My colleague Steve Schippert asked recently: "Wither Soverignty." My then-private reply at the time went something like this: Steve, I don't want to up the humidity level on this parade, but: INTERPOL's resources (aside from administrative) are drawn from member nations' police forces (contrary to the movies, you can't be an 'INTERPOL agent') who are there to facilitate and liaison, not conduct police operations themselves. While this may be seen as something linked to a path to the ICC, congress...
Last Thursday, December 17, 2009, The White House released an Executive Order "Amending Executive Order 12425." It grants INTERPOL (International Criminal Police Organization) a new level of full diplomatic immunity afforded to foreign embassies and select other "International Organizations" as set forth in the United States International Organizations Immunities Act of 1945. By removing language from President Reagan's 1983 Executive Order 12425, this international law enforcement body now operates - now operates - on American soil beyond the reach of...
Bob Gourley, an old and trusted colleague in the national security arena, asks if we are any closer to achieving a cyber deterrence policy. While it is worth having the discussion as an academic exercise, it couldn't be less practically relevant to keeping our country's resources secure from digital threats. The problem of course is that its a lot easier to attempt to focus on a narrow set of legacy futures rather than to start to develop new ideas. Whether...
In war, and particularly in an Afghanistan counterinsurgency effort, there are always three sides to the coin: the good, the bad and the ugly. This is especially true in President Obama's new Afghanistan strategy, finally announced to the American public Tuesday from a West Point backdrop. The prescribed influx of much-needed American warriors onto the battlefield is clearly and rightly the good. And the good can withstand the bad, a Taliban enemy in the absence of reliable partners in the...
As the Earth spins, the effect dictates that its inhabitants are driven into the predictable cycle of night and day, day and night. And so too it can be said of the effect of periods between election cycles and American media coverage of war. Bill Dupray at the Patriot Room notes an article drawing attention to the fact that in Afghanistan "Obama's war casualties nearly double Bush's worst year," and the American media are virtually silent. Statistical Reference: iCasualties: Operation...
"Never again" we told ourselves, as we tacked pictures of victims leaping from the World Trade Center buildings to the streets below to the walls of our cubes. Eternal vigilance is what we pledged, openly or silently, so that another 9/11 would never happen if we had anything to say about it. Well, on the aspect of scale the massacre at Ft. Hood may not be a 9/11, but in many other respects it is still an astonishing failure. Leave...
General McChrystal said starkly in his Afghanistan assessment that our mission there will likely fully fail within 12 months if we do nothing. That was in September. It is now likely that by the time President Obama finally decides on a strategic direction for Afghanistan, fully three months will have passed while deciding, making it even more weeks or months on top of that before resources show up in theater to do whatever that 'something' ends up being. There is...
Are we winning the diplomatic battle with Iran? Are we, for that matter, winning the diplomatic battle with Russia, which, with China, serves as Iran's principal protectorate? To put it necessarily bluntly, there is no indication that we are and every indication that we are indeed losing. Not simply losing, but ceding. A brief but careful examination of language reveals the unfortunate and frustrating truth. A Washington Times editorial calls it "Incorrigible Iran." The messianic and tyrannical regime is certainly...
The revelation should be startling. In a 60 Minutes interview on CBS, America's top commander in Afghanistan was asked about and revealed that he has had only one briefing with President Barrack Obama since he took command on July 15th of this year. This is disturbing on many levels. First, hear General McChrystal's responses from his own mouth. David Martin, CBS: How often have you talked to the President? Gen. McChrystal: I've talked to the president since I've been here...
On the night of September 17th 2009, former Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf was the guest lecturer at the Trinity University Distinguished Lecture Series in San Antonio, Texas. In many ways it was an historic night. There he was, a man of smallish stature who became President of Pakistan by military coup and served for nearly eight years. Then an election was held, and before it could be completed, Benezir Bhutto, his principal opponent was assassinated leading to the landslide...
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February 2, 2010