War Is Boring

by NICK OTTENS Poor Susan Rice was exasperated last week. The American ambassador to the United Nations saw the first step toward international intervention in Syria go up in smoke over the weekend when China and Russia blocked a Security Council resolution that would have urged President Bashar al-Assad to resign. The two veto wielding [...]

by NICK OTTENS President Barack Obama’s planned reductions in defense spending have earned him considerable criticism from the right. One of his potential Republican challengers, Mitt Romney, laments that the United States Navy “is smaller than it’s been since 1917.” Other conservatives claim that the cuts in military spending will put the nation at risk. [...]

by NICK OTTENS The Dutch Government is reportedly contemplating huge cuts in defense spending. As part of a total €18 billion worth of austerity measures, the liberal-conservative coalition has planned some €1 billion in budget cuts to the defense department which could force the resignation of up to ten thousand service personnel. While the government [...]

by NICK OTTENS A month after Bahraini Shiites first took to the streets to protest against their Sunni dominated government, the nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreed to deploy troops to guard energy facilities and infrastructure in the country. Opposition members characterized the move as an “occupation” if not “a declaration of war.” [...]

A devastating tsunami triggered by the biggest earthquake on record in Japan probably killed more than a thousand people along the country’s northeastern coast on Friday. A wall of water of up to thirty feet high swept across rice fields, engulfed towns, dragged houses onto highways, tossed cars and boats like toys, reaching as far as six miles inland in Miyagi Prefecture.

As tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Egypt’s major cities again on Sunday, the United States is wondering what impact the unrest and possible regime change could have on American foreign policy in the region. For 30 years, Egypt has been a factor of stability in the Middle East and it continues to play an instrumental role in both advancing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and containing Iran.

Cold War in East Asia? Japan is literally moving forces from defending against a Soviet invasion to monitoring today’s communist superpower. China thinks Tokyo’s attitude is “irresponsible.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited different countries in Central Asia to push for improved political freedoms in the former Soviet republics and affirm their role as security partners of the United States. As the war in Afghanistan drags on, these countries, many of which are battling internal disorder, remain significant as part of America’s supply routes.

As China rises, other countries in East Asia are hedging their bets and seeking closer relations with superpowers farther away. Both Russia and the United States have been eyeing Vietnam, which is only too happy to reciprocate.