Check out this New York Times story about President Obama speeding up waves of cyber attacks against Iran. I personally have no problem with this, and prefer it to Israel’s imagined missile strikes.
But just remember this …
Foreign Policy
“Enemy Dependency”
David Rothkopf, editor-at-large over at Foreign Policy magazine, sounds off on what he sees as America’s true vulnerability early in the 21st Century:
Since the end of the Cold War, America has been on a relentless search for enemies. I don’t mean a search in the sense of ferreting them out and defeating them. I mean that America
…
“Delicate Dance” for Panetta in China’s Backyard
TOKYO – When U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrives in Singapore this week to talk about containing China – and that’s really what this trip is all about — he’ll find plenty of support from friends in the region. …
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 …
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 …
Remembering Vietnam
In case you missed it, we began commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war Monday.
Don’t fret if you missed it, because you’ll have plenty of time to catch up: according to the proclamation issued by President Obama, the remembrance will last as long as the war itself did: until November 11, 2025.
Thirteen years? …
Clock Ticks On China-Japan Islands Dispute
TOKYO – Japan has one year, maybe two, to resolve the ownership dispute over a tiny group of islands or risk an honest-to-goodness shooting war with China. Unfortunately, neither Japan’s diplomats nor public seem to realize …
Americans Choose Up Sides — Japan Over China
TOKYO – Maybe it’s sympathy from last year’s triple disasters or maybe it’s just China being China. But for what it’s worth, Americans increasingly view Japan as its most important ally in Asia.
A poll released …
How America Settles Down Somalia (And, By Extension the Piracy Problem)
How You Going To Bridge This Gulf?
The sanctions the rest of the world is imposing against Iran apparently are beginning to bite. The latest evidence: Tehran’s complaint that Google Maps recently stopped labeling the Persian Gulf the Persian Gulf. But the search-engine giant isn’t changing its name to the Arabian Gulf, like Arab states – and the U.S. Navy – do. …
$240 million
An $80 Million Sitting Duck
The U.S. has abandoned its just-finished consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif after spending $80 million outfitting the former hotel as a symbol of U.S. resoluteness. This is the kind of fiasco that tends to …
Highway (of Death) Robbery
You may recall the infamous “Highway of Death,” that stretch of six-lane Highway 80 from Kuwait City into Iraq and on toward Basra. The U.S. military rained firepower down on retreating Iraqi troops there in the late stages …