Foreign Affairs, published by the Council on Foreign Relations, asks the question. Do nuclear weapons matter? Strategic Demands replies: Does oblivion matter? Foreign Affairs speaks of nuclear weapons as if they can be rationally used. They are purchased, deployed, and discussed on separate tracks from the rest of the foreign policy agenda, and they are […]
In Memoriam: Jamal Khashoggi What the Arab world needs most is free expression October 17 at 7:52 PM A note from Karen Attiah, Washington Post Global Opinions editor I received this column from Jamal Khashoggi’s translator and assistant the day after Jamal was reported missing in Istanbul.
The fantastical in Hollywood movies is a given as Marvel, DC Comics, Disney, MGM, Universal, Sony fight it out on the sci-fi battlefronts. The Terminator franchise with its Skynet neural-net future ushered in a dystopian future not far from today’s realities… full-spectrum dominance, right?
CyberBattlegrounds Destabilization & Disruption, Implants & Subterfuge … Global connectivity and a worldwide open & dark Internet have activated a new operational field of battle, intrusion and influence. The security horizon is one of CyberProliferation. CyberAttacks must be acknowledged and confronted as security risks — and restricted. “Let’s negotiate this internationally.”
Strategic policy and strategic ramifications, short-, mid-, and long-term. China warns U.S. to withdraw sanctions or ‘bear the consequences’
“We will not cooperate” … “The ICC is dead to us” John Bolton threatens the International Criminal Court. In a tirade against the court, Mr. Bolton says: The ICC is a threat to “American sovereignty and US national security.” “If the court comes after us, Israel or other US allies, we will not sit quietly.” […]
John McCain was a warrior and a patriot. To his last days he supported policies of extended war and a belief in American military strength. The questions he leaves behind, as the nation hears of his funeral and politics, are questions of victory — and of costs. Strategic Demands writes of this as “surviving victory”
President Donald Trump announces via Twitter that he has ordered Mike Pompeo to cancel a planned trip to North Korea because there has not been “sufficient progress” in denuclearization talks so far. The president singles out China for not “helping the process”…
Space Force is in the market for a logo and President Trump is asking Americans to vote Pence announces details for a new Space Force Creation of Space Force would be the sixth branch of the military @WeAreSpaceForce
What is most striking to Strategic Demands three days after the Putin-Trump meeting is how little is being reported on *substance* of the talks and/or agreements. Of the few news/commentary/analysis articles that attempt to look at substance, among thousands published, the reported story is contradictory — secret deals, nuclear deals, what deals?
Press reports of the Putin-Trump meeting in Helsinki converged quickly on a dominant narrative — Putin advanced Russian interests and the US president inexplicably supports (or doesn’t support) Putin’s interests. At Strategic Demands, as an independent voice distinct from news cycle narratives, we focus here on our interests, the ‘issue of issues’, nuclear weapons
July 16, 2018 | Jeff Mason, a reporter for Reuters, asked about Trump’s tweet this morning that US “foolishness and stupidity” damaged the relationship between the US and Russia. “I hold both countries responsible… I think the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish… I think we’re all to blame.” […]
Visit Strategic Demands’ Associate, GreenPolicy360.com Daily perspective … New Definitions of National Security; Environmental Security; Global Security; Climate Change & Climate Policy; Nuclear Issues; Atmospheric Science; Earth’s “Thin Blue” Layer; “Eco-nomics”; Geopolitics of Oil & Gas; Natural Resources; The Strategic Challenge of Acting to Secure “The Commons”
It’s on. After back and forth negotiations, a deadline passes and what is being described as a “trade war” commences. What sort of trade war? The market’s collective judgment so far? Day one, the global markets shrug. We consider the negotiating strategies, risks, costs, and ripple effects. Go…
Energy Priorities, Geo-politics & Fracking in the US. As OPEC’s latest meeting concludes, let’s take a snapshot of worldwide oil/gas. The US has gone to the top of the heap and is exerting its muscle as the US president pleads for lower energy prices. Next chess move is from China-Russia with their Eurasia strategy
