December 2011
67 posts
2011: Angels, Devils, and Great Satan’s Girlfriend →
Photo taken by Chris Hondros, who ultimately lost his life in Libya.
2011 was a bad year for bad guys.
Spurred by the self-immolation of a 26-year-old street vendor, the Arab…
Boxing Day Bang →
The Real Outcome of the Iraq War – Center for Strategic and Int’l Studies
Territorial Issues in Israeli-Palestinian Talks – Washington Institute
U.S. Military Strategy Shifts Focus – Center…
Defense Plus Brief →
Defense
Pentagon officials have yet to finalize plans for how many U.S. forces will remain in the Middle East now that the Iraq war has ended, but the Defense Department intends to maintain a…
State Department agrees with Biden: Not all... →
Scientists used math on Twitter to tell us we're...
shortformblog:
Happiness is trending downward. Great. After studying the Twitter accounts of 63 million users for 33 months, science tells us that we’re not using as many happiness keywords. Users seem to reach their peak happiness on and around holidays and the weekends; happiness “plummets” on Mondays and Tuesdays. All in all, people shouldn’t be using Twitter as their go-to source of human...
Counterinsurgency Tactics, Drone Casualties, and... →
Compiled by Micah Z
- William Booth, “More Predator drones fly U.S.-Mexico border,” Washington Post, December 21, 2011.
The Predators reached a milestone in June, having flown 10,000 hours….
New Theme: Nuntius →
If you’ve been itching to turn your blog into an online newspaper or magazine, Nuntius could be your perfect companion. Based on the highly-popular News theme designed by Justin Tadlock, Nuntius…
Greatest Hits
rethinkingsecurity:
In July, William F. Owen published one of the few essays that provided a workable solution for how the United States could optimize its forces for counterinsurgency warfare.
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Def/Sec Plus →
Defense
Japan’s decision to buy U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets is the latest example of the Obama administration’s efforts to upgrade allies’ aerial strike forces ability — and counter China’s…
WordPress for Android 2.0 Now Available →
It’s Android blogging, re-imagined. Today we’re announcing the release of WordPress for Android 2.0, a major update that focuses on a new UI and enhanced post editor features. Check the video:
Continuing COIN in The Stan →
From Foreign Affairs
U.S. and allied forces have made great progress in Afghanistan since the start of the counterinsurgency campaign in early 2010. But critical military tasks remain — and…
Def Sec Plus →
Defense
The Senate on Thursday sent a defense policy bill to President Barack Obama, who has said he would reluctantly sign it after months of fighting over the handling of suspected terrorists,…
Epic Fail? →
Trefor Moss unleashes his inner COL G and discovers COIN is an Epic Fail!
Counterinsurgency was always a paradoxical idea that involved the
simultaneous waging of war and…
Def/Sec – Plus →
Defense
Budget hawks may cut back a five-year-old Pentagon program aimed at curbing casualties from the crude roadside bombs known as IEDs, a leading threat to U.S. troops in Afghanistan. – …
Well, it’s official: The Beast has been captured →
I’ll admit that I didn’t believe it at first.
Over the past few years, Iran’s state media has issued numerous statements claiming to have downed American drones buzzing about their…
From the Twisted Mind of Doctrine Man: A Jedi Mind... →
doctrineman:
These are not the drones you’re looking for.
This is either an intelligence bonanza for Iran and our purported enemies, a potential CIA Trojan horse with far-reaching implications, or just another case of Iranian exaggeration.
Just a week ago, Iran claimed to have shot down an unmanned…
WatchKudos to @AJEnglish for taking on fake Twitter accounts (14:25). #Fail for forgetting our tweeting drones!
“Counterinsurgency”, or “Listen, children, to a... →
Photo courtesy US Army on Flickr
If the Internet is to be believed, counterinsurgency is dead. US Army Colonel Gian Gentile–long a critic of the US Army’s fascination with…
The Lando Effect [Comic] →
Watchyoulikeairplanestoo:
Beautiful cockpit/in-airplane footage and commentary of the @RedArrowsUK display circa 1992. I’ve never seen it from this angle, good stuff.
“We journalists are probably too bleary-eyed after a sleepless night to...”
– In an effort to stabilise the euro zone, France, Germany and 21 other countries have decided to draft their own treaty to impose more central control over national budgets. Britain and three others have decided to stay out. But whether the agreement does anything to stabilise the euro is moot. (via...
Def/Sec Daily →
Defense
The House named its conferees to handle negotiations over H.R. 1540, as this year’s defense authorization act is fondly known, and lawmakers from the opposite sides of the Capitol met…
December 7th, 2011 →
Photo courtesy US Navy on Flickr
On December 7th, 1941, six aircraft carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, sparking America’s involvement…
“‘Pearl Harbor’ is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on Dec....”
– Roger Ebert, in his review of the much-derided Michael Bay film. (“Of all the negative reviews I’ve written, this one may have my favorite first sentence,” Ebert said on his Facebook page today.)
Def/Sec Plus →
An Air Force crew damaged a component of an unarmed intercontinental ballistic missile while performing maintenance near a North Dakota base last month, prompting a partial evacuation, military…
