John Robb's Weblog

The Administration won't leave without a fight with Iran

Couldn't be more clear to me (and I don't care if the conventional wisdom is telling us that it won't happen). From a speech today:

"The world now faces a grave threat from the radical regime in Iran. We know the depth of suffering that Iran's sponsorship of terrorists has brought. And we can imagine how much worse it would be if Iran were allowed to acquire nuclear weapons."

"There must be consequences for Iran's defiance, and we must not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapons."

Being opaque...

Shloky points out that even the most minimal efforts at transparency in the government are running into heavy flak. If we can't even get the basics right, what hope is there of anything more complex?

More on the limits of airpower

The Economist nails Halutz:

VICTORY is not a matter of seizing territory, Dan Halutz once explained. It is a matter of “consciousness”. And air power, continued Israel's chief of staff, affects the adversary's consciousness significantly. Indeed, the very concept of the land battle is “anachronistic”. Lieut-General Halutz, an air-force man, is said to have persuaded Israel's militarily inexperienced prime minister, Ehud Olmert, that the task of destroying Hizbullah in Lebanon was the perfect job for aircraft.

RPVs and CPVs (computer piloted vehicles) Oh My!

Arquilla: "When cruise missiles are as widespread as AK-47s, we will truly have the war of all against all."

What's interesting is that, with the rise of a robust market for RPVs, there will be a corresponding increase in the complexity of software available for controlling them. Some of this software will allow very advanced maneuverability for a song. For example, taking a simple CPV enroute to a GPS designated target. Add random complex maneuvers to avoid targeting, and (even at low airspeeds) you have one heck of a weapons system.

More limits on US action....

Telegraph:

A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency, according to research by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff for the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, a leading constituent of the US Federal Reserve.... Prof Kotlikoff said: "This figure is more than five times US GDP and almost twice the size of national wealth. One way to wrap one's head around $65.9trillion is to ask what fiscal adjustments are needed to eliminate this red hole. The answers are terrifying. One solution is an immediate and permanent doubling of personal and corporate income taxes. Another is an immediate and permanent two-thirds cut in Social Security and Medicare benefits. A third alternative, were it feasible, would be to immediately and permanently cut all federal discretionary spending by 143pc."

Globalization melts the map postage stamps

Gotta love this... Of course, I don't have any economic interest in this. I just think it is cool.

Dependency Ratios

Excellent article by Malcom Gladwell on dependency ratios.

Standards wars

This is a pretty cool intro to the mechanisms behind standards wars in the tech industry. Lots of personal stuff on the surface (that is all fluff, and it may even be real to the participants), but the real reason is inclusion in the type of cross community events that are behind setting standards in the industry.

WALLS! Along with the US, Spain, Israel, and others....

Time: Saudi Arabia, unnerved by the violence next door in Iraq, plans to spend up to $7 billion on a partly virtual fence along its 500-mile border with Iraq. The ultramodern barrier will combine fencing, electronic sensors and sand berms.

Not sure I get these guys....

Hey, few people describe the benefits and inevitability of globalization better than Tom Barnett. He is nearly in a class by himself on this.

However, I don't get why Tom and company (Dan, Mark, and others), think that globalization is doing so badly that we need to use the Pentagon as a surgeon to 'fix it.' I point out that this is a bad idea and they think I am all doom and gloom. ????