Trump's Strategic Vision Is More Coherent Than His Critics Imagine
By Loren Thompson, Forbes: “ ... even a cursory review of the Trump record before and during his presidency reveals a stable foundation of beliefs—beliefs that earlier generations of Republicans and even Democrats would have had little trouble embracing.” 
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Comprehending the Mission to Advise Foreign Forces
By Edward E. Brown, Small Wars Journal: “The mission to advise has existed for many years. In fact, some could argue that the United States owes its existence at least in part to an advisor named Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian military expert employed by the fledgling Continental Army to train military maneuver.” ​

How to Rebalance US Global Security Cheaply and Easily
by Stephen Blank and Peter Huessy  •  December 5, 2018 at 5:00 am
        

• Russia, evidently not restrained by the agreement, is already building missiles outside the INF treaty, according to an October 29, 2018 report from the Congressional Research Service. The bottom line is: If the Russians do not comply with the INF arms control treaty, there is no treaty to be saved.
• Worse, as China was never a party to the INF treaty, it is deploying thousands of such INF range missiles in the Pacific, thereby putting the USA and its allies at a serious military disadvantage.
• To counter such threats effectively and stand up to the culture of intimidation and threats of both Russia and China, the US needs create a conventional missile and nuclear deterrent capability that is at least on a par with those of Moscow and Beijing. Such deployments, rather than undermining arms control, might even induce Russia and China to negotiate any future arms negotiations with the US in better faith, while simultaneously strengthening US security.
• If created with US allies in the Pacific, such relatively inexpensive and easily produced conventionally armed missiles would, in short order, rebalance the Pacific security situation in the favor of the US and its Indo-Pacific alliances.

The reason the Soviets eventually signed the INF treaty in 1987 was because the US and NATO deployment of hundreds of Pershing and ground launched cruise missiles in Western Europe exemplified NATO solidarity and vitiated the coercive threat that the earlier Soviet SS-20 missile deployments had hoped to secure to prevent a NATO response to potential Soviet aggression. Pictured: Pershing II missiles at Fort Bliss McGregor Range. (Image source: US Dept. of Defense)

2019 Annual Forecast
From Stratfor Worldview: “The Great Power Competition Intensifies. The United States will escalate its strategic offensive against China with tariffs, sanctions, regulatory buffers around emerging technologies, stronger backing for Taiwan and a more assertive posture in the South China Sea. At the same time, failing arms control pacts will accelerate an arms race among the United States, Russia and China ... ” ​

The Forces Needed to Protect the Belt and Road
By David Brewster, the interpreter: "The protection of BRI projects and Chinese nationals will likely become an increasingly important factor in China’s engagement in the region."
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4 Logistics Dilemmas Facing the Army on the Modern Battlefield
By Fred Brown, Modern War Institute: “Before taking command of an airborne infantry battalion’s forward support company, the company’s second-in-command revealed its soldiers had not qualified on their weapons systems in over a year.”

The Quad As a Caucus for Cooperation
By Akiko Fukushima, The Strategist (ASPI): “First and foremost, the four members are not in sync on the conception of the global order they wish to pursue. India, as reflected in the ‘Nonalignment 2.0’ policy paper, is keen to pursue multipolarity, with India as one major pole.” ​