Return of the Fly

Well, I thought it's time to come back to posting on the blog. I've been busy the last couple of months moving and getting my life in order. I hope to bring some interesting things in the next couple of posts, so be patient!

And Survey Says....

Foreign Policy Magazine has teamed up with the Center for a New American Security and surveyed 3,400 active and retired officers in the US military (link). One of the questions was "What are the two most important things the US government must do to win the war on terror?" 73% of those who responded said "Improve Intelligence." Albeit that statistic is significantly high, it should be at 100%. It is because the US military is so powerful against conventional armies is why terror and insurgency groups rely on asymmetrical warfare. The US can not engage the these groups head-on, for they will only be worn down by numerous hit-and-run attacks . When the US has the ability to outsmart those groups will the tables be turned and that only comes from having a good, actionable intelligence.

Capitals

A short clip from the people at GOOD Magazine covering the meanings of various capitals found around the world.

Man About Town

Mike McConnell, the Director of National Intelligence, has been a busy man. On Feb 7, he gave his Annual Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community to the House Select Committee of Intelligence. The report's focus is on threats coming from governments and transnational groups around the world including the Middle East and Latin America (I plan to dig into this report with future posts). McConnell has also recently, on the 15th of February, written an Op-Ed for the Washington Post entitled A Key Gap in Fighting Terrorism, which supports Congress renewing the Foreign Intelligence Survellance Act (FISA).

Death and Taxes

A very cool visual showing the federal budget and what departments get how much funding. Numbers don't lie and US priorities are clear to see.

2008 Geopolitical Forecast

Dr. George Friedman over at Stratfor has given a geopolitical forecast summary which highlighted number of interesting points.

There are three major global processes under way that will continue to work themselves out in 2008. First, the U.S.-jihadist war is entering its final phase; the destruction of al Qaeda’s strategic capabilities now allows the United States to shift its posture — which includes leveraging the Sunni world to finish the job begun in Iraq — and enables Washington to begin drawing down its Middle Eastern forces. Second, an assertive Russia is re-emerging and taking advantage of the imbalance in U.S. power resulting from the war. Third, oil at historical highs and continued Asian — particularly Chinese — exports have created a massive redistribution of financial might that is reshaping the international financial architecture. These processes intersect with each other, as well as with a fourth phenomenon: It is a presidential election year in the United States, which remains the center of gravity of the international system. These are the trends that shape our global forecast. Read the full summary here.

"You Will Explode In A Couple Of Minutes"

With the recent event involving Iranian speedboats threatening US Naval ships, it would be good to understand the Iranian naval strategy. Fariborz Haghshenass, for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, put out a piece on Iran's Doctrine of Asymmetric Naval Warfare.

Differences between Eastern and Western culture

Click here and find out the distinctions between East and West thinking through simple, witty graphics. If one is more interested in finding the psychological reasoning behind the two types of thought, I would recommend reading The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently...and Why.

Many people have even examined the differences of Eastern/Western culture and psychology through two classic board games, Go (Eastern origin) and Chess (Western origin). Go is a much more holistic, strategic game, starting with a blank board and building up "territory". Whereas Chess is seen as a more linear, tactical game, striving to accomplish one goal, capture the King. By analyzing the game Go, the West can have a significant insight in Eastern strategy which can be used for diplomacy, trade, and even war.

The Shia Revival

Many times when reading about the Middle East and Islamic studies I find the books to be, well, dry. *cough* Bernard Lewis *cough* But being almost finished with The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future, I have to say this is one of the exceptions. The book focuses on the formation, spread, and effects of Shia Islam throughout history. Nasir does an excellent job of writing about the particular differences between Shia and Sunni Islam without being bogged down in minutiae. Even if one has little interest in Middle Eastern Studies, I would still recommend taking a gander at this invaluable resource.

Iran Meets Pakistan Over IPI Pipeline Project

This story links back to the previous post here. Now we get to see how Pakistan plays into all this.

clipped from www.hindu.com Islamabad, (PTI): Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, on Friday met his Pakistani counterpart Inam-ul Haque and both the leaders reviewed progress in the multi-billion dollar gas pipeline project, in which India is the third party. The two foreign ministers reviewed progress in talks about the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, officials said. Recently, Iran and Pakistan held talks in Tehran, without India's participation, to finalise crucial agreements for the project. Mottaki also met President Musharraf who called for expediting work on the gas pipeline project. Musharraf, during meeting with Mottaki, backed Iran's efforts to make peaceful use of atomic energy and opposed the use of force to resolve the issue of its nuclear programme.