War Is Boring

As Harry Kazianis noted yesterday, the Pentagon’s Congressionally-mandated annual survey of Chinese military capabilities is out. The highlights.

An overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens want deep and immediate cuts in military spending, according to a new poll. The Center for Public Integrity, a Washington, D.C.-based investigative news service, in conjunction with two other groups asked more than 600 Americans from across the country about their perceptions regarding U.S. defense spending. The survey went on to ask whether the respondent favored increasing, holding steady or decreasing military spending.

It’s a cliche of American defense reporting that the U.S. weapons industry is in terminal decline. Reading the biggest trade publications, you’d think Washington is voluntarily disarming.

The heavy rains in Pakistan’s restive Swat Valley began in late July and didn’t let up for weeks. Flooding and landslides killed at least 1,500 people and displaced 4 million in the worst natural disaster to strike Pakistan in years.

by DAVID AXE The latest from War Is Boring’s favorite cartoonist, Matt Bors.

In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama advocated ending the 17-year-old Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy for gays in the military. Subsequently, Joint Chiefs chair Admiral Mike Mullen said a repeal of the policy — in which gays could serve, as long as they never admitted being gay — was the right thing to do.

by DAVID AXE The latest from War Is Boring’s favorite cartoonist, Matt Bors.