The Patrol Zone

“American intelligence services, the cult of secrecy and the culture of national security all came about after the Second World War.”
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“For the United States, a Chinese decision to abandon the dollar would be tantamount to Pearl Harbor without the war. It would represent a challenge to the world’s biggest economy by the world’s fastest growing economy. Millions of people would see their standard of living suffer as a result, and American self-confidence, already shaky, would [...]

“WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) — In an article in the November issue of Atlantic Monthly, ‘America’s Elegant Decline,’ Robert Kaplan reminds us of a geostrategic reality we can easily forget in the face of Fourth Generation wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: The United States is inescapably a maritime power.”
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“When President Bush looked into Vladimir Putin’s eyes in 2001 and perceived a trustworthy soul, it’s unlikely that he foresaw the more recent image: a snarling Russian bear, engorged on petrodollars and fuming at past slights. Even as the former KGB colonel has tightened the vise on political opposition and press freedoms at home, and [...]

“CHINA HAS BEEN expanding the size of its naval fleet for the same length of time–about 25 years–that the U.S. has been decreasing its Navy. A Congressional Quarterly article warned ominously that China will possess nearly twice as many submarines as the U.S. in 2010, and is likely to surpass the total size of the [...]

“Nobody had to ask “which war?” For those of us of a certain age, only one war qualifies as the big one. It swept up the energies of virtually everybody, changed our lives and altered our ways of thinking. It was the conflagration waged across three oceans and more than 100 nations from 1939 through [...]

“Signers must refrain from even the threat of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. Both Iran and North Korea would fall under this requirement. LOST requires submarines to travel on the surface and show their flag in territorial waters. This constraint would damage the Navy’s ability to conduct [...]