May Jane's Geopolitical Roundup

By Rick Morris

Jane's Information Group has some of the best intelligence in the world at its fingertips. On matters ranging from military to security to weaponry and beyond, the staff at Jane's provides top-notch information to its subscribers and probably runs rings around our frequently inept CIA much of the time.The site includes free excerpts of its material in many different categories. From time to time here at The FDH Lounge Blog, we will link directly to their outstanding material on many subjects and allow those of you who are very much concerned with geopolitics and the world around us to keep up on important matters.

In addition to the material below, we refer you to the January, February, March, and April installments of this series.


Defense

China’s NORINCO develops new 40 mm automatic grenade launcher

Former DoD official pours cold water on Taiwan’s submarine deal with US

Contenders submit bids for Indian Multirole Combat Aircraft requirement

German report calls for improved armed forces structure

Global Hawk scoops Broad Area Maritime Surveillance prize

US DoD rebuts criticism of program cost estimation

Life after Bush – the US defense budget

Saab heralds next-generation Gripen improvements

Broadening the horizon: battlefield broadband

Shooting match – navies face gun-caliber multiple choice


Public Safety

Plan to ban sex offenders from online networking sites

Executive Overview: Jane’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal


Security

Zawahiri answers back

China-US hotline could stay cool

Rising crime in Costa Rica

US claims North Korea helped Syria build alleged reactor

Secret Sanya – China’s new nuclear naval base revealed

Anti-aircraft weapon seized from Brazilian drug gang

China may recall arms shipment to Zimbabwe

Georgia accuses Russia of shooting down drone

Ukraine – industrial and common espionage

Kenya appoints prime minister and cabinet

Who will head Russia’s new version of the FBI?

Russian parliament to decide if Putin is to become prime minister

Pakistan – new leader, new politics?

FARC exposed

Zimbabwe’s ruling party loses its hold on parliament


Law Enforcement

Forensic science review calls for better standards and training

Ecuador purges armed forces and police

Police force keeps tabs on officers


Transport

BAA breakup on the horizon

TSA head announces high-tech screening program

US carriers seek cash options

Shipping stays on course

March Jane’s Geopolitical Roundup

By Rick Morris

Jane’s Information Group has some of the best intelligence in the world at its fingertips. On matters ranging from military to security to weaponry and beyond, the staff at Jane's provides top-notch information to its subscribers and probably runs rings around our frequently inept CIA much of the time.

The site includes free excerpts of its material in many different categories. From time to time here at The FDH Lounge Blog, we will link directly to their outstanding material on many subjects and allow those of you who are very much concerned with geopolitics and the world around us to keep up on important matters.

In addition to the material below, we refer you to the January and February installments of this series.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Organ trafficking: a fast-expanding black market

Legal loophole failing officers tackling human trafficking

Maximizing resilience: NATO CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear) capabilities

US intelligence agencies seize policy initiative

SECURITY

Pakistan NWFP parties agree to secular coalition

Pakistan’s most wanted: Baitullah Mehsud

NATO expected to further Balkan enlargement

Columbian conflict turns contagious

Mughniyah hit threatens war against Israel

Group profile: Hizbullah

JTIC Briefing: Afghanistan’s bloody Sunday

Dark times for southern Africa

Introducing Raul Castro

Fidel Castro resigns Cuban presidency

Life after death: scenarios for a post-Castro Cuba

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Former Islamist rivals warn UK of ideological differences

UK Muslim communities close ranks to police

TRANSPORT

Transport finance sector eagerly awaits US election results

US airport industry faces challenging year

US airports need massive investment to handle future demand

Multiview x-ray has wider vision

DEFENSE

US Navy strike group responds to increasing Lebanon, Syria tension

Congressional report set to fuel debate on USAF’s energy alternatives

Future generation: US alternative energy development

Greece owes “at least 100 million euros” to Thyssenkrupp for naval weapons, claims industry source

Negotiations advance on Typhoon production in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Typhoon buy could herald wave of big arms deals in Middle East

UK changes JSF configuration for ASRAAM

Two competitors reveal prototypes for US JLTV program

IDEX 2007: US considers accelerating JLTV purchase

North Carolina takes heat out of welding glitch

February Jane's geopolitical roundup

By Rick Morris

Jane’s Information Group has some of the best intelligence in the world at its fingertips. On matters ranging from military to security to weaponry and beyond, the staff at Jane's provides top-notch information to its subscribers and probably runs rings around our frequently inept CIA much of the time.

The site includes free excerpts of its material in many different categories. From time to time here at The FDH Lounge Blog, we will link directly to their outstanding material on many subjects and allow those of you who are very much concerned with geopolitics and the world around us to keep up on important matters.

PUBLIC SAFETY

Advocates urge NATO funds to alleviate suffering of Afghan civilians

Senior Pakistani official addresses nuclear security concerns

JTIC Briefing: Barcelona’s ‘suicide bombers’

Brazil’s nuclear potential

SECURITY

Israel shudders after Gaza and Winograd

US strategies to contain Pakistani nukes

Gaza turmoil highlights new home truths

A Croatian minister, a minister and a boar

US seeks Caspian energy reserves

Kosovo’s resurgent armed groups

Lebanon bombers target US and UN

Dadullah sacking highlights Taliban rifts

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Thousands of UK officers ‘freed up’ in radical policing review

TRANSPORT

Australia buys infrared scanners to fight pandemics

West warms to Russian market

Islamic finance hits its stride

Executive Overview: Jane’s Underwater Security Systems and Technology

DEFENSE

Iran inaugurates space terminal and launches research rocket

Japanese military export ban stifling business, warns industry

French aircraft continue Chad missions

Details emerge of Pantsir-S1E hybrid air-defense system

People Power Party set to continue military modernization in Thailand, says analyst

Imagery reveals probable Russian S-400 site

Czechs conduct AMRAAM tests on Gripen

Getting in step: India country briefing

DARPA/university teams works on technology for micro aerial vehicles

Pakistan debacle exposes our overreach

By Rick Morris

I wonder how many people heard the news that Pakistan President/General Pervez Musharraf’s seizure of power over the weekend and assumed that he led off his announcement with a little sample from Jay-Z (THIS … IS … STATE OF EMERGENCY!). Nobody? Just me?

Regardless, the move represents a major black eye for the United States and exposes in humiliating fashion once again the consequences of our imperial overreach over the last five years.

In justifying the Iraq War, Bush administration officials disparaged the policies of their predecessors (including the president’s father!) over several decades in “tolerating” the repressive regimes of the Middle East. The deposing of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, we were told, represented a radical change in how we would utilize our power in the Middle East. No longer would we dirty our hands by dealing with repressive dictators and Third World thugs – freedom was now on the march! The president’s second Inaugural Address made this theme the centerpiece, which came as a surprise to pundits of the time.

Although it’s hard to remember clearly though the fog of our hard times in Iraq over the next two years, George Bush did have some momentary wind at his back as he took his victory lap in early 2005. Iraqi elections had just been held, and the images of jubilant voters waving their ink-stained purple fingers at the camera were compelling. Also at about that time, in a part of the world not far away, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine peacefully toppled a corrupt government trying to cling to power by illegitimate means. Shortly thereafter, the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon drove out the brutal occupiers of Syria by rallying the country in protest. No less a Bush Administration critic than Jon Stewart wondered aloud whether Bush might be on to something with his insistence on the mandatory, immediate and unfettered institution of democracy anywhere and everywhere.

But inevitably, the moment did not last and the world was reminded again why sager minds had resisted the suicidal path of placing Wilsonian democracy above all else that Bush had embraced. Homicidal Hamas won the Palestinian elections and turned the Gaza Strip into even more of a terrorist hub than it had been previously (which really says something!). Iraqis subsequently elected tribal leaders and warlords to their government who, to put it mildly, had no appreciation for the sacrifices our country had laid down for them. The democratic experiment in Afghanistan was fraught with difficulty as well, with a similar ingratitude from many who we had freed there as well.

Granted, we had no choice but to promote democracy in Afghanistan as an alternative to the terror state we rightly annihilated after 9/11, but we should not have become so intoxicated by the early signs of success in that country that turning decades of established policy on its head could ever become an attractive option. After driving the Taliban from power, we were at a stronger point strategically in the world than we had been at any time since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and arguably the most powerful position since our arrival as a world power with our decisive presence in World War I. We accomplished in weeks what the mighty Red Army could not all throughout the ‘80s and we rebuilt the credibility that had been squandered by Bill Clinton’s cowardice in the ‘90s in the face of terrorist attacks on our interests worldwide. We had the world in the palm of our hands in early 2002, while still maintaining the sympathy of peoples everywhere in the wake of the devastating attack we suffered the previous autumn. Since the security and prosperity of the American people and free peoples everywhere depend on U.S. capacity for deterrence against war and terror, the tragedy of 9/11 had yielded, however briefly, a better world in its horrific aftermath.

Our previous Iraq War FAQ column addressed the crumbling of our military deterrence in the sands of Mesopotamia in the last half-decade. But equally damaging to our deterrence has been the disintegration of our diplomatic capacity. While promoting the “Freedom Agenda” as the cornerstone of our foreign policy efforts worldwide, we have done ourselves terrible damage by blowing our hard-won credibility:

^ While pronouncing democracy as a vital and non-negotiable concept in our dealings with repressive regimes, we never seriously challenged Saudi Arabia and the oil-rich Gulf states we rely on so completely – and the world noticed.

^ We talked tough on North Korea and said that we wouldn’t reward that murderous regime for their behavior – until we did – and the world noticed.

^ Now, we have rewarded Musharraf’s backsliding from democracy not with the calm backroom diplomacy that would have been available to us had we not made such a fetish out of imposing complete democracy anywhere as soon as possible but with the impotent whining of a country whose bluff has just been called – and the world noticed.

In its haste to pronounce George W. Bush as the Ronald Reagan of his time, a designation that could have seemed fair for as long as six months after 9/11 but now seems a grotesque insult to the Great Communicator, the American right has embraced the imperial overreach that has so damaged our national interest these past few years. This is largely because the neoconservative wing of the movement has taken hold almost completely in the 2000s and driven out the traditional adherents of the Old Right, who believed that the only relevant question to ever be asked was “does this serve America’s vital national interest?” Contrary to what today’s “mainstream” conservative followers remember, Reagan’s presidency featured a blend of neoconservative and paleoconservative policies (for example, while Reagan believed largely in free trade, he did not allow Harley-Davidson to be victimized by cutthroat foreign competitors). His United Nations ambassador, Jeane Kirkpatrick, famously distinguished between authoritarian regimes (bad guys aligned with us) and totalitarian regimes (bad guys working against us). Once upon a time in this country, we used to put our own national interest ahead of sweet-sounding ivory tower dreams about filling the world with daisies and democracy. Now, in a world in which we have disavowed working with authoritarians who could be useful to us, we have been exposed as powerless without them. Did that decision make us safer? I think not.

Being there matters most: Jena and Iraq

By Rick Morris

Two seemingly separate stories that materialized this week are bound by one common thread: on-the-ground observance trumping a pre-existing media template.

In Louisiana, the “Jena 6” legal situation has resulted in a pall of racist shame being cast on a rural community. One reporter, who has been on the scene throughout the story, can posit with certainty that many characterizations that have been cast about the community are quite unfair. On a personal note, I should mention that I grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, namely Parma, Ohio, which is widely and unfairly considered racist and I do know firsthand what it is like to have my racial views prejudged based on where I live. While some injustices in this affair may have occurred, we cannot fairly understand what should happen from here until we separate fact from fiction about what has transpired. This account provides a valuable service in helping to sort out the historical record. We tip our hat to Instapundit, where we first saw this story linked.

One example may sound unbelievable at first glance, but makes more sense upon further consideration. The much-vaunted nooses hanging on the tree on school grounds were apparently not racially motivated, but a misguided joke aimed at one group of white students from another. While this might seem to stretch credulity, it really doesn’t. We hear and see all the time about this historical illiteracy of kids these days. The notion that some of them might be too uneducated to know the context of racism and lynching is actually quite possible, regardless of where they live.

The other story we reference is the defining one of this last half-decade: the Iraq war. Over the course of the war, the American public has been told by the mass media about a conflict that degenerated horribly after the initial success of toppling the Saddam Hussein dictatorship. However, the template that fit for three years does not anymore, as the surge of 2007 has reversed the previous horrible bumbling of those in charge of our war effort and helped stabilize very unlikely parts of the country. As has been the case all throughout the war, military bloggers have been way ahead of the curve in the reportage of the story, because they’ve been on the front lines consistently and been able to report on the realities of day-to-day life. Michael Yon’s dispatch illuminates quite clearly the widening gap between the default media coverage of the war and the realities on the ground.

Speaking of milbloggers covering the scene up close, Bill Roggio continues to be near or at the top of this outstanding field. We had him on THE FDH LOUNGE show previously, in what we consider one of our greatest segments ever, and we look forward to doing so again, although we regrettably have not been able to get our booking requests answered (we mention this solely to let those listeners who have requested a repeat appearance know that we want it also and are working towards making it happen). Notwithstanding that, Bill is spending every day making the most difficult-to-understand corners of the world relatable to his readership and his latest writing about the volatile Pakistan nightmare is both enlightening and chilling indeed. If the world finds itself engulfed in a large-scale war with unprecedented use of weapons of mass destruction, elements currently operating in Pakistan could end up more responsible than anyone else.