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Marcus Aurelius: Media Common Sense on Defense — Still Lacking on Substance

Following is stunning, coming as it does from the left-wing newspaper we called “Pravda on the Potomac” during the Cold War.) Two op-eds from mainstream media follow; both discuss need for Legislative and Executive Branches of the USG to get their [sierra] together and serve the national interest. Washington Post, August 4, 2013, Pg. 18 …

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Marcus Aurelius: Hagel Choosing Bad Platforms Over Good People

Looks as if SECDEF has identified the alternatives — humans or hardware– and has picked hardware. Hagel: Pentagon Must Choose Between People or Platforms WASHINGTON — The Pentagon might have to cancel many modernization programs over a decade-long period should mandatory federal spending caps remain in place over the next decade, US Defense Secretary Chuck …

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Chuck Spinney: Sick People at the Aspin Summit III — What Do the Men of Empire Have in Common with Captain Ahab?

Below is Professor Michael Brenner’s take on this question. AMERICA’s MOBY DICK Michael Brenner University of Pittsburg, 28 July 2013 Captain Ahab’s obsessive hunt for Moby Dick was driven by the thirst for revenge. The great white whale had maimed Ahab – in soul as well as body. Ahab was consumed by the passion to …

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Marcus Aurelius: Democratic Defense Play-Book — Truman Security Briefing Book Edition 5 — Idiocy Lite

From Politico Morning Defense: FIRST LOOK – THE STRONG-ON-DEFENSE PLAYBOOK: A leading national-security think tank is releasing the latest edition of its annual briefing book, which has become a kind of playbook for strong-on-defense Democrats. The Truman National Security Project, which spent more than $90,000 during the 2012 presidential campaign to help defeat Republican Mitt …

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Alessandro Politi: Global Outlook 2013 from the Military Centre for Strategic Studies, Ministry of Defence, Italy

This is the first-ever MoD short-term forecast and global vision (in its 67 year history). GLOBAL OUTLOOK 2013 PDF:  2013-06 Italian MOD Global Forecast Executive Summary The next two years will be marked more by power vacuums and gaps than by a reassuring graceful degradation of the world order or by the rise of new …

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SchwartzReport: US Star Chamber “Disposition List,” NSA Revelation Feed Anti-Americanism, US Courts Against US Citizens

This is the new warfare. It is the obvious next step in asymmetrical conflict. Lower risk for Americans, and probably cheaper. But, I wonder, is it making more enemies than it is eliminating? If I lived in a little village in the Afghan mountains and, in the middle of night, a drone strike blew up …

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