The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) mentions some variant of “deter” 279 times. Deterrence is supposedly what today’s nuclear arsenals are about. The idea is that we have enough nuclear weapons so that if an enemy attacked us, we could still destroy them. That standoff, established after the nearly world-ending Cuban Missile Crisis, seems to …
A Little Good News: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules the Third Travel Ban is Unconstitutional
Blanket bans are not an effective way to protect the US, Americans, or anyone else visiting the country. They are simply discriminatory, exclusionary, and rooted in deep seated religious and ethnic prejudice and racism. And within the administration’s senior staff they’re being pushed by a deeply disturbed young man who hasn’t quite figured out that …
Just a Quick Note on the Mueller Investigation
Throughout the comments since last night’s breaking news regarding Robert Mueller’s Special Prosecutor’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections there is a lot of confusion and speculation, informed and uninformed, about what is actually going on. I wanted to make what I think is an important, but often forgotten point: Mueller’s investigation is …
Just a Quick Note on the Mueller InvestigationPost + Comments (124)
What the Deaths of Four Green Berets in Niger Really Tells Us About the US Military’s Strategic Posture
A week week ago tonight #GreenBerets Johnson, Black, Wright and Johnson were killed in action in #Niger. Still no comment from POTUS pic.twitter.com/oqkIBz7hmI — Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) October 12, 2017 Eight days ago a US Army Special Forces* Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA, A Team, small team) partnered with a Nigerien Special Forces team were ambushed …
Further Perversions in Social Media: The Catalonian Independence Referendum
Catalonia is holding an independence referendum today. The national Spanish government has declared this an illegal and/or unconstitutional political act. Spain’s democratic constitution of 1978, which was approved by more than 90% of Catalan voters, gave wide autonomy to the regions but affirmed “the indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation”. Only the Spanish parliament can …
Further Perversions in Social Media: The Catalonian Independence ReferendumPost + Comments (148)
The Overarching Middle East Problem Set: Proxy War and Forced Realignment
Over the past several weeks the just below the surface proxy wars and attempts to forcefully realign Middle Eastern politics, power dynamics, and alliances have come into full view. Over the past two weeks the Saudis and Emiratis have attempted to isolate their erstwhile Qatari partner. Turkey and Iran have come to Qatar’s aid as …
The Overarching Middle East Problem Set: Proxy War and Forced RealignmentPost + Comments (62)
A Brief History of the Breakup of the Soviet Union
Last night, stinger asked for more information on the causes of the breakup of the Soviet Union. Here’s a short summary of my understanding, with some references, not all (sorry!) links. The Soviet economic system was faltering from the sixties on. The First Secretaries during that period were slow-moving, sick, and in no way capable …
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