Robert Farley

Earlier this month, Blackwater changed its name to “Xe” in an apparent effort to escape the bad publicity associated with the Blackwater brand. Now, whatever the merits or problems of the company, I’ve always thought that Blackwater was kind of a cool name. It combines a Doobie Brothers sensibility with a vague aura of menace, […]

For some reason, the Atlantic continues to compose love letters to aircraft. I had hoped that Robert Kaplan’s ode to the B-2 Spirit would be sufficient embarrassment to the magazine to make the editors think twice about a second paean to an airborne weapons system. Unfortunately, the generally more-reliable Mark Bowden manages very nearly the […]

This is crazy unlilkely: A Royal Navy nuclear submarine was involved in a collision with a French nuclear sub in the middle of the Atlantic, the MoD has confirmed. HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant were badly damaged in the crash in heavy seas earlier this month. First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band said the […]

Patrick Doherty points to signs that the Obama administration will follow through on its campaign promise to engage more productively with Cuba: Under President Bush, the analysis of the economic reforms would have been to trivialize them and then change the subject to human rights. This speaker [a State Department official] did not. Instead, the […]

The MV Faina, a Ukrainian arms freighter in pirate custody for over four months, was finally freed after the paying of a ransom. It’s captain, unfortunately, died of an undisclosed illness during the captivity. The crew of MV Faina does not appear to have been particular well treated by its pirate captors. However, the cargo […]

I sat down with Raymond Pritchett of Information Dissemination and the United States Naval Institute blog for a Bloggingheads session last week. Here’s our discussion of the choice to retain Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense, and also of the Navy under Obama: We also talk about piracy, and the rise of Chinese seapower. Check […]

The Kyrghz parliament has delayed a formal decision on closing Manas airbase, which may indicate that the potential for negotiation remains open. Vice President Joe Biden’s hard line on Russia on Saturday may have played a role in this, although domestic issues may also be playing a role. As noted last week, a decision to […]

This… Suspected militants blew up a bridge in northwestern Pakistan’s Khyber Pass on Tuesday, cutting the main route for supplies bound for Western forces in Afghanistan, a government official said. …is severely complicated by this… Stunning news from Moscow: Russian news agencies are reporting that the government of Kyrgyzstan will close Manas Air Base, a […]

Tensions continue to run high along the border between North and South Korea, with North Korea “tearing up” a series of cooperation agreements with South Korea. South Korea has placed its Navy on high alert in anticipation of potential North Korean moves on some disputed islands. It’s worth noting that the Republic of Korea Navy […]

It appears that the Bush administration’s effort to diplomatically “lock in” a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic has failed: Russia has dropped plans to install missiles near Poland after the Obama administration signalled a change in US attitude to the region, a Moscow military official has reportedly said. The official suggested […]