UAVs, Navy, Satellites, Battle Stars

This post, which I want to keep pretty short, feeds off my post on re-orienting national security priorities.
I read a fascinating paper provocatively entitled “How the US Lost the Naval War of 2015″ (PDF), by James Kraska.
It takes a look at what is happening now as the US Navy flounders and the Chinese Navy quickly [...]

A Thought on Masculinity

Some of my old classmates from Georgetown met up to discuss Nick Kristof’s and Sheryl WuDunn’s book, “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide”, a couple weeks ago.  Most of the group was women, but among international development folks, there’s definitely a tribe of guys who are male feminists.
That is to say [...]

Reorienting National Security Priorities

Below is my plan for reorienting American security priorities, which I think are currently misaligned, often conflicting, and outdated.  This is not a plan for innovation, or financial reform (which is one of the most pressing national issues), or for progressivism.  It’s a plan to increase the long-term durability of homeland security.
Politics, as I’ve learned [...]

Health Care Ennui

Just a quick note on this; been busy settling in to my new place so I have a lot to say but not much time.
The health care proposal is grinding and painful to watch.  What’s worst about all of it is I think everyone knows that the system will still suck no matter what happens.  [...]

US Forces “Volunteer” to Leave Iraq

It’s interesting to live through the times of American occupation of Iraq.  What the Bush Administration sees as a necessary move, not without its faults, that has eventually led to a nascent democracy, is nothing short of tragically comic.  What we see as “giving peace in the Middle East a chance” will in future history [...]

Underground Warblogging

Warblogging died in 2006.  It died when the military and US government decided that ANY servicemember’s content online must be approved through the chain of command, AFTER informing the command that that content MAY exist. (i.e. registering one’s blog even without posting content to it)
The message coming out of Iraq was warped after this decision.  [...]

How Bush and Obama Have Shaped My Last Eight Years

Thankfully, the eight years of Bush rule are almost over.  It has been a dark period for the American soul, spirit, and Dream.  Here is a synopsis of the Bush presidency years as seen through my life, documented through my web site and blog.
Pre-Dubya
In 2000, my mind certainly wasn’t thinking about international terrorism, financial crises, [...]

Michael Ware on Iraq

Michael Ware, perhaps one of the best journalists covering the Iraq occupation, explains what’s going on right now.  By the way, his US-led Sunni execution squads may be part of what Bob Woodward provocatively suggested when he said the US has new techniques for hunting Al-Qaeda.

Andrew Bacevich on US Foreign Policy

An excellent interview by Bill Moyers with retired Colonel Andrew Bacevich:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08152008/watch.html
“Bacevich [...] identifies three major problems facing our democracy: the crises of economy, government and militarism, and calls for a redefinition of the American way of life.”
Covers the failure of the Dems to get us out of Iraq, the current one-party US government (in the [...]

Privatization of the Military

I’m reading about Donald Rumsfeld’s declaration of war on the Pentagon that he issued on September 10th, 2001. He basically said he was going to gut the military and outsource everything to contractors.
Now this is interesting because I realize now that all these weird things I witnessed while in the Army were weird precisely [...]