By William S. Lind As we observe the slow and increasingly certain disintegration of Pakistan, we should force ourselves to confront an uncomfortable fact: events in Pakistan are to a large degree side effects of our war in Afghanistan. The January 12 Washington Times headline was “Pentagon spies al Qaeda in Pakistan,” as if this […]

By Chuck Spinney More than seven years after 9-11, it ought to be clear from (1) the senseless destruction of Iraq, (2) the deteriorating war in Afghanistan, and (3) the increasing potential for chaos in nuclear-armed Pakistan, that George II has gomered up the so-called war on terror (WOT).

The Small Wars Journal has a superb post by Malcolm Nance on the recent incident in the Straight of Hormuz. In addition to the excellent open source analysis of events, Nance highlights the influence of a strange aspect of locked orientation known as “scenario fulfillment” and commends the mental agility and professionalism — as Don […]

Fabius Maximus stakes out an island of sanity within this ocean of fantasy. Unless you subscribe to the abiogenic (non-fossil) theory of petroleum generation, oil production in the not-too-distant future will “peak” and thereafter begin to decline. Will this trigger a global economic catastrophe and increase the likelihood of large-scale conflict? It sure could, but […]

By William S. Lind A piece in the December 27, 2007 Cleveland Plain Dealer, “Vote on fate of Kirkuk postponed,” by Tina Susman and Asso Ahmed of the L.A. Times, reported that Kurdish lawmakers agreed Wednesday to a six-month delay in a referendum on whether the oil-rich city of Kirkuk should join the semi-autonomous region […]

During a disaster, become part of the solution By Terry Paulson [Reprinted with permission from the Ventura County Star Original URL: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/jan/07/a-resilient-community/] Monday, January 7, 2008 Happiness is the absence of a disaster and a short memory. Unfortunately, whether it’s the “devil wind,” fires or rain-driven mudslides, the disaster coverage cycle remains much the same. […]

This book, on grand strategy and future defense policy, should come out in February. I’ll post an excerpt when it gets a little closer. [Click the thumbnail for a larger view.]

In this case, Pakistan. DNI is publishing an excerpt from Gabriel Kolko’s 2002 book, Another Century of War? that provides interesting background about what’s going on in that country. Read more (on the original DNI site)