Not a walk in the park. Defense One; Foreign Affairs; TomDispatch. A taste of things to come as war plans shift to visions of full-spectrum conflict, strategic and tactical, cyber war, space war, AI war… China, Russia, the U.S. in a 21st century geo-political Great Game, all-too-real moves with new war systems, new nukes…
As nuclear treaty after nuclear treaty bites the dust, today, February 1st, 2019, the U.S. announces its intent to withdraw from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. Nuclear arms control is immeasurably damaged. A new nuclear arms race is heralded, a global breakout characterized by many as “insanity”.
December 7, 2018 3:50 EST … Donald Trump, Rex Tillerson — Consider U.S. denial of climate change, oil / gas exploration, risks and reality. Recall that in 2011, Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon Mobil, completed an unprecedented oil / gas Arctic development deal with Russia’s Rosneft (see GreenPolicy360 / Arctic for details).
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
The lies of the Iraq war and subsequent disaster now shift toward an Iran disaster. After listening this past week to Israel’s PM present his country’s official POV regarding Iran, although it veered widely from top U.S. security officials public statements and testimony before Congress, the U.S. president has decided
In April 2017, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, the U.S. President and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down to an exquisite dinner in a regal, golden decor setting. As the two heads of state are eating dessert, the U.S. President suddenly announces to China’s president – “We’ve just launched 59 missiles…”
“Sleepwalking Into a Nuclear Arms Race with Russia” Chuck Spinney and Pierre Sprey write for Moyers’ online (and Spinney’s Blaster blog) with a warning about a new nuclear arms race, one where ‘the nuclear issue boils down to a question of understanding how America’s spending decisions and actions impact patriotic Russians’
A Kennedy perspective — Syria: Another Pipeline War by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — and now a flashpoint in the making. S-300s roll in, the most advanced Russian missile defense system. Ask what could and most likely would happen if a no-fly zone proposal collapses and a US fighter is shot down
At the Brink … US – Russian cooperation breaks down as Russia again charges the US and US allies with supporting Islamic Salafi-Jihadi forces — and ups the ante after the US September 17th Deir Ezzor “accidental air attack” that killed and wounded 200 Syrian government troops
China ‘to provide aid, enhance military training’ in Syria …. China, Iran and Russia make significant new steps in alliance … Entangling Alliances Move to the Next Level … Turkish Tanks Cross Border in US Supported Offensive …
Since Strategic Demands inception, we have been focusing on national and global environmental security issues. Nuclear proliferation is among our first-tier concerns and a next generation of nukes will soon make their in-theater presence known with ‘smart’, deployed B61-12 weapons and newly configured F-35 platforms. Ready, set, go
As Presidents Obama and Putin meet in New York … the UN meets this week under a supermoon to talk of the state of the world. In DC and NYC the signs are ominous as the Pope returns from the U.S. to the Vatican and throughout the Mid East, catastrophe escalates as millions of refugees […]
The debate over the #IranDeal swirls abetted by multi-million dollar donations and unprecedented lobbying. One issue is rarely mentioned even though the commencement of another war — an extended Middle East/Near East war — involves entangling alliances, economic/domestic consequences, and multi-dimension, multi-year costs
Rising tensions between the US and Russia, and the US and China, are producing a gauntlet of consequences. New nuclear arms escalation, oil/gas and energy agreements, new alliances and old rivalries take on added dimension as a “Grand Strategy” in Eurasia gathers force
What is the president of the Brookings Institute’s thinking for an “endgame”? The recent escalation of the Ukrainian conflict has been accompanied by an escalation at Brookings with its positions urging greater US military involvement. In a series of strongly worded statements directed toward Vladimir Putin, Strobe Talbott takes hard lines and pushes for “lethal […]
How does one assess the risks and costs of escalating conflict moving toward events spiraling out of control? A civil war moving toward regional war and, as a result of weapon systems that have remained on “instant alert” as a carryover from the Cold War, a more than lethal “flashpoint”…
As we review recent events — and decisions — of Vladimir Putin, we must remind ourselves that Russia, for the Russians, is the Russian Federation, not the singular term Russia… the Russian Federation looms as we endeavor to grasp the motivation of the President in his third Presidential term