AFRICOM Week in Review Ending 10 August 2009

Hot Topics BI: Burundi to curb prices of petroleum products 08/06/09 CF: Independent Candidacy: Waiting on National Assembly 08/07/09 EH: Defection ; a Setback to Western Sahara Separatists Hardliners 08/07/09 ER: Eritrea Denies Arming Somali Militants 08/07/09 NG: Nigeria: Violence in north is not what it seems 08/08/09 SD: United Nations Force Commanders in Darfur Address …

Journal: Chuck Spinney Highlights: Iraq Veterans Find Afghan Enemy Even Bolder

The attached report in the New York Times portrays, perhaps inadvertently, some of the mental effects of the Taliban’s (really the Afghan) style of war, note particularly an impression of being surprised by the tactical skill exhibited by the Aghan insurgents.  In that sense, this report compliments and reinforces the far more detailed information in …

2012 U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century: 450-Ship Navy, <24 Hours to Anywhere, Peace from the Sea -- Full Text Online

I wrote the original Somali piracy overview for US CENTCOM J-2P in 2005–no one wanted to take on the problem.  A few years later I was told by both USSOCOM and Navy Irregular Warfare–I am not making this up–that the reason they did not take an interest at the time was that it was “not …