Counter View: OROP, Bungled Promises And Warped Goodwill

Lt Gen Prakash Katoch

9 Sep, 2015

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-339092-Rethinking-nuclear-Pakistan

Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (Retd) is a Special Forces veteran of the Indian Army.

The current lopsided OROP announcement has resulted in the BJP losing goodwill amongst military veterans.

Speaking at Faridabad on September 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that those taking voluntary retirement also will be eligible to OROP. One wonders if he realized that after 15-months of inter-ministerial deliberations, insertion of the VRS clause was anything but bureaucratic mischief. Especially, since VRS does not exist in the military. Had VRS existed, perhaps half the military would have gone for it considering the political and bureaucratic apathy that the military has been subjected to over past several decades by all governments. Just the number of personnel from Special Forces who took pre-mature retirement in the last 10-15 years because of such apathy would shock the public. That the number would have been much more but for the cap on how many can leave is a separate issue.

While announcing OROP, the Defence Minister, reading from a prepared script though flanked by the Service Chiefs, apparently had little idea about the implications of announcing that personnel taking voluntary retirement would not be eligible to OROP – indeed a sad state of affairs. His body language anyway indicated he had been stumped by the financial pundits.

A Strategic Dilemma: Fast Depleting Submarine Force Levels

By Rear Adm AP Revi

09 Sep , 2015

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As far as submarine design expertise is concerned – India is at present at the initiation point of the learning curve. The submarine design capability curves of others like USA, Russia, UK and France have more or less peaked to a plateau. After the Cold War ended – the design effort in that direction tapered off and accordingly the availability of skill levels have also deteriorated. A serious debate is raging among the major maritime powers as to how to sustain the submarine design capabilities built up painfully over the years. The USA is re-orienting its build strategy to a process involving a seamless design exercise termed Integrated Product and Process Development (IIPD)

Historical Perspective

The Indian Navy (IN) has had a long standing aspiration for building a credible submarine arm. The government on the other hand, initially opposed the idea on ideological/ethical grounds. It considered the submarine as an offensive weapons platform. The policy went to the extent of blocking the acquisition of submarines even for purposes of preparing the IN for anti-submarine warfare. In the late 1950s and 1960s, the IN had to make do with British Royal Naval (RN) submarines once a year, during the Commonwealth Joint Exercises off Trincomalee (JETEX). The Navy’s weakness in this domain was manifest in the loss of INS Khukri during a submarine active search operation against Pakistan Navy’s Daphne class submarine in 1971.

Afghanistan’s 32-Year Refugee Crisis

By Catherine Putz

September 09, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/afghanistans-32-year-refugee-crisis/

Afghanistan’s refugee crisis is decades old. Afghans began fleeing the country after the Saur Revolution in 1978; more fled in the opening scenes of the Soviet invasion in 1979 and throughout the war. Another wave left during the civil war in the early 1990s, and when the Taliban seized control even more fled. The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan over the last decade has both pushed yet more Afghans to leave the country, while the U.S. and other international donors have invested in assisting returnees. The Costs of War project writes that “before the recent upsurge in violence in Syria and Iraq, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that Afghanistan remained the world’s top producer of refugees for the 32nd year in a row” in 2014, with more than 3.7 million as of July 2014, 700,000-plus of which are internally displaced persons (IDPs).

According to UNCHR, since 2002 more than 5.8 million Afghans have returned from abroad. Still, as of December 2014, nearly 2.5 million Afghan refugees (both registered and undocumented) lived in Pakistan, with nearly a million more in Iran.

See Pakistan’s New Deadly Drones

By QASIM NAUMAN

Sep 8, 2015

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An indigenously-developed drone killed three militants in Pakistan on Monday, marking the first use of the missile-firing aircraft in combat, the military said.

One of Pakistan’s Burraq drones, which carry two laser-guided Barq air-to-ground missiles, hit a suspected militant target, killing three people, in the North Waziristan tribal region near the border with Afghanistan, military officials said.

“1st ever use of Pak made Burraq Drone today. Hit a terrorist compound in Shawal Valley killing 3 high profile terrorists,” Major Gen. Asim Bajwa, the military spokesman, said in a message on his verified Twitter account.

The casualties couldn’t be independently verified as access to the area is restricted.

Before the drone strike on Monday, the U.S. and Israel were among the few countries to have ever used armed drones in combat, according to the New America Foundation, an independent Washington-based think tank.

A Perplexing Signal on Iran’s South Asia Energy Policy

By Micha'el Tanchum

September 09, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/a-perplexing-signal-on-irans-south-asia-energy-policy/

As high-ranking Indian officials continue to beat a path to Tehran to bolster Indo-Iranian energy cooperation and secure Iranian natural gas imports to India, one of Iran’s senior diplomats in South Asia sent a perplexing signal about the future delivery of Iranian gas to the Subcontinent. The curious comments were made by Iran’s ambassador in Dhaka, Abbas Vaezi. If representative of the current thinking of Iran’s policymakers, Vaezi’s comments could indicate a marked shift in Tehran’s plans to transport natural gas to India.

Speaking before the Diplomatic Correspondents’ Association, Bangladesh, on September 1, Vaezi proposedextending the Iran-Pakistan (IP) natural gas pipeline to Bangladesh. The ambassador’s proposal, widely reported in the Iranian press as well as in Bangladesh, is curious on several different accounts. Any extension of the IP pipeline to Bangladesh would have to cross a considerable swath of Indian territory. The air travel distance between Nawabshah, Pakistan, the current proposed endpoint for the IP pipeline, and the Bangladeshi border is more than 1,000 miles (1,609 km), most of which is across India. Such a route would not be feasible without Indian participation and Vaezi hinted that Tehran had already engaged New Delhi on the topic.

Sri Lanka’s ‘Accountability’ Dilemma

By Taylor Dibbert

September 10, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/sri-lankas-accountability-dilemma/

With the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 30th session just days away, many Sri Lanka watchers are waiting to see how Colombo deals with the release of a major U.N. report focused on wartime abuses in Sri Lanka and its plans for handling “accountability” issues domestically. What will Colombo’s accountability mechanism actually look like? And is it actually possible for such a mechanism to work properly? What role, if any, will international actors play in such a process?

Sri Lanka’s new government has said publicly that they will pursue accountability via domestic means, although (broadly speaking) ethnic Tamils simply do not have faith in a domestic accountability process. The thinking being that for decades the Sinhala-dominated state has created commissions of inquiry or domestic accountability mechanisms, yet genuine justice does not follow and impunity remains institutionalized.

US-China: Climate Change Challenge and Opportunity

By Li Shuo

September 09, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/us-china-climate-change-challenge-and-opportunity/

With so many contentious bilateral issues between the U.S. and China – the South China Sea and cyber security to name just two – hopes are building for President Xi Jinping’s first official visit to the U.S. this September. The world’s two biggest CO2 emitters could deliver another environmental high note, one that could have crucial significance for climate talks in Paris in December this year.

China and the U.S. surprised the world with their joint statement on climate change last November and with their environment cooperation plan announced in June’s Strategic & Economic Dialogue. With the all-important Paris Conference just around the corner, now could be the perfect time for the world’s two largest economies to draft a long-term carbon mitigation policy a structured plan to wrestle the world’s temperature rises to below two degrees by the middle of this century.

Genuine mutual interests are driving both Beijing and Washington to act. Bilaterally, the two sides are badly in need of some sunshine in their gloomy relationship. Unilaterally, both leaders are in need of an image boost. Obama, who in Alaska on Monday claimed he is “determined to make sure American leadership continues to drive international action [on climate change],” is looking to secure his climate legacy. Meanwhile Xi is looking to demonstrate China’s position as a responsible global power, and will have the perfect stage to do so at his first appearance before the UN end of September.

Celebrating The Past: China’s Military Parade 2015

By S Rajasimman

10 Sep , 2015

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By order of missing out on the finer details of the military parade held in Beijing to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Chinese military victory over occupying Japanese forces in 1945, an overview of China’s relation with its past and future provide the methodology for the possible use of military hardware displayed during the parade.

China’s display of armed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and air borne early warning systems is in line with the general trend in warfare of the 21st century.

Following an evolving military doctrine which assumes the future warfare scenario to be – LOCAL, HI-TECH and LIMITED, China’s military prepares to fight and win modern warfare with a self-claimed orientation towards “defence” vis-a-vis “offence”. The distinction between the two methods is of course a matter of debate and shares a mutual relation. The first phase of modern combat is likely to start with manned/unmanned aerial bombing or jamming of air-defence forces. This act of initiating of offence is a defensive measure undertaken to secure the air space required to initiate armed combat sorties for further military missions.

Get Ready, China: America Is Upgrading Its Missile Defenses

Harry J. Kazianis

September 8, 2015

Source LInk

While most folks were getting ready to head out for Labor Day barbeques, American defense planners were preparing what could be a big upgrade of U.S. missile-defense platforms on the high seas.

In a press release last Friday by Lockheed Martin, the company detailed a new contract worth as much as $428 million over ten years to modernize the highly respected U.S. Navy Aegis Combat System’s hardware and software. And the timing could not be any better considering the news coming out of Asia these days.

Lockheed explained in its release that the upgrades, or the Ship Integration & Test (SI&T) program, “will will integrate Aegis onboard new Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and modernize destroyers and cruisers to operate the latest iteration of the Aegis configuration, called Baseline 9.”

China's military: How strong is the People's Liberation Army?

By JULIE MAKINEN

http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-china-military-pla-q-and-a-20150902-story.html

Chinese soldiers march past Tiananmen Square before a military parade in Beijing marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. 

China's People's Liberation Army is the world's largest military force, with 2.3 million troops serving on the ground, in the air and in the increasingly robust force China is deploying on the high seas.

With Beijing's increasing military assertiveness, most notably in territorial disputes with other Asian nations in the South China Sea, many are taking a hard look at the PLA and Beijing's ambitions to modernize it.

China has upped its military budgets by more than 10% a year over the last five years -- at least as reported -- but what's been the result?

The emblem of the People's Liberation Army. 

Under Xi, China Prepares for Modern Warfare

by Lauren Dickey

September 3, 2015

http://blogs.cfr.org/davidson/2015/09/03/under-xi-china-prepares-for-modern-warfare/

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves as he reviews the army, at the beginning of the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2015. (Damir Sagolj/Courtesy Reuters) 

Chinese military muscle was on full display in Beijing this week, with hundreds of new weapons platforms, fly-bys, 12,000 troops, and foreign dignitaries all in the global spotlight of Tiananmen Square. Yet, it wasn’t just the land-based anti-ship ballistic missiles and ground assault units that stole the show. Simmering behind the scenes, and underpinning Chinese President Xi Jinping’s evolving political-military agenda, were the renewed discussions of imminent plans for an overhaul to the operating structure of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). 

Beginning with Xi’s announcement of a 300,000 reduction in Chinese troops from the Tiananmen Square rostrum, subsequent plans will include a comprehensive upending to the military’s existing structure, a vision of U.S.-style joint command structure adapted to the Chinese forces. This is no small undertaking for the Chinese, akin to the introduction of theU.S. National Security Act in 1947, with a similarly large scale of ripple effects throughout the political system. 

Unnatural aristocrats

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In China and its role model, Singapore, “meritocratic” leaders are under scrutiny Sep 5th 2015 

CLOSELY tracking the Shanghai Composite Index in its downward slide in August was the reputation of China’s government for consistency, competence and even common sense. Worse, its hapless response to the bursting of a stockmarket bubble, which its own propaganda had helped to inflate, was only one of a number of bungles. It mismanaged a modest devaluation of its currency, the yuan. And a catastrophic explosion in the northern port city of Tianjin revealed appalling lapses in the enforcement of regulations. All governments make mistakes. But China’s bases its legitimacy on its performance rather than a popular mandate. Now foreigners and citizens alike are asking whether the Chinese authorities have lost the plot.

The ISIS Campaign: The War No One in Washington Wants to Talk About

Claude Rakisits

September 9, 2015

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As Australia prepares to expand its air war against the Islamic State (ISIS) to Syria, it’s interesting to note that the first anniversary of the beginning of the bombing campaign against ISIS has passed virtually unnoticed in Washington.

This is quite incredible given that by August 31, 2015 the air war alone had cost the U.S. treasury well over U.S.$3 billion, or about US$9.4 million per day. Since the beginning of the bombing, there have been almost 20,000 bombs and missiles dropped by American and coalition aircraft for an estimated 15,000 ISIS fighters killed. That success rate is poor and has come at great expense. And it would appear that ISIS is able to replace its losses with new foreign recruits quite easily.

The lack of public interest in this war is even more extraordinary given that all the top military leaders have admitted that this will be a very long fight indeed. This is a war that the next two administrations will likely have to deal with. For example, General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has stated that the war against ISIS is a “generational conflict.” And General Ray Odierno, the Army’s out-going Chief of Staff, has echoed these sentiments by stating that “ISIS is a 10 to 20 year problem; it’s not a two year problem.”

Wake Up, World: Time to Step Up Support for Syria's Refugees

Rajan Menon

September 9, 2015

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The heart-wrenching stories and pictures of people fleeing Syria’s bloodletting have stirred debate, anguish and abundant finger pointing. The latest catalyst was the photograph of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed up on Turkey’s coast after the jam-packed boat he and his family boarded to escape Syria capsized. (His mother and brother, aged five, also drowned; their grief-consumed father survived.)

The EU is now bickering over which member state should take how many refugees. European governments’ responses to the soaring inflow, from Syria and elsewhere, have varied. Germany has admitted some 100,000 asylum seekers since 2011. Sweden has received 14,000 from Syria alone since the civil war began there that year. Chancellor Angela Merkel recently allowed several thousand Syrians stranded in (an inhospitable) Hungary to enter Germany via Austria.

This Is What ISIS' Rise Means for the “Kurdish Question”

Burak Kadercan

September 9, 2015

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The rise of the group that calls itself the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) is changing the political landscape of the entire Middle East, fueling old tensions while also creating new ones. More recently, much ink has been spilled on the sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites. However, while many analysts debated the actual or potential military effectiveness of the Kurdish paramilitary groups against ISIS, the implications of the organization’s rise to prominence for the fate of the Kurdish populations in the Middle East remains a relatively underexplored area.

The so-called “Kurdish question”—the fact that while they can easily fulfill the criteria for nationhood, Kurds have long been denied self-determination, “trapped” and divided inside the borders of four sovereign states—has been one of the most persistent yet relatively ignored puzzles of the Middle East during the century that followed the demise of the Ottoman Empire in 1923. It has been persistent, in the sense that the Kurdish populations spread out in modern Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran have resisted assimilation to the broader putative “nations” that controlled the central governments in their respective territories.

Why Some Arabs States Refuse to Accept Syrian Refugees

Jared Malsin / Cairo 
Sept. 8, 2015

http://time.com/4025187/arab-states-syrian-refugees/

Lebanon and Jordan host almost 2 million refugees while the rich Gulf states host none

Syrians fleeing war are driven to board precarious boats to cross the Mediterranean. They crowd onto trains and climb mountains. They risk detention, deportation, and drowning.

There is growing evidence that the people dying to reach the shores of Europe are fleeing not only war in Syria, but oppression in other Middle Eastern states.

As pressure rises for European leaders to resolve the refugee crisis, critics are also asking why Middle Eastern governments have not done more to help the four million Syrians who represent one of the largest mass movement of refugees since World War Two. Much ire has focused on the relatively wealthy states along the Persian Gulf. According to a report by Amnesty International, the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council offered zero formal resettlement slots to Syrians by the end of 2014.

How to Fight the Islamic State

Joseph S. Nye

SEP 8, 2015 10

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Joseph S. Nye, Jr., a former US assistant secretary of defense and chairman of the US National Intelligence Council, is University Professor at Harvard University and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on the Future of Government. He is the author, most recently, of Is the Am… read more

CAMBRIDGE – The Islamic State has captured the world’s attention with gruesome videos of beheadings, wanton destruction of antiquities, and skilled use of social media. It has also captured a large part of eastern Syria and western Iraq, proclaimed a caliphate based in Raqqa, Syria, and attracted foreign jihadists from around the world.

US President Barack Obama says that the Islamic State must be degraded and ultimately defeated. He has appointed General John Allen to lead a coalition of some 60 countries in the task, relying on air strikes, special forces, and training missions. Some critics want him to send more American troops; others say that the United States should settle for a doctrine of containment.

Iraq and Syria opinion poll - the world's most dangerous survey?

By Jonathan MarcusDiplomatic correspondent

9 September 2015 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34173549

As a wave of refugees heads north-westwards into Europe from the Middle East it may not be surprising to hear that a majority of Iraqis and Syrians appear to believe their countries are heading in the wrong direction.

That is one of the findings from an opinion poll commissioned by the BBC from ORB International that examines public opinion in both Iraq and Syria.

Some 66% of those questioned in Iraq and 57% in Syria think their country is heading in the wrong direction. Perhaps more shocking is that one quarter of those questioned in Iraq and more than one third in Syria think their country is actually on the right track.

Iraq poll

Of 1,234 Iraqis surveyed

66%

think the country is going in the wrong direction

Counter-Terrorism: Shoot First, Shoot To Kill And Aim For The Leaders

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20150909.aspx

September 9, 2015: In early September 2015 the U.S. revealed that an August 25th UAV missile attack in eastern Syria (near the city of Raqqa) did, as suspected, kill Juanaid Hussain, a British citizen believed to be the most skilled computer hacker working for ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). Hussain was one of the key people in ISIL’s twitter based recruiting and publicity operation. Hussain did not have world class hacking skills but he came to Syria in 2013 as a bright British teenager who had a talent for hacking, good knowledge of Internet culture and eager to “defend Islam” any way he could.

Hussian was yet another victim of the “decapitation” tactics that proved successful in Iraq before U.S. troops left in 2011 and earlier in Israel where it was developed to deal with the Palestinian terror campaign that began in 2000. The Israelis were very successful with their decapitation program, which reduced Israeli civilian terrorist deaths within five years from over 400 a year to less than ten. Actually decapitation tactics are an ancient practice. American troops have used similar tactics many times in the past (in World War II, 1960s Vietnam, the Philippines over a century ago, and in 18th century colonial America) but tend to forget after a generation or so. Some things have to be relearned.

America's F-22 Stealth Fighter vs. Russia's PAK-FA: Who Wins?

Dave Majumdar

September 10, 2015

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This year marks a decade since the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor was declared operational with the U.S. Air Force.

Billed by many as the most capable air superiority fighter ever built, the Raptor only recently proved its mettle in combat over Syria and Iraq about a year ago. But the jet wasn’t used to annihilate a Soviet air armada over the Fulda Gap or rip apart an advanced enemy integrated air defense system as its designers had envisioned. Instead, the Raptor has most been relegated to the role of a flying sensor platform.

Nonetheless, the day is coming when the F-22 could face a foe that might have a chance of going toe-to-toe with it and winning—albeit a small one. Russia and China are hard at work developing the Chengdu J-20 and the Sukhoi T-50 PAK-FA. Of these two machines, the PAK-FA is probably the more serious challenger. Despite the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has somehow managed to retain a more or less credible defense industrial base—even if it’s just a shadow of its former self.

Japan Wary of Rising Russia Threat: Ex-Defense Minister

By Prashanth Parameswaran

September 10, 2015

http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/japan-wary-of-rising-russia-threat-ex-defense-minister/

Japan has grown increasingly wary of Russian provocations directed against it, Japan’s ex-defense minister told an audience at a Washington, D.C.-based think tank Wednesday.

Since Japan’s support of sanctions against Russia last year following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, Itsunori Onodera, who served as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s defense minister until late last year, said Tokyo had noted what he termed a dramatic change in Russian behavior. Russian ships were detected close to Japanese waters with increasing frequency, while Japanese jets had scrambled against Russian aircraft amid a notable rise in flights, exercises, and training near Japan.

“We are doing it against Russia more than any other country,” Onodera said following an address at the Henry L. Stimson Center.

According to Japan’s defense ministry, during the last fiscal year which ended in March, Japan’s fighter jet scrambles had reached Cold War-levels partly due to the surge in numbers against Russian aircraft. Though recent quarterly figures showed a sharp slide in the number of air maneuvers directed against Russian planes, officials have said that it ought not to be equated with a slowdown in Russian military activities in the region more generally.

Revealed: The Great Chinese Economic Transition Is Here

J. Edwards

September 9, 2015

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Growth is certainly slower and its structure is changing, but is the outlook for China's economy quite as awful as global share markets seem to think?

Now the world's biggest economy (using the IMF's purchasing power parity measure), China matters vastly more for world markets than it did a decade ago, when it was less than half the size. It matters particularly to Australia, which in a decade has seen exports to China increase from one tenth of Australian goods exports to nearly one third. 

The most dramatic recent slowdown sign was two weeks ago in China's manufacturing purchasing index. It was a little weaker than the market expected, sparking a global share sell off. But here's the problem: weakness in manufacturing output is exactly where we should expect to see weakness, if China is indeed making its long announced transition from exports, investment and heavy industry to consumption and services.

America's F-35 vs. Russia or China's Best Fighters: Who Wins?

Dave Majumdar

September 9, 2015

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Recently, there has been much debate about how well or how poorly Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) would fair against other fighters—particularly against high-end Russian and Chinese aircraft.

It’s a debate that won’t be settled until the F-35 and J-20, J-31, PAK-FA or Su-35 meet in combat for the first time—and there are numerous other factors involved besides the aircraft themselves. It’s also largely a moot point. The Pentagon will likely end up buying thousands of F-35s, so like it or not, we are stuck with the “Lightning II” for good or ill.

The F-35’s detractors point to the fact that the stealthy single-engine jet didn’t fair very well against a relatively elderly two-seat Block 40 F-16D that was carrying two external fuel 370-gallon fuel tanks. The F-35A, which is the most agile of the three versions of the jet, was decisively shown to be less nimble than the older aircraft. But for most people who have been tracking this program, that’s not particularly unexpected.

What Iranians Think about the Nuclear Deal

Hooshang Amirahmadi

September 10, 2015

Souce Link

During my recent two-weeks in Iran, I spoke about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with many Iranians including working people, students, professors, business owners, professionals, public employees and community leaders in cities, small towns and villages. As expected, I heard diverse opinions and was asked questions reflecting a multiplicity of concerns that are not often raised in the public domain given the official ban. At the risk of simplifying the rich and complex observations, here is my bottom-line take on what Iranians think about the nuclear deal, its implementation and its impact.

First, most Iranians seem to believe that the deal will be approved by the U.S. Congress and that the hype over the Congressional vote reflects both a good cop/bad cop game and a political struggle between Republicans and Democrats in an election year. Indeed, a majority expressed the opinion that the deal hurts Iran’s national interest because its strategic position will be weakened and its investment of billions of dollars in nuclear facilities will be largely wasted. Except for those few dedicated to factional politics, taking contrasting avid positions, most Iranians seem dispassionate about the JCPOA.

America's New Super Secret Stealth Bomber: What You Need to Know

Dave Majumdar

September 8, 2015

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While not much has been revealed about the U.S. Air Force’s shadowy Long Range Strike-Bomber (LRS-B) program, there are many details we can ascertain about the new warplane from available information. 

First and foremost, its size and payload will largely be determined by whatever propulsion system is readily available to power it. Given that the LRS-B is slated to enter into service in the mid-2020s, the aircraft will necessarily have to use an existing engine design. Moreover, that engine must have a profile conducive to a stealth aircraft.

That would almost certainly rule out a commercial airliner engine derivative with a large bypass—such an engine would have an extremely large diameter even if it is highly efficient. A more likely choice is a derivative of an existing military engine that is already in production. Possible choices could include unaugmented derivatives of the F-15 and F-16’s Pratt & Whitney F100 or General Electric F110. The F110, though an aged design, would give the LRS-B commonality with the Rockwell International B-1 Lancer and Northrop B-2 Spirit, both of which use engines from the same lineage. The B-1’s F101 was derived into the F110, which in turn was derived into the B-2’s F118 motors.

Arctic Oil’s Place at the Climate-Change Table

Deborah GordonVictoria Herrmann

September 9, 2015

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As U.S. president Barack Obama toured Alaska on a campaign to promote aggressive climate action, the White House has sought to raise awareness of the devastating effects environmental shifts have had in the Arctic. Between visiting with tribal leaders, hiking to the receding Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park and viewing the overwhelming impacts of coastal erosion in two rural Alaskan communities, there has been a lot of unsettling ground to cover.

President Obama’s sojourn north is a strong message on the importance of inclusivity in the climate-change conversation. And yet, despite his efforts to engage a wide variety of local representatives, one key stakeholder remains absent in the official agenda: the oil industry.

Shouldering Climate Burdens

Russian Thugs vs. The Avant-Garde

By MICHAEL KHODARKOVSKY

SEPT. 7, 2015

  

On Aug. 14, members of the ultraconservative Orthodox Christian organization, God’s Will, stormed into an exhibition that had just opened at Moscow’s storied exhibition hall, the Manezh. The exhibition, “Sculptures We Do Not See,” was a retrospective of Russian avant-garde art from the 1950-60s. The intruders smashed several pieces, shouting that the exhibits were offensive to Christians and that mocking religion was punishable under a criminal code. Four linocuts and a part of the sculpture installation titled “Beheading of St. John the Baptist” were damaged.

This is not the first time that members of God’s Will have used physical force against people or events they consider anti-Christian and anti-Russian. But violence against avant-garde art has a special resonance in Soviet history. The Stalinist Soviet Union had no tolerance for any form of art that deviated from officially approved socialist realism.

Russian Troops Are in Syria, and We Have the Selfies to Prove It

BY REID STANDISH

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

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Standing against the backdrop of Istanbul’s iconic Bosphorus bridge, a young man in combat fatigues poses for a photo holding up a colorful sign that says “I love you” in Russian. He’s not a tourist, though. The man’s name is Maxim Mazhnikov; he’s a member of Russia’s 810th marine brigade; and he posted the photo to social media to document his journey to war-torn Syria.

What Mazhnikov will do when gets there remains a bit of a mystery, but he is one of many Russian troops from the same unit that have been tracked via social media as they make their way towards Syria. According to a report by Russian investigative journalist Ruslan Leviev, growing numbers of Russian troops over the last two months have been sent to a Russian naval maintenance facility in Tartus, in western Syria. The apparent Russian military build-up there is sending alarm bells ringing in Washington, where the Obama administration worries that Moscow may be stepping up its efforts to help Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad hold on to power.

White House Delays Plan to Close Guantanamo Amid Search for US Alternative

BY MOLLY O'TOOLE

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

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The White House plan to close the military prison in Guantanamo Bay — once described by the administration as imminent — now looks like it’s not coming anytime soon.

Molly O'Toole is the politics reporter for Defense One. O'Toole previously worked as a news editor at The Huffington Post. She has covered national and international politics for Reuters, The Nation, the Associated Press and Newsweek International, among others, from Washington, New York, Mexico ...Full Bio

A survey meant to determine which U.S.military or civilian prisons might receive the war-on-terror detainees is only at “step one,” according to a senior Pentagon official, who offered fresh details about the weeks-old assessment effort.

Can a New Stealth Bomber Make Up for America’s Crappiest Warplane?

David Axe

09.08.15

The Pentagon sank $400 billion into the F-35 stealth jet—only to have it come up way short. So they’re working on a secret new bomber to handle the job instead.

Government officials and aerospace executives have met in secret. Engineers have drawn up blueprints, crafted components, and assembled prototypes, all under strict confidentiality agreements. Lobbyists are prowling the halls of Congress and the Pentagon, smiling, shaking hands, exerting influence.

For the first time in more than three decades, the Pentagon and America’s aerospace industry are uniting to build a big, expensive, high-tech stealth bomber. And that’s a huge deal for the U.S. military as it tries to compensate for another warplane program that has gone outrageously off the rails.

Thirty-four years after aerospace giant Northrop Grumman snagged a lucrative contract to build B-2 stealth bombers for the Air Force, the Pentagon is getting ready to pick a new bomber. The contest, which senior military officials will decide mere months or even weeks from now, pits two teams representing every remaining major warplane-maker in America.

Why Do Vladimir Putin and His Kremlin Cronies Look So Nervous?

Andrei Kolesnikov

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Russia’s three-year electoral cycle has gotten started with a bang.

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest KGB cronies from his St. Petersburg days and a co-founder of the exclusive Ozero dacha housing cooperative was recently dumped from his cushy post as head of the state railway monopoly. This raised yet more speculation that Putin feels he needs to reshuffle his inner circle. The next day, Putin staged another of his trademark photo ops — piloting a mini-sub off the coast of Crimea. The Kremlin propaganda machine continues in overdrive, celebrating the destruction of banned (and allegedly toxic) foodstuffs smuggled in from the West.

Putin’s resort to theatrics clearly indicates he is gearing up to run for re-election in 2018. The annexation of Crimea and surge in Russian patriotism have pushed his approval rating to levels no Western leader can hope to replicate. The only place they can really go is down. Yet despite having no serious domestic political opponents, Putin’s path to re-election may prove complicated.

At the top of his agenda is how to manage Russia’s elites. The Kremlin has sent a clear message that it needs the elites to help manage the fallout from the current economic crisis — though the threat of public discontent with the regime or significant street protests looks manageable. That helps explain, however, the endless barrage of aggressive anti-Western rhetoric and initiatives, which resonates with a patriotically inclined electorate.

Can you be allergic to your Wi-Fi?

Sarah Loughran

Wi-Fi network are everywhere, from cafes and libraries to shopping centres. So should we be worried now a French woman has won compensation after she complained of an allergy to Wi-Fi?

Electromagnetic fields are all around us. They are a part of our natural environment, produced by the Earth and the sun. But they are also becoming increasingly prominent with advancements in technology, such that we are surrounded daily by many different sources of electromagnetic energy.

Mobile phones, Wi-Fi, personal computers, smart meters, radio, television and even the TV remote control – they all emit this kind of energy. Mobile phone base stations are continually being installed, and Wi-Fi hotspots are increasing all of the time.

Cafés and restaurants, libraries, hotels and even some city centres and parks now offer free Wi-Fi. But with all of this new infrastructure it is also getting harder to avoid exposure to the electromagnetic fields that these technologies emit.

And the question often asked is what does all of this exposure mean for our health?

NSA STEPPED IN TO THWART OPM HACKERS -- EVENTUALLY

By Aliya Sternstein

September 8, 2015

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FILE In this June 6, 2013 file photo, a sign stands outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md. // AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File

Computer whizzes at the National Security Agency were called in only after the Office of Personnel Management detected its network had been penetrated, NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers said Tuesday night. Ultimately, hackers made off with personal information on millions of national security personnel. 

The NSA director doubles as the head of the Defense Department's CYBERCOM. 

After the intrusion, "as we started more broadly to realize the implications of OPM, to be quite honest, we were starting to work with OPM about how could we apply DOD capability, if that is what you require," Rogers said at an invitation-only Wilson Center event, referring to his role leading CYBERCOM.

NSA, meanwhile, provided “a significant amount of people and expertise to OPM to try to help them identify what had happened, how it happened and how we should structure the network for the future," Rogers added.

Cyberspace in the Service of ISIS

Tal Koren, Gabi Siboni

September 4, 2014

http://www.inss.org.il/index.aspx?id=4538&articleid=7618

While not much is known about the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, otherwise known as the Islamic State), because it has no centralized control, and its size and command structure, along with the identity of its leaders, are unclear, it is already obvious we are only at the beginning of a new fierce war in cyberspace. Indeed, while embodying the evil spirit of fanaticism, the organization’s activity demonstrates the duality between what appears to be primitivism and 21st century cyber warfare. In turn, in a step that aroused much criticism, organizations affiliated with Anonymous announced late last week a full scale cyber war against the Islamic State (Operation Ice ISIS), intended to attack ISIS supporters using social media for propaganda purposes.

It is quite ironic that Hizbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, in an interview with Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar, said that except for Israel, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS, otherwise known as the Islamic State) currently constitutes the most significant threat to stability in the region. Recent achievements by ISIS and the concern it arouses are highly evident in statements by various world leaders, including President Barack Obama, who said last week that the United States did not yet have a strategy for dealing with the organization, and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah, who warned that ISIS would turn its attention first to Europe, and a month later to the US. In truth, however, not much is known about the organization, because it has no centralized control, and its size and command structure, along with the identity of its leaders, are unclear. 

Budget Insanity: America's Self-Inflicted Defense Drama

Robert HaleMichael O'Hanlon

September 9, 2015

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As Congress and the President return to town, Washington is sleepwalking towards another budgetary showdown that could result in sharp cuts in defense and other government spending or even another government shutdown. At a time when the nation has real crises and other urgent, weighty matters to consider—from the Iran nuclear deal to the fraying ceasefire in Ukraine to the upcoming visit of President Xi of China and climate change—we do not need a self-inflicted wound.

To be sure, everyone is aware that the federal government may be headed for the brink. But few seem to think it within their power to step back. As things stand, the Budget Control Act of 2011 will sharply limit defense funding—reducing FY 2016 funding by about $34 billion compared to the President’s request, coming on top of a several years of decline in defense accounts—unless a new law is passed to soften the constraints. The law also limits non-defense spending. The Murray-Ryan compromise of 2013 has now run its course and no longer will apply to the 2016 budget year, which begins October 1. Without the added $34 billion, the Department of Defense will not be able to improve military readiness and modernize adequately to produce the force it needs in a world populated by ISIL, a mercurial North Korea armed with nuclear weapons, a Russia enamored of adventurism, an assertive Iran, a rising China, and more.