Robert Farley

Rumours of the DDG-1000’s demise appear not to have been exaggerated; Defense News is now reporting that the Navy will ask that procurement of the remarkably expensive stealth destroyer be limited to two (down from initial plans for 32). Instead, the Navy will pursue the construction of additional DDG-51 (Arleigh Burke) class destroyers. DDG-51s have […]

Jeff Lewis has a good article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists on minimal vs. robust deterrence. The latter, advocated by folks like Albert Wohlstetter, asserts that nuclear deterrence is a delicate flower that will collapse if not nourished properly by thousands of warheads in multiple launch configurations. The former suggests that states that can […]

This has to be a joke: Russian bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons could be deployed to Cuba in response to U.S. plans to install a missile defense system in Eastern Europe, a Russian newspaper reported Monday, citing an unnamed senior Russian air force official. The report in Izvestia, which could not be confirmed, prompted […]

Ezra is right to call out Jason Zengerle on this: There’s no denying that liberals who once derided Maliki as a Bush administration stooge are now touting him as the authentic and sovereign voice of the Iraqi people; but conservatives are doing their own flip-flop as well. To put it as clearly as possible, there […]

Andrew McCarthy answers my question: As I’ve mentioned before, Maliki, of the Shiite Dawa Party which opposed the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq in the first place, has long-standing ties to Iran and Syria — and has expressed support for Hezbollah. The only thing that surprises me about this story is that anyone is surprised. […]

The term “Chair Farce” is typically used in a derogatory way by non-Air Force members of the uniformed military. It appears, however, that Air Force brass is trying to give the term some more substance: The Air Force’s top leadership sought for three years to spend counterterrorism funds on “comfort capsules” to be installed on […]

Hamas derives much of its popularity from it civilian infrastructure: It runs schools, orphanages, and other quasi-governmental services that aren’t supplied by the Palestinian Authority. The IDF has apparently decided that the way to solve the problem of Hamas’ popularity is to destroy those services: “Last week, troops focused their efforts in Nablus, raiding the […]

The recent Taliban assault on a U.S. outpost that killed nine American and four Afghan soldiers also left “scores” of Taliban dead. While this isn’t the first time that Taliban forces have accepted high casualties in an attack on a fixed defensive position, as far as I know it is the closest that they’ve come […]

Elizabeth Bakanic has an article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists about shifting attitudes towards nuclear power in Japan. Bakanic argues that we are witnessing a generational change in the perception of nuclear weapons, such that they are no longer understood to be politically off the table. Long a “third rail” of Japanese politics, […]

Iraq is becoming a drug transit hub: War-torn Iraq is emerging as a key conduit in the global drugs trade as criminal gangs exploit its porous border with Iran to channel their illicit goods to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. The Iraqi authorities say that since the 2003 US-led invasion the trade in illegal […]