Chicago Sun Times – “Months before President Joe Biden announced the U.S.’s complete withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, Washington’s watchdog warned that the Afghan air force would collapse without critical American aid, training and maintenance, according to a newly declassified report. The report by John Sopko, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, had been… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Defense
Eurasia Group: Top Risks 2022
“Top Risks is Eurasia Group’s annual forecast of the political risks that are most likely to play out over the course of the year. This year’s report was published on 3 January 2022. As we enter 2022, the lack of global leadership that characterizes our G-Zero World is clearer than ever. That’s not a good… Continue Reading
How Trump’s flirtation with an anti-insurrection law inspired Jan. 6 insurrection
Washington Post: “Within days of President Donald Trump’s election defeat, Stewart Rhodes began talking about the Insurrection Act as critical to the country’s future. The bombastic founder of the extremist group Oath Keepers told followers that the obscure, rarely used law would allow Trump to declare a national emergency so dire that the military, militias… Continue Reading
2022 Edelman Trust Barometer
2022 Edelman Trust Barometer: “The world is failing to meet the unprecedented challenges of our time because it is ensnared in a vicious cycle of distrust. Four interlocking forces drive this cycle, thwarting progress on climate change, global pandemic management, racism and mounting tensions between China and the U.S. Left unchecked, the following four forces, evident… Continue Reading
Supreme Court overturns OSHA mandate, affects 2/3 of all US workers
Poynter – Al Tompkins: “The quick version of the story is this: A majority of Supreme Court justices ruled that if Congress wishes for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to be able to require private-sector workers to be vaccinated or undergo testing, then Congress should say so in legislation. Short of that, the court… Continue Reading
Five of world’s most powerful nations pledge to avoid nuclear war
The Guardian: “Five of the world’s most powerful nations have agreed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” in a rare joint pledge to reduce the risk of such a conflict ever starting. The pledge was signed by the US, Russia, China, the UK and France, the five nuclear weapons… Continue Reading
An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security
An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security – October 2003. By Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall. Report prepared for U.S. Dept. of Defense. Released to the public in early February 2004. See also The Pentagon’s Weather Nightmare. The climate could change radically, and fast. That would be the mother… Continue Reading
SIPRI Top 100 Arms-Producing and Military Services Companies 2020
SPIRI Fact Sheet, December 21, 2021: “The combined arms sales of the world’s largest arms-producing and military services companies (the SIPRI Top 100) were $531 billion in 2020 This represents an increase of 1.3 per cent on their arms sales in 2019. Despite this being the smallest increase in arms sales among the Top 100… Continue Reading
Bruce Mehlman’s Top 2022 Risks Deck
Bruce Mehlman of Mehlman Castagnetti – his 29 slide deck is titled Living in Limbo – Anticipating the Top 2022 Risks in Politics & Policy “Uncertainty, volatility & disruption are the new normal. 2022 will neither be the best of times nor worst of times. COVID won’t magically go away nor kill us all. The… Continue Reading
This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends
Bloomsbury – The Cyberweapons Arms Race – Nicole Perlroth (Author): “Zero day: a software bug that allows a hacker to break into your devices and move around undetected. One of the most coveted tools in a spy’s arsenal, a zero day has the power to silently spy on your iPhone, dismantle the safety controls at… Continue Reading
DoD IG Report – A Review of DoD’s Response to Jan 6 2021 Insurrection
Review of the Department of Defense’s Role, Responsibilities, and Actions to Prepare for and Respond to the Protest and Its Aftermath at the U.S. Capital Campus on January 2021 [Redacted]. November 16, 2021: “…To conduct the review, we assembled a multidisciplinary team of DoD OIG administrative and criminal investigators, evaluators, auditors, and attorneys. We examined… Continue Reading
Surveillance Technology at the Fair: Proliferation of Cyber Capabilities in International Arms Markets
The Atlantic Council: “State cyber capabilities are increasingly abiding by the “pay-to-play” model—both US/NATO allies and adversaries can purchase interception and intrusion technologies from private firms for intelligence and surveillance purposes. NSO Group has repeatedly made headlines in 2021 for targeting government entities in cyberspace, but there are many more companies selling similar products that are just… Continue Reading
