On the Horizon

The Topics here have been suggested for future StratDem studies, articles, reviews and/or commentary. Let us know your thoughts, which of the following ring a bell, which of these hit your s/plexus, which would you suggest we pursue.

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Costs of War (US) since 2001 — war costs added as % of National Debt ($17T as of 2014)

Suggestion for correlation study between war spending/borrowing w/ special appropriations for Iraq/Afghanistan ($4-6T) ; off-budget appropriations to assess war costs fully; impact of war spending on economy/economic crisis of 2007-2010 ongoing; opportunity costs (list of all reasonably proximate); impact on civil liberties; impact of national security state (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/top-secret-america-the-rise-of-the-new-american-security-state-by-dana-priest-and-william-m-arkin/2011/09/30/gIQAvkkUkL_story.html); related costs (e.g., 700K PTSD US), militarization of law enforcement w/ surplus military weapons; historical/risk analysis of impact of continuing war spending; politics of appropriations/procurement (sourcing in all districts); case studies

Definitions of “Blowback”

Updates; extensions of; reviews of Chalmers Johnson book and the dynamics of the term

New definitions of ‘national security’

Redefine traditional definitions to take into account shifting landscape/threatscape. Look at Pentagon’s latest studies of threat horizon. Look at international definitions of ‘national security’. Discuss your tagline “Security is Indivisible”, what is StratDem’s meaning?

Tags/topics:

China (and US “China Pivot”)
Russia (and Putin’s geo-political strategy)
China-Russia (commentary on recent ‘grand bargains’, long-term energy deals)
China-Iran (“Energy deal of the century” bkgrd), relation going forward
Brazil and ‘non-aligned’ nations (possible Marina Silva story)
Africa (overview of hot spots, mineral exploitation, China involvement, disease vectors – Ebola threat heating up (projections including combination spread of contagion/re-infections and economic shocks, eg http://urbansurvival.com/ebola-economic-context-and-horrific-projects/)
Mideast peace (scenarios for peace/good luck)
House of Saud; Wahabism, connections (see New Yorker piece) — Follow the money, funding of conflict in Mideast; the major players

Role of religion in war and peace

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Review of DC think tanks in national security, incl funding by int’l players (eg Think Tanks and Foreign Money, Sept 2014)

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Definitions of “Long War” as used in current national security discourse

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‘Existential’ threats – a look at global/worldwide threats, environmental issues; drill down to look at national threats (eg Israel looks at Iran, Iran looks at Israel); the UN and genocide; human rights; civil rights; environmental rights; threat assessment and mitigation

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