By Brahma Chellaney, The Strategist (ASPI): "When the Cold War ended, many pundits anticipated a new era in which geoeconomics would determine geopolitics. As economic integration progressed, they predicted, the rules-based order would take root globally. Countries would comply with international law or incur high costs."
What ‘The Afghanistan Papers’ Got Wrong
By Scott Smith, Small Wars Journal: "The problem was not that U.S. officials lied to the public—it’s that for so long many believed that the war was winnable."
By Benjamin Jensen & John Paschkewitz, War on the Rocks: "We need more marines and soldiers, along with coalition partners and scientists, fighting war games and conducting field experiments to transition the mosaic concept into new equipment and tactics that define how America fights."
Options for Deterrence Below Armed Conflict
By James P. Micciche, Divergent Options: " . . . nuclear deterrence will not suffice in the current national security paradigm as it is focused on mainly deterring nuclear war or major conflict, which are the least-likely situations to occur."
Shaping a 21st Century C2/ISR Infrastructure: The Emergence of C3
By Robbin Laird, SLD.info: " . . . C3 is emerging as a key driver of change Command, Control and Confidence in the most relevant ISR data is required at the tactical edge to make the decisions necessary to prevail in the evolving battlespace."
By Warren Chin, Defence-In-Depth: "James Kurth posed the question of ‘why we buy the weapons we do’ in an article in the magazine, Foreign Policy in 1973. Surprisingly, forty-seven years later, we are still trying to provide a satisfactory answer regarding why we spend so much money on technologically complex weaponry; weapons acquisition typically accounts for over 40 percent of defence budgets."
A Year in #Reviewing
From Strategy Bridge: "The Strategy Bridge community is a network of people with a wide variety of backgrounds and opinions, all united by one fact: we care about strategy, national security, and military affairs."
By Theresa Cross, Aaron Bazin & Montgomery Erfourth, Small Wars Journal: "In many ways, national interests are the DNA of strategy and the underlying structure upon which every nation bases its strategic thinking. To understand America’s current actions on the international stage requires a look deeper than the partisan-inspired rhetoric in the headlines. One way to approach this is to elevate the discussion beyond threats and adversaries to an analysis of national interests. Interests drive political decision-making and help us understand U.S. foreign policy. They describe the “why,” reveal the underlying logic, and provide the standards of measurement upon which to base decisions."
By Richard N. Haass, The Strategist (ASPI): "Welcome to the post-American Middle East. To be fair, the phrase is something of an exaggeration, as the U.S. hasn’t withdrawn from the region. In fact, it has recently sent additional troops to deter and, if necessary, help defend Saudi Arabia from future Iranian attacks and possibly respond directly to them. But there’s no getting around the fundamental truth that the U.S. has reduced both its presence and role in a region that it has dominated for nearly half a century."
By Jeff W. Benson, Proceedings: "Operations at sea are ruthless, unforgiving, lonely, and test the boundaries of every commander."
Making the Army’s Revolutionary New Talent Management System Work
By Brennan Randel, Modern War Institute: "Many Army officers share a common pastime—solving the Army’s talent management problems. The constant refrain is that the Army does little to retain talented officers. It’s a hard criticism to ignore, given a study conducted by the Army’s Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis that highlighted the Army’s officer retention issue."
By J. Craig Anderson, The Portland Press Herald: "The Department of Defense has submitted a proposal to the White House that would cut by about 40 percent the number of planned Arleigh Burke-class destroyers to be built for the Navy over a five-year period starting in late 2020, potentially impacting future work at Maine’s General Dynamics Bath Iron Works."
China’s Test of Sub-Launched Missile a Threat to Peace
By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times: "Underwater JL-3 launch comes amid fears of North Korean missile test."
CHINA:
China Targets Tighter Controls on Its Growing Arms Trade
By Keegan Elmer & Echo Xie, SCMP: "China is set to introduce legislation to tighten control over the country's opaque sales of arms and nuclear technology, as it becomes a bigger player in the global weapons trade."