NIGHTWATCH: Syrian Kurds Holding North – Kurdistan Emergent + Kurd RECAP & Syria RECAP

Syria-Kurds: Islamist groups in northern Syria are weakening after months of fighting and Kurdish militias are gaining ground, a top Syrian Kurdish leader said on Wednesday. Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said in an interview that Tuesday’s announcement of an interim Syrian Kurdish autonomous administration in northeastern Syria is only …

Neal Rauhauser: US Aircraft Carriers — Way Too Many, Irresponsibly Drawing Resources Away from a Long-Haul Air Force and an Air-Mobile Army

Global Aircraft Carrier Infographic Some weeks ago I wrote Carriers Of The Pacific, a comparison of the U.S. fleet vs. other countries, prompted by the U.S. “pivot to the east”. One Chart Shows The Magnitude Of U.S. Naval Dominance provides an infographic that makes things crystal clear. Two thirds of all carriers belong to the U.S. …

Penguin: Wikileaks Exposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership for What It Is — Secret Predatory Corporate Corruption Enabled by Secret Government Complicty in Looting the Public Purse

WikiLeaks releases major trade agreement draft chapter The TPP, based on the draft chapter, seems set to be yet another boon for corporate interests Natasha Lennard Salon, Wednesday, Nov 13, 2013 The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement — an international trade agreement some years in the making between major world powers including the U.S., Canada and Japan …

Marcus Aurelius: Pentagon Fiscal Chief “Nervous” + DoD Transformation RECAP

Pentagon fiscal chief Robert Hale: ‘I am nervous’ “Frankly, I am nervous,” says Robert Hale, the Pentagon’s comptroller. And with reason. A month and half into the new fiscal year, Congress can’t seem to decide between what are three, wildly different scenarios for Hale’s world in 2014. The House endorsed most of President Barack Obama’s …

Marcus Aurelius: Five Takeaways from a Decade of War [Defense One] Plus Blistering Alternative View from Phi Beta Iota Editors

Five Takeaways from a Decade of War Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, in a keynote address at the Center for Strategic and International Studies this week, signaled to military commanders that they should assume the across-the-board, automatic spending cuts imposed by sequester over the next decade will remain in place indefinitely. “We do not have …

Michael Shank: Why the White House Won’t Win the Afghanistan War…

Why the White House won’t win the Afghanistan war Washington Times, Wednesday, November 6, 2013 – Cause, Conflict, Conclusion by Michael Shank, Ph.D. WASHINGTON, November 7, 2013 — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry desperately needs a win on the Afghanistan war. Unfortunately, however, it appears increasingly unlikely he will get one. Despite repeated visits …

Noam Chomsky: Should World “De-Americanize?”

De-Americanizing the World Truth Out, 5 November 2013 Originally written in 2012 During the latest episode of the Washington farce that has astonished a bemused world, a Chinese commentator wrote that if the United States cannot be a responsible member of the world system, perhaps the world should become “de-Americanized” — and separate itself from …