SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
War in a Time of Weakness
The 2020 Fear Pandemic breakpoint has moved the world from “strategic competition” to semi-formal hostilities. It is now about strategic management in a period of economic and population decline.
CULTURE, PSYCHOLOGY & MEDIA
The COVID-19 Wars: Strategic Warfare Amid Chaos, Threat, Opportunity
“[T]he only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” — Inaugural address of US Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 4, 1933.
MIGRATION
EARLY WARNING | A New Generation of Population Warfare
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Pivot: Did NATO’s Serbian War Set the Stage for the Decline of Western Power?
Is the US only now starting to regain some of an element of strategic military impetus after the peaking of its capabilities and prestige became evident with the Clinton War against Serbia in 1999? The war spurred Beijing and Moscow into reviewing their defenses.
HARDWARE, WEAPONRY & TECHNOLOGY
Beijing’s Strategic Support Force: The Key Focus of US Concern
Yes, 5G communications technology, where the PRC excels, is at the core of those concerns.
PERSONNEL
Key Transitions and Defense and Intelligence Appointments - 02/2020
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
What Does Beijing Do Now?
Presidential elections in Taiwan repudiated PRC pressure, just as protests in Hong Kong have done. Beijing hoped 2019 would be the year that all significant opposition to its strategic rise would be silenced.
GOVERNANCE & ELECTIONS
What Happens in the Vacuum After the Passing of Sultan Qaboos of Oman?
Oman will remain a pillar of stability because of Qaboos’ legacy, but he will be profoundly missed.
CRIME & CORRUPTION
Death of a Nation: South Africa’s Refusal to Correct its Course of Corruption and Anger
Collapse in South Africa would have a significant impact on all Southern African regional states and societies, but it would also impact the global trading community and the guarantee of Atlantic-to-Indian Ocean maritime security.
STRATEGY & INTELLIGENCE
STRATEGIC TRAJECTORIES | Washington’s Dilemma: Central Asia? Or Another Jab at the PRC?
The US will have to make a choice: Is supporting a vibrant and strong Central Asian economic zone more strategically valuable than attempting to worsen the PRC’s Uighur challenge? Could the choice also help free Washington from having to accede to the pressures of the Turkish President?
CULTURE, PSYCHOLOGY & MEDIA
EARLY WARNING | The Strategic Importance of Self-Deception
GOVERNANCE & ELECTIONS
The Butterfly Effect of Tremors in Small States
In chaos theory, a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. And the elections in Dominica will play a significant rôle in the future strategic futures of Beijing as well as Washington, DC. But the impact will also reach Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and so on.