In the News

Seven years after the Taliban, what's changed?

ndemarco — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:11:38 +0000

October 9, 2008

The Taliban in Afghanistan has launched a number of successful attacks in recent months, but some argue that the way to really calm the country is to reform the Afghan government from top to bottom. Also, the U.S. is considering how many more troops to send to Afghanistan, perhaps rotating some brigades from Iraq.

Guests
Isobel Coleman: Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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Seven years after the Taliban, what's changed?

The Gist

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:03:34 +0000

October 9, 2008

At 3:30 EST, Geoffrey Kors of Equality California on Prop 8 and the polls showing it now has an edge and what we need to do to stop it.

At 4:30 EST, Derek Chollet, author of America Between the Wars: From 11/9 to 9/11, the Misunderstood Years Between the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the War on Terror.

Listen to The Michelangelo Signorile Show weekdays live from 2-6 pm ET on Sirius Satellite Radio’ s OutQ, Channel 109. Not a subscriber? Not a problem! Listen online any time with a free three-day pass.

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The Gist

US Teeters on the Edge of Swamp of uncertainty in Afghanistan

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:07:15 +0000

October 14, 2008

As the US begins to extricate itself from the quagmire in Iraq, it is in jeopardy of plunging into a swamp in Afghanistan that is filled with uncertainty.

Yet neither US President George W. Bush nor the candidates to succeed him, Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Barack Obama, who debated the Afghanistan issue last week, have so far articulated the US’ national interest in the landlocked Central Asian country.

The White House, however, began a belated review this week of objectives and strategy in Afghanistan.

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US Teeters on the Edge of Swamp of uncertainty in Afghanistan

Q+A-US Presidential Race Seen Through Pakistani Lens

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:15:14 +0000

October 14, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Few places apart from Iraq have loomed larger in the U.S. presidential campaign than Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Barack Obama and John McCain have spoken of the need for more focus on defeating the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan and eradicating the al Qaeda threat from Pakistan's borderlands.

For Pakistanis, the alliance with the United States has been hard to sell and anti-American sentiment is rife.

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Q+A-US Presidential Race Seen Through Pakistani Lens

The War Briefing

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:36:19 +0000

October 12, 2008

The next president of the United States will inherit a foreign policy nightmare: wars on two fronts, an overstretched military, a resurgent Taliban and a reconstituted Al Qaeda based far from America's reach.

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The War Briefing

A Word or Two of Advice

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:40:48 +0000

October 12, 2008

As Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain ponder how they would guide America in the world, they need wise counsel and sound advice. Recently, five former U.S. secretaries of state from both political parties provided just that.

Henry A. Kissinger, James A. Baker III, Warren Christopher, Madeleine K. Albright and Colin L. Powell gathered at George Washington University to talk about the challenges facing the next president. Two support Mr. McCain (Mr. Baker and Mr. Kissinger) and two favor Mr. Obama (Ms. Albright and Mr. Christopher), while Mr. Powell remains undecided.

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A Word or Two of Advice

Mediating Between Crusaders and Conservatives

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:46:35 +0000

October 18, 2008

The long simmering debate over American defense strategy, re-ignited by Andrew Bacevich’s article in The Atlantic (and usefully stoked by Small Wars Journal), is perhaps the most important facing America’s defense community. Mere weeks from the election of a new President, the debate over whether Iraq and Afghanistan are harbingers of why, where, and how America will fight its next wars helps to frame the context within which the next administration will decide how to construct a defense budget during a deepening economic downturn.

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Mediating Between Crusaders and Conservatives

Asymmetry at Sea

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:49:30 +0000

October 16, 2008

The prospect of a U.S. or Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities has conjured up a variety of dire scenarios: a stratospheric rise in oil prices, further radicalization across Middle East, and the resumption of mass bloodshed in Iraq, as Teheran unleashes its terrorist agents there. But all this talk of catastrophe still gives short shrift to one of the gravest potential threats: Iranian attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf.

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Asymmetry at Sea

Defense Contractors May See Leaner Times

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:01:04 +0000

October 16, 2008

WASHINGTON -- There are few industries whose fortunes are so closely tied to government as military contractors, companies that provide the Pentagon with everything from fighter jets to janitors. And for the last eight years, business has been very good.

But with that government customer now ailing, the boom times are likely to end.

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Defense Contractors May See Leaner Times

Fighting Over the Next Fight

ndemarco — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 15:08:19 +0000

Michael Zubrow and Alice Hunt, research analysts at CNAS, discuss the future of American warfare. As the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan continue, there "are those who foresee American forces largely involved in irregular wars" while others "believe the future will look more like the past, marked by great power rivalries". According to Zubrow and Hunt, however, "America must be ready for future combat that will require the full range of military activities".