Every Friday, The Diplomat looks out across the net to find the best articles and analysis involving defense, strategic affairs, and foreign policy. From America’s pivot to Asia, China’s growing military power, important defense trends, to the various territorial spats across the region, The Diplomat has you covered with what you need to know going into the weekend.
Here is our top ones this Friday. Have we missed something you think should be included? Want to share an important article with other readers? Please submit your links in the comment box below! Happy Friday!
On Thursday U.S. President Barack Obama gave a sweeping address on counterterrorism policy and a strong defense of the use of drones against terrorists or suspected terrorists. Here’s the transcript. Before the speech the administration released documents revealing that it has killed at least four Americans with drones, but only one of those individuals was the target of the strike.
In the speech on Thursday President Obama suggested that the country would begin reducing the intensity of its war against al-Qaeda, exactly a week after a Pentagon official told Congress it would continue the war for at least the next decade or two. Despite the apparent extraordinary progress made in winding down the War on Terrorism in just the past week, some aren’t satisfied. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), for instance, is preparing to introduce legislation that would eventually rescind the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) that Congress passed in the days after 9/11 giving the executive branch the authority to go after al-Qaeda.
Although a lesser focus on al-Qaeda would free up more resources for the pivot to Asia, on the drone issue the cat is likely out of the bag already. The Council on Foreign Relations’ Micah Zenko has a new report this week on the subject of drones.
V. Mahalingam does an after-action report of the recent India-China border standoff for Delhi-based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.
The U.S. and Chinese militaries are deepening their cooperation on a number of issues, including opera singing. Reuters has the story.
Over at Arms Control Association, Greg Thielmann tries to sort of the nuclear and missile threats posed by North Korea. Meanwhile, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s George Perkovich outlines a new U.S. nuclear posture following the golden rule.
Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) argued in Politico this week that the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding plan just doesn’t add up. The Stimson Center has a new report offering a more mathematically sound Pentagon budget.
Real Clear World has an overview of six global hotspots that could produce the next war.
Although drones have been the most controversial story of the week, a close second seems to be Harvard University’s Steve Walt’s self-administered test to tell if you are a “liberal imperialist.” Daniel Drezner, a long-time intelligent critic of realists like Walt, argues that the “liberal imperialist” post shows how one can lose a foreign policy debate they should win. Perhaps the most creative response to Walt’s post came from Stephen M. Saideman, who fires back with his own list on the “Top Ten Warning Signs of Elitist Condescension.” What’s the number one warning sign of elitist condescension? Using a headline that includes the word imperialism, according to Saideman.
What do you think? Comments encouraged below.