STRATEGY & INTELLIGENCE
Japan
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Wars and Rumors of Wars: How the US is Responding to Beijing's New Total War
“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” — Matthew 24:6 in the New Testament.
STRATEGY & INTELLIGENCE
Jakarta: Balancing, Yet Moving
Indonesia's movement toward greater regional economic and strategic power is showing success, and it is occurring with excruciating care to balance its position between superpowers.
HARDWARE, WEAPONRY & TECHNOLOGY
STRATEGIC TRAJECTORIES | Russia Escalates Preparedness for Kinetic Space Operations
Most Western states, focus on considering ASAT countermeasures rather than offensive ASAT systems of their own, given the inherent danger of space debris impacting the space dominance of the West’s extensive orbital assets.
HISTORY
Consequences: Today It Is Us; Tomorrow It Is You
The Horn of Africa is sliding toward a major war which seems likely to rapidly expand to embrace the major powers. The situation has strong parallels to the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, which began World War II and destroyed the League of Nations.
PERSONNEL
Key Transitions and Defense & Intelligence Appointments - 10/2021
CULTURE, PSYCHOLOGY & MEDIA
Perception is Power in the Beijing Gavotte
Beijing senses some real relief in the way the US is handling bilateral discussions.
Afghanistan
AUKUS: The Dysfunctional Birth and Accidental Promise of the West’s New Global Alliance
Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States hastily created a new global alliance, but its founders have different views of alliance priorities. AUKUS might actually work, but the US seems intent on jeopardizing Red Sea security, critical to making the bloc work.
STRATEGY & INTELLIGENCE
The New “Go” Complexity of the Global “Great Game”
The chess-board of Central Asia’s “Great Game” was transformed into the intense complexity of the ancient Chinese game of Go — Weiqi — when the collapse of the latest phase of the eternal Afghan wars sent the consequences virally through global security frameworks.
DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES & TREATIES
STRATEGIC TRAJECTORIES | New AUKUS Alliance Constrains Beijing; Transforms Indo-Pac
The AUKUS Alliance starts the process of the US ceding back to Britain some of its historical maritime presence.
STRATEGIC PHILOSOPHY
EARLY WARNING | Stirring the Primordial Soup of a New World
DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES & TREATIES
The Ardeshir Zahedi Interview: Lessons of Diplomacy for the 21st Century
Few diplomats in the 20th Century were as active or influential as Iran’s Ardeshir Zahedi, who remains active while living — and writing — from exile in Montreux, Switzerland.