When WikiLeaks released U.S. diplomatic cables last fall expressing fears and criticism about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, the Pakistani government largely shrugged. That’s because its leaders understood that frank private discussion is what any country’s taxpayers expect of their diplomats. They knew that …
Military
The Libya Dilemma: Should the Coalition Provide Air Support for a Rebel Offensive?
President Barack Obama seems determined to relinquish the hot potato of U.S. leadership over the Libya air war as quickly as possible, although disputes within NATO have prevented the Alliance stepping up to take charge of a mission whose strategic objectives remain unclear. Having effectively prevented Colonel Gaddafi from sending …
Aboard the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan: The Navy Grapples with Japan’s Disaster
Lieutenant Junior Grade James Powell tells me to hold my hands out in front of my waist and waves a detector a few inches above them. “So where are you from?” he asks casually. Eyeing the digital numbers flickering on the counter, I answer. He tells me to turn around and lift my left foot so he can scan the sole of my sneaker for …
Rattled, U.S. Military Families Get Ready to Leave Japan
It was an offer Chiharu Marsh couldn’t refuse. Just eight weeks pregnant, the 28-year-old from Yokosuka had two days to decide whether to take the U.S. military up on its offer to fly her to America for a month, or to stay in Japan with her family and friends. As the wife of a U.S. service member at the Misawa Air Base, Marsh is one of …
Not Coming to Theaters Near You: The China Menace
To be clear, I’d be the last person to endorse anything that whips up fear of the proverbial “Other.” But MGM’s recent about-face on a remake of Red Dawn, a 1984 film pitting the agents of a Soviet takeover against a gang of plucky American teens (led by Patrick Swayze and a 19-year-old Charlie Sheen), smacks of cowardice. As my …
Stability at What Price? Why Bahrain Needs Reforms Too
It’s the question that always makes me cringe. “Where are you from?” asks the taxi driver/shopkeeper/doorman/interviewee. I don’t lie, but in Pakistan or the Middle East I know that answering “American” can sometimes be met with a fusillade of angry observations about the evils of America’s foreign policy. Until recently, …
Uprisings in the Middle East Could Be Bad News for Al-Qaeda: Cautious Optimism in Britain
Muammar Gaddafi blamed a coalition of drugs, alcohol and Osama bin Laden for inciting Libyan youth to reject his dictatorial rule. Somewhat more credible commentators, including my colleague Bobby Ghosh, warn that the collapse of the Yemeni regime could boost the AQ affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, yet such concerns have done …
India: The World’s Number One Customer For Weapons
India overtook China to become the world’s leading arms importer, according to the Stockholm Peace and Research Initiative (SIPRI), a Swedish think tank that monitors international weapons sales. Between 2006-2010, India received 9% of global arms transfers, the most for any nation, with the vast majority of those imports (82%) coming …
What Lies Beneath: Bahrain’s “New Citizens” Fuel Unrest
If you want to know more about one of the fundamental issues at the center of Bahrain’s protest movement, it might be worth taking a look at some of the Pakistani newspapers. Today’s Tribune is running a story about a recruitment drive in Pakistan for Bahrain’s security forces. To be sure, there is nothing new about how the Gulf …
Civilian Casualties on the Rise in Afghanistan, But Not Because of Coalition Forces
When NATO forces accidently killed nine Afghan boys gathering firewood to heat their family homes last Wednesday, it marked a low point in a war that has already had its share of horrific mistakes. From wedding parties to religious school compounds, civilian casualties have been as much a part of the war as IEDs and donkey-borne …
France Recognizes Libyan Opposition Government
Props to French President Nicolas Sarkozy for becoming the first international leader to recognize the opposition battling Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi as the rightful representatives of their country. But should it have taken this long for someone to make such a no-brainer decision? And what’s taking Sarkozy’s peers so long in …
Echoes of Spain in Libya’s Civil War?
Addressing the rag-tag citizens’ army on the barricades of Madrid in 1936 preparing to face the fascist army massed to storm the city, Dolores Ibarruri — the revolutionary better known as La Pasionaria — laid out the creed of those who would give their lives to defend Spanish democracy: “It is better to die on our feet than to live on …
Why Asia’s Men in Green are Celebrating
It’s budget time in Asia, and the men in uniform (along with their numerous plainclothes colleagues) must be thrilled. In China, where the rubber-stamp National People’s Congress (NPC) has gathered for its annual confab in Beijing, the military was gifted a 12.7% increase in spending, bringing its yearly coffers to $91.5 billion. …