Category: Blogs

Nuclear issue exposes rift in NATO strategy review

By Judy Dempsey, the New York Times

From Judy Dempsey, the New York Times:  Two months before what could be the most important NATO summit meeting in more than a decade, the 28 member states of the alliance have received a draft of its new strategic concept, which for the first time, at the insistence of Germany and other countries, includes calls […]

U.S. questions Turkey’s military exercise with China

By Zaman

Pakistan Blocks NATO Supply Lines, Testing Fragile Relationship

By James Joyner

Pakistan has blocked NATO’s primary supply line into Afghanistan in retaliation for an air strike that killed three Pakistani paramilitaries. Reporting for FT, Farhan Bokhari notes that this will not have an immediate impact on operations but would if the embargo held for long, since "Most of the fuel, food and building materials for the […]

5 Questions for Kori Schake

By Jorge Benitez

Kori Schake is the former Director for Defense Strategy and Requirements at the National Security Council.  She is currently a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and an associate professor of international security studies at the United States Military Academy.  I had the opportunity to discuss her thoughts on some key issues of interest to […]

CYBERCOM won’t be fully operational by Friday deadline

By Stars and Stripes

From Stars and Stripes:  U.S. Cyber Command will not be fully operational by Friday’s deadline, military officials revealed Wednesday. “I don’t know that the 1 October deadline is holding strong and fast,” Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Rene White said. Perhaps the biggest issue is defining what it means to be fully operational. “That’s a good […]

NATO Military Committee visits KFOR

By NATO's International Military Staff

From NATO’s International Military Staff:  NATO’s Military Committee (MC) visited KFOR on 28 September, where it was welcomed by Major General Erhard Bühler, Commander of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) and by Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, Joint Force Commander Naples (JFCN).

The White House’s Afghanistan defeatism

By Jackson Diehl, the Washington Post

From Jackson Diehl, the Washington Post:  One of the most remarkable aspects of Bob Woodward’s new book, "Obama’s Wars," is its portrait of a White House that has all but resigned itself to failure in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: In It To Win It?

By Kurt Volker

When Gen. David Petraeus assumed command of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, he delivered exactly the right message: “We are in this to win.” Surely, that message was welcomed by Afghan women who fear subjugation; by parents who fear seeing their daughters sprayed with acid for attending school; by decent people trying to […]

Gates Fears Wider Gap Between Country and Military

By Elisabeth Bumiller, the New York Times

From Elisabeth Bumiller, the New York Times:  The United States is at risk of developing a cadre of military leaders who are cut off politically, culturally and geographically from the population they are sworn to protect, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told an audience at Duke University on Wednesday night.