Treating Islamic Violent Extremism as a Pandemic Super-infection
By: Thomas Doherty
Islamic extremist ideology has become a pandemic super-infection resistant to current counter-ideological methodologies.
Added notes: Shakespeare as Ozymandias
[ by Charles Cameron — how Bill Benzon and Will Shakespeare lead me to Angus Wilson and Ruth Ozeki ] . Comments are now closed on my fairly recent post, Triangulation: Hoboken, Ramesses II, Ozymandias, so I can’t add there to the strand of the discussion that dealt with Shakespeare‘s language becoming barnacle-encrusted with time […]
Quick airport security ouroboros, sad
[ by Charles Cameron — here’s an example of recursion as farce, closing in on tragedy ] . This: The last kid who searched me, a young Muslim boy with an immaculate line-beard and goatee, was particularly apologetic. “Sorry bro. If it makes you feel any better, they search me before I fly too.” From […]
Red Team: Regime Counterinsurgency in Syria
By: Vince Tumminello
A red team assessment of Syrian prospects for counterinsurgency written in December of 2015. It is a blueprint for Syrian military, economic, and political success in the coming years.
Top U.S. Special Forces General: ‘We’re Hurting Ourselves’ With All These Movies and Books
By: The Washington Post
“It is a phenomenon that is anathema to me. It runs counter to everything that any of us whoever entered special operations know [is] the right way to do business.”
Did Obama Lay the Path to Afghanistan Peace Talks?
By: Gary Anderson
Americans may despise the Taliban but ISIS makes them look like choirboys.
Can Putin’s Aircraft Carrier Stay Afloat on Its Syria Mission?
By: Foreign Policy
“The troubled Admiral Kuznetsov has had lots of problems but will soon head out on its first combat deployment.”
How Defense Dollars Are Wasted on Security Assistance
By: National Center for Policy Analysis
Current U.S. security assistance programs are ineffective, and often undermine American security, according to a new report from the NCPA.
Non-Technical Military Innovation: The Prussian General Staff and Professional Military Education
By: Jason M. Bender
This monograph is a revision of a paper submitted for consideration during the 2008 U.S. Army Command and General Staff College historical writing competition for CGSC Course 08-01.
Leaving the “Gray Zone”: The U.S. Need to Fight Aggression Below Conventional War
By: Lauren Fish
The new President will need to have a plan to address this issue without unnecessarily escalating tensions – a tightrope, to be sure, but a necessary one to avoid conflict.
SPOTLIGHT
