War

12 December 2021 – Civilian Deaths Mounted as Secret Unit Pounded ISIS

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/12/us/civilian-deaths-war-isis.html?referringSource=articleShare A single top secret American strike cell launched tens of thousands of bombs and missiles against the Islamic State in Syria, but in the process of hammering a vicious enemy, the shadowy force sidestepped safeguards and repeatedly killed civilians, according to multiple current and former military and intelligence officials.


Defense One – The US Is Drifting Toward War With a NATO Ally – 14 February 2018

http://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2018/02/us-drifting-toward-war-nato-ally/145979/ Putin’s unchecked courtship of Erdoğan increases the risks associated with any military response to Assad’s war crimes, continued Turkish aggression, or Iranian entrenchment in Syria. The U.S. and NATO should take Turkey to task for any actions that are detrimental to NATO’s mutual defense goals.  Concurrently, Turkey must be…


2018 Nuclear Posture Review – 2 February 2018

  https://admin.govexec.com/media/gbc/docs/pdfs_edit/2018_nuclear_posture_review_-_final_report.pdf   President Trump’s Nuclear Posture Review released Friday shows greater willingness to use nukes first, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. The document said the U.S. will develop for deployment a “low-yield” nuclear warhead for submarine-launched ballistic missiles. It also shows the U.S. plans to “strengthen the…


Book Review / Commentary on The Road Not Taken – Musings of an old Special Ops JAG on Military Legitimacy – 15 January 2018

Musings of an old Special Ops JAG on Military Legitimacy By Rudy Barnes, Jr.             Max Boot has published a new book, The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam. MG Lansdale, who miscast by Graham Greene as The Quiet American, was an inspiration to me…


War on the Rocks – Assorted Articles – 15 January 2018

War on the Rocks:  A platform for analysis, commentary, debate and multimedia content on foreign policy and national security issues through a realist lens. 1/15 Daily Update An Unconventional Proposal to Bringing the OA-X To Life by William Miller The False Dawn of International Law: Revisiting the Doomed Kellogg-Briand Pact by Seva…



The Week – 5 National Security Challenges America Faces in 2018 – 2 January 2018

DAVID FURST/AFP/Getty Images http://theweek.com/articles/745311/5-national-security-challenges-america-faces-2018 Harry J. Kazianis is director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, founded by former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon. In 2018, we will see a world trying to navigate around a series of potential powder kegs — some armed with a nuclear…




RAND – Deterring Space War An Exploratory Analysis Incorporating Prospect Theory into a Game Theoretic Model of Space Warfare – 21 December 2017

This dissertation uses a game theoretic model of space war to examine how sentiments in multiple dimensions impact state decisions regarding whether to expand a ground war into the space domain. https://www.rand.org/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD400.html https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/rgs_dissertations/RGSD400/RGSD400/RAND_RGSD400.pdf