War Is Boring

It crashed four times in development, killing 30 crew and passengers. An unexplained crash during a combat mission in Afghanistan last year claimed four more lives. Despite its lethal reputation, in April the controversial V-22 Osprey tiltrotor got a high-profile new assignment: hauling cargo for the president’s entourage, starting in 2013.

For David Axe, a Columbia writer whose 2010 graphic novel War is Boring was featured prominently in last October’s Rolling Stone, the Capital City’s surprising number of comics artists might be random, but it works as a touchstone that fosters local ambition.

With access to more than 400 satellites plus at least two tiny, maneuverable robotic shuttles, the U.S. military is the clear leader in military spacecraft. But with 70 orbiters of its own, China is catching up fast. Last year, Beijing matched Washington in space launches for the first time, boosting no fewer than 15 satellites into orbit. It was the first time any nation kept a celestial pace with the U.S. since the height of the Cold War.

The infamous Danish Muhammad cartoons, published in the newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30th, 2005, led to protests, riots, and over 100 deaths around the world. The discussion that followed about the balance between free speech and incitement in cartoons, between ridicule and bigotry, led to the creation of Cartooning For Peace, an organization of international editorial cartoonists dedicated to promoting free expression and “mutual respect between people of different faiths or cultures.”

For any Westerner observer struggling to understand Chinese military developments — and let’s be serious, that’s most of us — Andrew Erickson is an indispensable resource. A professor at the Naval War College, Erickson has edited an influential series of books about the People’s Liberation Army, each volume based on close scrutiny of Chinese-language journals and new sources. Erickson’s latest volume, Chinese Aerospace Power: Evolving Maritime Roles, takes a hard, sober look at Beijing’s growing air and missile forces and their effect on the Pacific balance of power.

The Colombian tall ship Arc Gloria is on its annual world cruise, aimed at training the on-board naval officers. The sailing ship has visited 180 ports in 70 different countries as a goodwill ambassador of Colombia over the last 42 years.

When China began testing its first aircraft carrier earlier this month, Washington was quick to issue a stern rebuke, scolding Beijing for its lack of transparency regarding the vessel’s purpose. “We would welcome any kind of explanation,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

A Matt Bors classic from 2006.

It’s official: I’m a big deal. That is to say, I now have a Wikipedia page. Please, nobody spam it with rumors of my death or anything.

With rebel forces in Tripoli and Moammar Gadhafi on the run, the end could be near for the Libyan civil war. Sporadic fighting continues in the capital city of the oil-rich North African nation, NATO warplanes are still patrolling overhead, and there’s always the danger of Gadhafi true-believers launching a fresh insurgency. But already, Western analysts are weighing the lessons of the six-month-long conflict. “Modern air power is the key force that is directly leading to the overthrow of the Gadhafi regime,” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula concluded. True, but a host of other cutting-edge technologies, and a few decidedly low-end ones, also played critical roles.

by ROBERT BECKHUSEN Colombia U.S. surveillance equipment, training and financial aid intended to target the FARC was redirected by the administration of former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe against political opponents and Supreme Court justices, reports The Washington Post. The Colombian intelligence agency responsible, the Department of Administrative Security (DAS), is described as a “criminal enterprise” [...]

Libya
Just when the world thought that Libya’s civil war would drag on beyond the summer, the breakthrough has happened. Rebel forces, including 200 rebels from Misrata arriving by sea, have taken large parts of Tripoli. Sporadic fighting was observed on Tripoli’s seafront and at Moammar Gadhafi’s Bab Al Aziziya compound.