Geography & Strategy - CounterStrikeMedia

A POLAR SILK ROAD STRATEGY FOR THE U.S. & WHY DEFENSE ESTABLISHMENT NEEDS NEW TERMINOLOGY

4/27/2018

Grand Strategy: All Along the Polar Silk Road
By Mike Scrafton, The Strategist (ASPI): “Whatever criticisms and grievances the U.S. has with China’s contemporary trade, investment and intellectual property policies, or how distastefully Western commentators regard one-party rule, the true challenge for the U.S. is to marshal its political and economic strengths behind a comparable long-term strategy.

The Dead Metaphors of National Security
// Josh Kerbel
To grapple with today's complex security environment, we must first think about it realistically. Our terminology — not our technology — is key.

THE CARRIER KILLERS OF GUAM & SOUTH KOREA DISMISSES US MISSILE DEFENSE

4/27/2018

Guam Express’ DF-26 missiles in service with PLA
BY ASIA TIMES STAFF
Carrier killer missiles are now operational along China's coastal provinces and possibly on South China Sea atolls

HOW ARNOLD TOYNBEE HELPS GEOGRAPHERS UNDERSTAND THE SYRIAN CONFLICT

4/26/2018

HOOVER CARAVAN ISSUE

YALE UNIVERSITY CHARLES HILL: THE SYRIAN QUAGMIRE

RUSSIA'S GLOBAL ENERGY ENTERPRISE: FREE PDF FROM GLOBAL RISKS INSIGHTS

4/26/2018

gri-russian-energy-sector-import-substitution.pdf
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"DOWN UNDER" HAS A PROBLEM: NORTH KOREAN MISSILES

4/26/2018

Australia’s Chinese Ballistic Missile Problem
By Peter Layton, the interpreter: “Late last year in Australia, there was sudden interest shown in ballistic missile defence (BMD). Although the driver was North Korea’s missile testing, the real issue is China.”

US NUCLEAR DETERRENT NEEDS FIXING & WHAT IS THE COST OF DEFENDING ASIA

4/24/2018

America’s endangered nuclear deterrent: The case for funding two critical capabilities
(War On The Rocks) The U.S. nuclear triad is an aging collection of weapons, many of which were designed before today’s policymakers were even born. Because of modernization program cancellations, the average age of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is climbing into the mid-40s, while the air-launched cruise missile weapons system has aged more than 20 years past its original intended service life.

Poland Struggles With HIMARS Buy

Pakistan Navy releases images of Zarb coastal defence system
(IHS Jane’s 360) The Pakistan Navy (PN) has released one of the first images of its Zarb land-based anti-ship cruise missile (ASCM) system (also known as the Zarb Weapon System) being test-launched.

Modernizing NATO’s Nuclear Capabilities
By Daniel Gouré, RealClearDefesne: “Russian leaders have repeatedly sought to intimidate NATO by threatening the first use of nuclear weapons in the event of a conflict.

Defend the ‘Rules-Based Order’ in Asia at Any Cost?
By Hugh White, The Strategist: “Against an adversary like China, the alternative to appeasement is a high risk of war on a major scale.

KIM REGIME IS PLAYING FOR TIME & FRIGHTENED

4/23/2018

Time to terminate escalate to de-escalate — It’s escalation control
(War On The Rocks) “Escalate to de-escalate” is catchy, it rhymes, and it rolls off the tongue. Unfortunately, it is also wrong — but not for the reasons experts usually focus on.

How to negotiate a lasting deal with North Korea

https://www.amazon.com/North-Korea-Regional-Security-Jong-un/dp/1137400064/ref=sr13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501128089&sr=1-3

SUN TZU APPLIED TO NORTH KOREA: NORTH IS OUT OF TIME & WHO WINS

4/23/2018

WINNING KOREA MEANS WINNING THE SILK ROAD: HISTORY OF CENTRAL ASIA FROM BRONZE AGE TO DIGITAL AGE

4/23/2018

BEIJING'S RELATIONS WITH PYONGYANG: GREGORY COPLEY DEFENSE & FOREIGN AFFAIRS EDITOR

4/23/2018

INDIA'S NEW THINK TANK ON WAR MISSES THE MARK

4/23/2018

India’s new think tank for military strategy planning misses the mark
PRAKASH KATOCH
India is setting up a Defense Planning Committee (DPC), described as the new "Strategic Think Tank," to formulate national military and security strategy and oversee foreign acquisitions and sales. Amusingly, the ‘Top Comment’ in the above news link reads, “Hats off to Modi for buying new Tanks to powerful our army defense systems” – the commentator interpreting "think tank" a type of new military tank. Headed by the national security adviser, the DPC also includes...

HIRSI ALI ON SPECIAL OPERATORS

4/20/2018

ISIS And The Continuing Threat Of Islamist Jihad: The Need For The Centrality Of PSYOP
quoting Ayaan Hirsi Ali via Modern Diplomacy
The National Security Strategy of the United States (NSS) calls for direct military action against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the disruption of terror plots, the destruction of terrorist safe havens and sources of finance, a shared responsibility with allies in confronting the threat and combating radicalization to counter ISIS ideology. The Trump Administration’s NSS accurately identifies the ISIS end goal as creation of the global Islamic caliphate and notes its totalitarian vision.

THE CORRUPTION OF PUTIN'S INTELLIGENCE SERVICES

4/20/2018

Gaslighting and Information Warfare
By Justin Sherman & Anastasios Arampatzis, RealClearDefense: “Chaos, Confusion and a Severe disconnect from reality. These are just some of the side effects of gaslighting, a technique used in offensive information warfare.”

Open Russia’s Mikhail Khodorkovsky: How to stop Putin’s mafia

Russia’s Use of Armed Contractors in Syria Gives the U.S. Leverage
By James Durso, RealClearDefense: “Why was Wagner Group there? Because the Russians may have drawn the wrong lessons from the U.S. use of contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The Kremlin employs an array of often overlapping and competitivesecurity and intelligence services to create multiple sources of intelligence, encourage risk-taking and keep a wary eye on each other, enabling President Vladimir Putin to consolidate power by playing agencies off of each other to avoid uninvited power grabs.

The organizational structure of Russian intelligence services might resemble that of the West – dividing up responsibilities among multiple services – but the prevailing culture and authoritarian control over these services creates infighting for prestige and favor with Putin and his closest allies.
Competition between overlapping Russian intelligence services can be a strength, as agencies are forced to be aggressive, innovative and achieve results. But there are disadvantages as well: the need for immediate and tangible results before other services often comes at the cost of with the integrity of the analytic process and hampers coordination and burden-sharing between services.
While NATO was first conceived as a collective defense organizationagainst the threat of Soviet military aggressiveness, Russia’s modern turn toward “hybrid warfare” cannot be countered by merely conventional military means. The U.S. and other NATO members could seek to disrupt Russian information warfare, intelligence operations and cyber intrusions by inserting misinformation, conspiracy and doubt in Russia’s intelligence cycles, playing off their desire to please Putin’s worldview.

Read the full brief, featuring expert commentary by:

WHY THE "TO-DO" LIST ISN'T LEADERSHIP

4/17/2018

Why Effective Leaders Ignore Their To-Do Lists
by Joel C. Peterson via Inc.com
The to-do list can become the boulder in a modern version of the myth of Sisyphus. You may recall the Greek myth in which the hero was condemned for eternity to the hideous punishment of pushing a boulder up a mountain only to see it roll down every time he neared the top.

HOW DOES THE LONG WAR END

4/11/2018

How Does the Global War on Terror End?
By Willis Krumholz, RealClearDefense: “According to the Trump White House, the U.S. is officially fighting wars in seven countries.”

Fighting Terror Beyond the Grid Square
From The Cipher Brief: ““The challenge, though, that we need to look at is the metastasization, if you will, and the spread of the ideology that we are seeing..."

The Classicist: Trump And The Gordian Knot
interview with Victor Davis Hanson via The Classicist
How the President’s unorthodox approach to foreign policy is breaking longstanding logjams.

American Military History From the Colonial Era to the Twenty-First Century
By Mark Bernhardt, Strategy Bridge: “As the twentieth century progressed, generally Americans embraced the U.S. role as a global power.”

How to Make the U.S. Navy Great Again
By Roger Wicker & Jerry Hendrix, The National Interest: “It is imperative that America’s fleet reach 355 ships within the next ten years. There is, in fact, a path to achieve this goal that is both achievable and affordable.”

HOW INSURGENCY BEGINS

4/9/2018

Waging Insurgent Warfare
By Nikolai Kerry, Small Wars Journal: “How does an insurgency move from the idea stage to the waging of the insurgency and eventual (sometimes) success?”

Relationships Between Highly Asymmetric Nuclear Powers
By Rod Lyon, The Strategist (ASPI): “The current tensions between Washington and Pyongyang aren’t just about history. Nor are they simply the result of personal frictions between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.”

Operationalizing the Decisive Point
By John C. Hale, Small Wars Journal: “The goal of the decisive point in COIN should be to gain irreversible momentum for the government against the insurgency while denying the insurgents ability to maintain and sustain his base of support.”

https://www.amazon.com/Swamp-Fox-Leadership-Partisan-Campaigns/dp/1612511139/ref=sr17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1524445346&sr=1-7&keywords=swamp+fox

WHAT SHILOH TEACHES US TODAY & THE HUBRIS OF WAR BY ALISTAIR HORNE

4/8/2018

Shiloh: Storm Cloud of Revolution
By Michael J. Hennelly, Strategy Bridge: “As the first truly revolutionary battle of the Civil War, it is useful to reflect on the Battle of Shiloh in order to develop insights into the nature of strategy and leadership that are relevant to decision-makers in the 21st-century world.”

A Man Apart:
The Political Education of General William Sherman at the Battle of Shilo
By Kyle Gaffney, Strategy Bridge: ““I do not say I love my country,” Sherman wrote to Ellen after Bull Run. “It does seem to have fallen into degenerate hands. The old Government was as mild as any on Earth,” he continued, “and it may be that it is the best-but true it is its administration had become very corrupt.””

Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century
By Walker D. Mills, Strategy Bridge: “British historian Alistair Horne ties together five key battles in the first part of the twentieth century with one word—hubris.

JORDAN'S GEOPOLITICAL CHALLENGES

4/5/2018

An Island Surrounded by a Ring of Fire
By Robert Clifford, RealClearDefense: “To better understand Jordan’s strategic importance to the United States, it is critical to understand the broader issues in the Middle East causing instability and Jordan’s posture in meeting these challenges.”

HOW TO WIN GREAT POWER COMPETITION: LOGISTICS & SUSTAINMENT

4/5/2018

Joshua Rovner writes: Competitive strategies are deliberately risky because by definition, they work by inspiring fear in adversaries. [...] Russia seems vulnerable to competitive strategies because of its oversensitivity and proclivity for overreaction. - War on the Rocks

Winning the Great Power Competition: Better Logistics And Sustainment
By Daniel Gouré, RealClearDefense: “While it is important to ensure that the U.S. military has the weapons systems needed to deter, if possible, or win, if necessary, any war, this nation has numerous other advantages that must be brought into play as elements of a comprehensive strategy for competing with revanchist and rogue nations.”

India and China jostle for influence in Iran and Central Asia
(Nikkei Asian Review) China and India's new Great Game has reached the playing field of the original imperial power rivalry in the 19th century: Iran and Central Asia.

Egypt, Russia making most of collaboration prospects
(Al-Monitor) Now that direct commercial flights have been restored between their capitals, Russia and Egypt are looking to expand their affiliations. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s re-election enables Cairo to continue the same foreign policy toward Moscow. In a congratulatory cable to his Egyptian counterpart, Vladimir Putin expressed hopes for further cooperation, which is already rather comprehensive, between the two countries.

Now Available! Europe And The World: World War I As Crisis Of Universalism
quoting Niall Ferguson, Russell A. Berman via Telos
With contributions by Étienne Balibar, Annette Becker, Russell Berman, Jörn Leonhard, among many others, Europe and the World: World War I as Crisis of Universalism focuses within Europe on the conflicts between nationalism and cosmopolitanism as a universalist political project and globally on the conflicts between European imperial politics and universal ideals.

DETERRENCE UNDER THE DRAGON, CHINA IN AFRICA & THE FRENCH WAY OF WAR

4/2/2018

Deterrence Under the Dragon’s Shadow: Vietnam’s Military Modernisation
By Wu Shang-Su, the interpreter: “The Carl Vinson’s visit reminds us that compared to Vietnam’s centuries-old efforts to balance against Chinese power, its antagonism with the United States was comparatively short-lived. And Hanoi’s desire for deterrent power to manage its strategic uncertainty involves new friends and old foes.”

Infrastructure Development in Africa and Shifting Chinese Foreign Policy
By Tyler Bonin, Divergent Options: “Security challenges arising in Africa due to continued PRC investment might lead to an increased PRC military presence on the continent, as well as a complete revision of its non-interference policy.”

The French Way of War (on the Rocks)
(War On The Rocks) In 2015, Michael Shurkin, an expert on French strategic issues and a War on the Rocks contributor, wrote an excellent article for Politico called “The French Way of War.” Contrary to received wisdom, he wrote, the French military has an impressive track record of doing a lot with a little.

INNOVATION: THE U.S., ITS ALLIES & ENEMIES

4/2/2018

War As Paradox
By Pauline Shanks Kaurin, Strategy Bridge: “The Enlightenment tradition framed the task of philosophy as the search for an objective reality and knowledge based upon eternal principles not rooted in religious authority, and could, therefore, provide the foundations for science, ethics, and political life.The Enlightenment tradition framed the task of philosophy as the search for an objective reality and knowledge based upon eternal principles not rooted in religious authority, and could, therefore, provide the foundations for science, ethics, and political life.”

Is the U.S. Military Machine Losing Its Innovation Edge to China?
By Gareth Evans, Army-Technology: “America has far outstripped its rivals when it comes to defence innovation, but there are signs that this seems to be slowing and could possibly be in danger of stalling altogether, a situation that could open the door to China.”

Adopting the U.S. Army Design Methodology
By Jean Dagher, Strategy Bridge: “Organizations fail because they tend to address symptoms of a problem without understanding its complexity, use inadequate concepts to solve it, or they fail to face the right problem.”

reagan_future_risg-2019-essays.pdf
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GREAT POWER DOCUMENT.pdf
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GREAT POWER COMPETITION EXAMINED

Dr. Colin S. Gray

Summary of His Life's Work on Strategy.pdf
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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
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CHARLES WOLF JR.
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tutorials-from-a-sphinx.pdf
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ANDREW MASHALL 'YODA'
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AMERICA NEEDS NEW ALLIANCES

why_america_needs_new_alliances_-_wsj.pdf
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POLYBIUS & ANCIENT GRAND STRATEGY
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CENTER FOR POLITICAL & MILITARY POWER

SUN TZU ISN'T WORKING FOR CHINA ANYMORE

SUN TZU ISN'T WORKING FOR CHINA
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THE QURAN & MORAL STRATEGY FOR THE LONG WAR

WHEN WAR WITHOUT END, FINALLY ENDS

WHEN WAR WITHOUT END, FINALLY ENDS
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THUCYDIDES & THE LONG WAR PROBLEM

HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR

WHAT HAPPENED DURING PELOPONNESIAN WAR
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THUCYDIDES TRAP IS GREAT POWER COMPETITION

THUCYDIDES TRAP = GREAT POWER COMPETITION
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WHAT THUCYDIDES TRAP GETS WRONG
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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
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THE NEW ASIAN OBSERVER

Tweets by WilliamHolland

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