DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES & TREATIES
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.
DIPLOMACY, ALLIANCES & TREATIES
Myanmar and the US: Stumbling Toward a Critical Relationship
Chinese maritime strategy has been to ensure access to — even dominance of — the critical ASEAN and Indian Ocean sea lanes, vital to its interests, and vital to containing any potential rivalry with India. For India and the US, the reverse has been the case.
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
Ain Amenas Incident: Algerie l’Implacable?
The hostage-taking affair at the Ain Amenas natural gas plant showed the Algerian Government as less than a cooperative player in security matters, while breathing new life into the salafist movement.
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
EN CLAIR | Australia’s New Security Reports
STRATEGIC PHILOSOPHY
EARLY WARNING | Survival is Fundamental; Only Methods Change
Gregory R. Copley, in the Fifth Decade of “Defense & Foreign Affairs”
PERSONNEL
Key Transitions and Defense and Intelligence Appointments - 12/2012
SECURITY, UNREST & WAR
DOCUMENT | Testimony by Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of African Affairs
Testimony Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs. Washington, DC, December 5, 2012.
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.
CULTURE, PSYCHOLOGY & MEDIA
Emerging Trends: Practical Implications of De-Urbanization
“All cities are parasites, feeding off their agricultural hinterlands, but the cities that thrive best develop a relationship with their hinterland which over time becomes distinctly more symbiotic than parasitic.”1