STRATEGY & INTELLIGENCE
DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES & TREATIES
ESSENTIAL READING | Pivotal Persia
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Africa: Mali, Nigeria, and the Bigger Picture
The Mali War will be neither simple nor quick, ‘though the players all wish it so.
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Mali: Center Stage
The international community finally began addressing the issue of Islamist fighters in Mali. This provided an opportunity for Nigeria, in particular, to rebuild its own security and political stability. But there was still no guarantee that the opportunity would be grasped.
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Mali: Pivotal Point
Paralyzing factors — including Algeria’s secret nuclear program — conspire against addressing Mali’s growing safe-haven for the jihadist fighters who threaten the stability of West Africa’s energy production, now a pivotal component of US and European requirements.
HARDWARE, WEAPONRY & TECHNOLOGY
Syrian Acquisition of Iraqi Chemical Weapons Noted in 2002; Qatar Now Reported Entering WMD Market
All is not as it seemed with the international media reporting in early December 2012 of the Syrian Government’s alleged preparation of sarin-based chemical weapons for (presumed) use against domestic insurgents.
STRATEGIC PHILOSOPHY
P3R: Projection, Protection, Policing, Resilience
Gregory R. Copley, at the Fortieth Anniversary of “Defense & Foreign Affairs”
PERSONNEL
Key Transitions and Defense and Intelligence Appointments - 10/2012
GOVERNANCE & ELECTIONS
Australia: Shuffling While Canberra Burns?
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
The New 9/11 Attacks: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy
The surge in jihadist attacks on US diplomatic missions in September 2012 largely obscured the complex realities around a number of individual incidents and locales, particularly with regard to the Libyan situation.
CULTURE, PSYCHOLOGY & MEDIA
Psychological Strategy in the 21st Century
A look at how some aspects of the human condition remain constant through the changes in civilizational structures, and how some technological and geo-strategic evolutions will impact goal-setting, message content, and message-delivery and other aspects of psychological strategy.
GOVERNANCE & ELECTIONS
A Confluence of Events in the Horn of Africa
The announcement of the death of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — possibly a month after he actually died — starts to focus the growing confluence of events in the Horn of Africa; events which show a profound watershed in the strategic situation along one of the most significant trade…