BattlelandNational Security
Cold War Calculations
Fascinating study out from the folks up at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass. George J. Borjas (of Harvard’s Kennedy School) and Kirk B. Doran (of Notre Dame) studied U.S. mathematicians to see what impact the collapse of the Soviet Union 20 years ago had on their work.
They were interested in exploring …
“Congress, in writing the Budget Control Act, did not design sequester to be rational. Sequester was supposed to be the trigger, a trigger so irrational that the prospect of it would drive and force the leadership to do what was needed, which is to put together an overall budget package for the nation's finances that could win wide support. Sequester was designed to be irrational.”
BattlelandSyria
When Military Intervention Makes Sense
Gideon Rachman at the Financial Times says that “diplomacy is still better than bombs” and that “moral outrage is just the starting point for a decision to intervene.” He then goes through all the major powers in his piece …
BattlelandAfghanistan
Picking on Girls
Insurgents allegedly attacked a girls’ school Tuesday for the third time in a week in Afghanistan, sending about 160 students and four teachers to a local hospital in the north of the country. It’s hard to fathom how a …
Marines Return to Historic Pacific Airfield
BattlelandAir Force
Size Matters
Now that the Air Force has decided to keep its manned U-2 Dragon Lady aircraft flying well into the future – after earlier talk that the half-century old spy plane might be grounded for keeps – Air Force officials were busy …
1960s-Era Choppers Guarding 1970s-Era Missiles
BattlelandPeople
WIA
Earlier this month, Taylor Morris became a member of perhaps the most elite group among the 2.5 million U.S. men and women who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Ten troops have won the Medal of Honor. Only five have lost pieces of all four of their limbs.
BattlelandKorea
Hypothetically Speaking…
Asked by ABC over the weekend if he’d stay on as defense secretary if Mitt Romney wins the presidential election in November, Leon Panetta had a simple answer: “I don’t engage in hypotheticals.”
The wisdom of such an …
“You experienced some defining moments together as a class. You celebrated as plebes, when a few of you pulled off a daring spirit mission, building an unmanned aerial vehicle, flying it over the superintendent's house at night, and using it to place a hat on top of the chapel dome. Hell, I could have used you at the CIA.”
BattlelandPolitics
Naval Battle Brewing
It’s the biggest sea battle since Midway – or at least the Falklands. There’s gonna be a lot of garbage flung around about military matters in the presidential campaign. That’s what happens when you end up with a pair of …
BattlelandNational Security
Death to “Resource Wars”!
Nice Washington Post piece on Saturday about how the “center of gravity” in global oil exploration and production is shifting to the Western hemisphere. No, the bulk of global conventional oil reserves still sits in the Persian …