 2022
By Micaela Burrow, Daily Caller: “The Department of Defense (DOD) doubled down on “woke” initiatives in 2022 amid rising criticism from experts and politicians that the focus on progressive issues could undercut military readiness.”

The 1973 Arab-Israeli War:
Insights for Multi-Domain Operations
By Nathan Jennings, AUSA: “The United States Army is embarking on a new era as it adopts Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) as its central warfighting concept.”

Trends That Will Define the Coming Years
The world is always changing, but some changes are more important than others. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will likely be remembered as the start of a new era in geoeconomics. The uncertainty and tit-for-tat measures kicked off an energy crisis. And the war renewed focus on the growing divide between the West and a nascent revisionist bloc led by China and Russia. It is difficult to see a path back to the status quo ante bellum, but several major trends that will define the next decade have become clear. They include deglobalization, stagflation and the bursting of the tech bubble.

Netanyahu Signals Israel Will Press Syria Strikes

This Backgrounder unpacks the contentious U.S.-China trade relationship.

American Defense Priorities After Ukraine, by Frank Hoffman

U.S., India must seek common ground to combat Pak-backed terror

Iran’s Protesters Want Regime Change

Forbes Business Aerospace & Defense If Russia Is This Bad At Conventional Warfare,
What Does That Tell Us About Its Nuclear Posture?
By Loren Thompson, Forbes: "Russia’s military performance in Ukraine has proven to be, in the words of the Economist’s year-end edition, “spectacularly incompetent.”"

The United States is engaged in a halfhearted tech war with China.
READ MORE

Underneath all their discussion of the common good, Catholic integralists have a repugnant view of political authority.
READ MORE ›

Is Japan’s New National Security Strategy a Paradigm Shift?

Can US Corporate Debt Markets Weather a Recession?

China: Dismal Trade Data Hints at Downturn

THE PACING THREAT CALLED CHINA

11/28/2022

BIDEN'S NSS DOC DEAD LETTER

11/11/2022

Taliban meets with Hamas during high-level talks in Turkey

Jonathan Spyer: Is Erdoğan's Turkey Aiding in a Jihadist Takeover of Northwest Syria?
by Marilyn Stern
Middle East Forum Webinar
November 4, 2022
https://www.meforum.org/63776/jonathan-spyer-is-erdogan-turkey-aiding-in

Iran’s terror drone pipeline to Moscow

The Dangerous Nexus: Russia and Iran's Mullahs

The Marine Corps Is Facing a Crisis That Will Shape Its Future Identity
By Steve Balestrieri, Sandboxx News: "The face of war is changing rapidly, and the Marine Corps is facing a crisis regarding where it fits in the U.S.’s future national defense strategy . . ."

Biden’s Nuclear Posture Review Is Too Timid for 2022
By Rod Lyon, The Strategist (ASPI): “Nuclear weapons are serious capabilities, and declaratory policies are serious commitments."

Big Defense Is The Closest Thing We Have To A Real Industrial Policy
By Loren Thompson, Forbes: "The question U.S. policymakers may need to face in the years ahead is how to preserve a robust rate of innovation . . ."

Confucian Natural Law?
How compatible are East and West?
READ MORE ›

The Return of Cartography, by Nicholas Danforth
The Path Ahead in Turkey’s Upcoming Electoral Campaign, by James Ryan
Debating the National Defense Strategy, with Christopher Preble, Zack Cooper, and Melanie Marlowe

US NAVY INADEQUATE FOR WAR WITH CHINA

10/30/2022

U.S. IS NOT READY FOR WAR WITH CHINA

8/29/2022

1945 MACKENZIE EAGLEN, ON US SUPERPOWER BUGETS & CONSTRAINTS

How China Views It: Sino-American Technology Competition
Dan Blumenthal, Gregory Graff, and Christian Curriden | American Enterprise Institute

China May Never Become a Superpower
By Doug Bandow, 1945: “The CCP overestimates its position vis-à-vis the West, which could bring China grief."

How Do You Actually Measure the Success of a Fighter Program?
By Alex Hollings, Sandboxx News: "Right now, the United States has at least two next-generation fighter programs in development . . ."

STRATEGIC COMMENTS: US NUCLEAR POSTURE REVIEW

After the Next War
By Seth Cropsey, RealClearDefense: "The U.S. must Grasp the Reality of Sustained Competition"

Russia’s Defense Industry Is in Serious Trouble Due to Sanctions
By Robert Farley, 1945: “Despite claims of self-sufficiency, it turns out that Russian industry needs Western components and Western support."

If You Think the Deficit Is Bad Now, It Will Soon Get Worse
Mark J. Warshawsky | Hill
In July, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that the federal government budget deficit would be 3.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023. The author's rough calculation is that the 2023 deficit will come in at 6.4 percent of GDP, or nearly 70 percent higher than the CBO projection.
Full Story

ISIS Terrorists Living in Turkey - with Yazidi Captives

How China Views It: Sino-American Technology Competition
Dan Blumenthal, Gregory Graff, and Christian Curriden | October 2022

These two reports are based on research projects from the Hertog Foundation National Security & Sino-American Technology Competition fellowship, led by AEI Senior Fellow Dan Blumenthal.

The first report examines China’s strategic approach to technology competition and how the shortcomings of current US export control policies have allowed Chinese companies to exploit loopholes and other weaknesses in the system.

The second report identifies the theoretical roots of China’s systems confrontation doctrine and how the concept shapes the People’s Liberation Army’s views on the role of new technologies in warfare.

READ MORE

China, Unquarantined
Dan Blumenthal and Nicholas Eberstadt | American Enterprise Institute | February 16, 2021

China, Russia Deepen Partnership on Satellite Navigation

Redefining Irregular Warfare:
Legitimacy, Coercion, and Power
By David H. Ucko & Thomas A. Marks, Modern War Institute: "The Department of Defense is working on a new definition of irregular warfare, and the stakes are surprisingly high."

Deterrence Via Mutual Vulnerability? Why Not Now
By Keith B. Payne, National Institute for Public Policy: “The Defense Department’s top procurement official is taking aim at watchdog-type laws that are put in place to discourage corruption in government.”

China: Xi, the Party, and the Endless Struggle
By Jennifer Hsu, the interpreter: "China’s growth model, one funded by debt, is unsustainable."

TARGET TAIWAN; HOW U.S. LEADERSHIP COUNTERS CHINA & REMEMBERING THE END OF 20TH CENTURY ORDER

6/28/2022

China Is Winning the Economic Race with the US – The Consequences Will Be Profound

The Pentagon Gets the Better Part of a Trillion Dollars a Year. Why Isn’t That Enough?
Mackenzie Eaglen | Defense One
Despite an annual budget over three-quarters of a trillion dollars, money is always tight at the Defense Department. Mackenzie Eaglen points out that about three-quarters of the defense budget is preordained: spending that is essentially on autopilot. This leaves little flexibility for any meaningful change or truly strategic choices. The only branch with the power to break up this calcified system is one that has long been complicit in its sedimentation: Congress must take the reins and steer the Defense Department into immediately advancing the National Defense Strategy by recognizing that the military needs procurement the most. Read More >>

Is the Pentagon at Risk of Running Out of Weapons?
John G. Ferrari | Dispatch
The General Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a report concluding that the Department of Defense lacks the direction and insight to mitigate industrial-base risk. In other words, the Pentagon will likely run out of bullets and weapons in a protracted, multifront war. John G. Ferrari argues that the answer to rebuilding our arsenal is not consolidating policies, as the GAO report suggests. Rather, we should fund procurement, stop “contracting-to-monopoly,” eliminate red tape, focus on eliminating China from our supply chains, and invest in the American workforce. Learn more here >>

"U.S. Standards Body Reaches Critical Milestone for Mitigating the Quantum Threat, But More Work Is Needed," Dr. Georgianna Shea and Matthew Brockie, FDD Policy Brief

Relative Weakness:
The Secret to Understanding Irregular Warfare
By Douglas A. Borer & Shannon C. Houck, Small Wars Journal: “Irregular warfare is how the Taliban drove the Western Alliance out of Afghanistan, and it is how Ukraine is presently checking Russia’s invasion of its territory."

Taiwan's Message for China: We Have a Nuke-Like Weapon by Gordon G. Chang

The US Military Needs an On-Time Defense Budget

Deterrence is Not Rocket Science:
It is More Difficult
By Keith B. Payne, National Institute for Public Policy: “In a recent published article, two physicists offered remarks that illustrate a fundamental basis for the stark differences reflected in the public debate about deterrence.”

Getting Ready for a Long War: Why a US-China Fight in the Western Pacific Won’t End Quickly

Deterring Coercion and Conflict Across the Taiwan Strait

Asian Allies and Partners in a Taiwan Contingency: What Should the United States Expect?

Conventional Deterrence and Taiwan’s Independence: Necessary Investments

Without Maximum Pressure Biden Has Little Leverage Over Khamenei

WAR ON THE ROCKS PODCAST

Strict Oversight Needed for New U.S-Backed Counter-China Infrastructure Initiative

Self-Inflicted Wounds
The Fed’s past complacency undermines its present effort to fight inflation.

Erdoğan Purges Turkish Intel to Hide Corrupt Tehran Ties by Abdullah Bozkurt
Nordic Monitor
August 15, 2022
https://www.meforum.org/63455/erdogan-purges-turkish-intel-to-hide-corrupt

PUTIN REMEMBERS NAPOLEON.....TAKING VIENNA; WATERGATE DAMAGE TO US LEADERSHIP

5/4/2022

Nuclear Sea-Launched Cruise Missile: Badly Needed for Deterrence

The friends of our enemies

Arabs to Biden: Shut Down Iran's 'Expansionist Project'

Defending Taiwan offers a road map for US policy to deter and defend against Chinese aggression toward Taiwan.
DOWNLOAD BOOK

Is Trump’s acquittal compared to Nixon’s forced resignation merely the result of the different media environment?
READ MORE ›

Battle of the Dirigistes
In France, the far Left and far Right are divided by their attitudes on immigration and national identity, but on economic matters they are not terribly far apart.

THE FALL OF TAIWAN, WHAT IS TO BE DONE & HOOVER INSTITUTION ON THE ISLAMIC WORLD

1/23/2022

Iran Nuclear Talks in Vienna Won’t Result in a Better Deal

HOOVER: THE MIDDLE EAST & THE ISLAMIC WORLD STILL CALLS THE WEST

THE CHINA RECKONING

The Pentagon Is in Desperate Need of an Intervention from the Top by Dustin Walker

Putin's No Chess Master // Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic: Some believe Putin has not only Ukraine, but the whole West, exactly where he wants it. A more balanced consideration is in order.

Iran to remain a key partner for Ethiopia in the Tigray conflict
Ethiopia is Iran’s gateway to the Horn of Africa and the broader East Africa region. By helping Ethiopia in its ongoing conflict with the rebel Tigray Defense Forces, Iran is preserving its so-called strategic depth in the region to bolster its influence.
Read article
Autumn 2021 Issue

Hoover Institution Publishes New Papers About China's "Sharp Power" On The Continent Of Africa

Administration Urges Congress to Fund Semiconductor Production Amid New Data on Shortage

Central planning and China’s productivity challenge

The Federal Reserve cannot fight inflation alone

Who killed the economy?

We Mustn’t Cede the Middle East to China
By Harry Halem & Daniel J. Samet, RealClearDefense: “The Biden administration's emphasis on the Sino-American rivalry in general and the Asian theater, in particular, is correct. However, his administration has especially foundered in the Middle East, which will damage America’s China strategy more than any other mistake."

MODERN DAY MACKINDER
File Size:	938 kb
File Type:	pdf

1 PAGE. HOW U.S. BEHIND CHINA.pdf
File Size:	3931 kb
File Type:	pdf

10-ways-the-us-is-falling-behind-china-in-national-security.pdf
File Size:	452 kb
File Type:	pdf

IN DEFENSE OF DENIAL; NEW AIR DOCTRINES FOR WAR AGAINST CHINA
File Size:	412 kb
File Type:	pdf

reagan_future_risg-2019-essays.pdf
File Size:	1500 kb
File Type:	pdf

GREAT POWER DOCUMENT.pdf
File Size:	2346 kb
File Type:	pdf

GREAT POWER COMPETITION EXAMINED

Dr. Colin S. Gray

Summary of His Life's Work on Strategy.pdf
File Size:	301 kb
File Type:	pdf

GLOBAL GEOPOLITICS

ATLAS PRO YOUTUBE

DOUGLAS BARRIE: SPACE DEFENSE

THOMAS BUSSING: RAYTHEON MISSILE DEFENSE, STRATEGIEST

JAMES ACTON: NUCLEAR MISSILE DEFENSE

DR. MICHAEL PILLSBURY

HENRY ROWEN
File Size:	78 kb
File Type:	pdf

CHARLES WOLF JR.
File Size:	665 kb
File Type:	pdf

tutorials-from-a-sphinx.pdf
File Size:	247 kb
File Type:	pdf

ANDREW MASHALL 'YODA'
File Size:	1471 kb
File Type:	pdf

AMERICA NEEDS NEW ALLIANCES

why_america_needs_new_alliances_-_wsj.pdf
File Size:	158 kb
File Type:	pdf

POLYBIUS & ANCIENT GRAND STRATEGY
File Size:	2040 kb
File Type:	pdf

CENTER FOR POLITICAL & MILITARY POWER

SUN TZU ISN'T WORKING FOR CHINA ANYMORE

SUN TZU ISN'T WORKING FOR CHINA
File Size:	285 kb
File Type:	pdf

THE QURAN & MORAL STRATEGY FOR THE LONG WAR

WHEN WAR WITHOUT END, FINALLY ENDS

WHEN WAR WITHOUT END, FINALLY ENDS
File Size:	4995 kb
File Type:	pdf

THUCYDIDES & THE LONG WAR PROBLEM

HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR

WHAT HAPPENED DURING PELOPONNESIAN WAR
File Size:	547 kb
File Type:	pdf

THUCYDIDES TRAP IS GREAT POWER COMPETITION

THUCYDIDES TRAP = GREAT POWER COMPETITION
File Size:	2228 kb
File Type:	pdf

WHAT THUCYDIDES TRAP GETS WRONG
File Size:	156 kb
File Type:	pdf

LANDMARK THUCYDIDES
File Size:	101 kb
File Type:	pdf

ARTHUR WALDRON NO THUCYDIDES TRAP

NO THUCYDIDES TRAP
File Size:	2108 kb
File Type:	pdf

CENTER STRATEGIC, BUDGETARY ASSESSMENTS: U.S. GRAND STRATEGY

DAVID P. GOLDMAN COLUMN ASIA TIMES

HOW BEST TO UNDERSTAND U.S. - CHINA RELATIONS

STRATEGY BRIDGE

Winning World War IV David P. Goldman.pdf
File Size:	4315 kb
File Type:	pdf

THE NEW ASIAN OBSERVER

Tweets by WilliamHolland

Archives

September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
August 2022
June 2022
May 2022
January 2022
October 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
September 2016
February 2016
June 2015

Categories