Hump Day Reads

Brooklyn Navy Yard Cemetery

Admirals Row Brooklyn Navy Yard

Genographic journey

Leading off is this from 1776 online history magazine a site that offers book reviews and articles about American history. This post links a video about the old Brooklyn Navy Yard and is worth a look.
The Decay of Brooklyn Navy Yard

Next is this from Zenpundit. When I spied this post Forensic Paleo-Anthropology and the Last Man, I was reminded of my recent quest to trace my genographic history back to the beginning, HG's Long Journey into His Past.

Fabius Maximus offering a provocative post that has more that a measure of truth ringing like a fire bell in the night. One of America’s few wise men tells us about Mexico.

The United States Naval Institute Blog contributor, Jeffrey Withington a midshipmen at the Naval Academy posts this interview. VADM John Harvey: On Nuke SWO, Serving Under Charles Krulak & Mentorship

Steve DeAngelis of Enterra Solutions invites readers to consider The Amazing Mind

The Coming of the Fourth American Republic

First Republic

Second Republic

Third Republic

Zenpundit and Fabius Maximus are two of the most astute observers in the blogosphere and both have linked the this insightful article, well worth the time to read and digest. Written by James V. DeLong in The American: The Journal of the American Enterprise Institute the article is summarized this way by Fabius.

Summary: Slowly realization spreads that we are at the end of an era. Here is an interesting look at one aspect of that transition, and what might lie ahead. This is just a brief excerpt; I recommend reading it in full! At the end are links to other posts on this site about the death of the American Constitutional regime — and what might come next.

The premise is that the United States is about to embark on the Fourth Republic after the initial founding of the nation, followed by the Civil War and then the New Deal/Great Society run of the special interests. The author surmises that we are on the threshold of a major shift in the direction of the country, hence the Fourth Republic. In cautionary terms DeLong writes.

While we await events, none of this analysis should be regarded as a counsel of pessimism. Political arrangements should change with time and experience, and to expect the political architects of any era to foresee all the problems inherent in their institutions is to demand the impossible. By 2090, it will probably be time for the Fifth American Republic, and, Heaven willing, more after that.

On the other hand, it would be unwise to treat the issues with anything other than utter sobriety. The nation made a fundamental political transition peacefully on one occasion, and only with appalling bloodshed on another, and it is hard to buy ammunition these days because the dealers’ shelves are bare. So all patriots would be well advised to pick up a copy of Crane Brinton’s classic The Anatomy of Revolution, and figure out how we can achieve the necessary segue to the Fourth Republic without becoming a chapter in the next edition.

Read more:The Coming of the Fourth American Republic

Reads For A Saturday Night of Contemplation

Maghreb

14th century dress

William of Ockham

Steve DeAngelis of Enterra Solutions leads off tonight with a trio of posts that show some countries are emerging like the ancient Phoeinx to rise above the swirling fears about a global economic recession

The Emergence of North Africa

For decades, the Maghreb has been best known for being part of the arc of crisis that begins at Gibraltar and ends in Pakistan. Maghreb is an Arabic word meaning "place of sunset" or "western." Traditionally it refers to a region in North Africa that includes Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and, more recently, Libya. At a time when Western suspicions have deepened about Muslim countries because of the activities of radical Islamists, there is a remarkably upbeat report in BusinessWeek about the Maghreb ["The Rise of the Maghreb," by Carol Matlack and Stanley Reed, 16 March 2009 print edition]. Matlack and Reed note that in the immediate post-Cold War period, a number of automotive parts suppliers set up plants in Eastern Europe, but many of those same suppliers are now shifting their facilities to the Maghreb.

China Grows Stronger during Economic Bad Times

The best time to have money is when nobody else does. Head to any foreclosure sale and you'll understand what I mean. Chinese companies, which have amassed fortunes during past couple of decades, are now starting to spend some of that cash looking for bargains ["China Gains Key Assets In Spate of Purchases," by Ariana Eunchung Cha, Washington Post, 17 March 2009]. What's most interesting is where they are looking for those bargains and what they are buying.

Innovations from Emerging Market Economies

As labor costs increased along with infrastructure modernization/replacement costs, economies of scale became less of a differentiator for developed countries -- which is why so much manufacturing has moved to so-called "low cost" countries.

Fabius Maximus never fails to stimulate my brain cells and this post does that along with visiting my favorite subject history.

Fab introduces it this way.

This is the title of a post by Brad Delong (Professor of Economics at Berkeley), about Buying Power of 14th Century Money, posted by Will Mclean at A Commonplace Book — Deeds of Arms and Other Matters Medieval and Otherwise, 3 July 2008. As the economy slides backwards, it is important to remember how far we have come. Almost every American is rich compared to the average person of 1776 — and perhaps even richer than almost everybody in the 14th century.

Read more: The Singularity is in our past

And weighing in or President Obama strategic plan for Afghanistan is abu mugqawama with his always logical manner. Take the time to introduce yourselves to William Ockham courtesy of Abu.

Sharing a car back from the wilds of Virginia yesterday, I had a long conversation with Dave Kilcullen that improbably ranged from Herodotus to William of Ockham to, finally, appropriate metrics in Afghanistan. (Fun fact: Dave's medievalist father is one of the world's leading experts on William of Ockham. Who knew?) As I joked on the blog a few weeks ago, the Marines used rice production as a metric in Vietnam in place of enemy body count, but we can't very well use poppy production as our metric in Afghanistan.

Read more: On Metrics in Afghanistan

Mid-Week Reads

Hump day calls for a pause to refresh one's prospective and take a few minutes to read some of the recommended posts around the blogosphere this week.

Leading off is this summary of the "Underwear Incident" in the South China Sea posted on Information Dissemination.

In the maritime domain, China is best seen as primarily seeking to extend and consolidate its sovereignty, rather than to protect its sovereignty per se, since the likelihood of invasion from the sea probably approaches zero. Its strategy is two-pronged. First, China is actively attempting to extend its authority in areas already under its jurisdiction by recasting the traditional relationship between coastal states and the international community and pressing for enhanced coastal state jurisdiction over traditional international freedoms in coastal waters and air space. Second, China has many claims over islands and sea space that are actively disputed by its neighbors. China is consolidating and defending its historical claims to islands in the East and South China Seas and to the maritime zones that will accrue to whoever gains undisputed sovereignty over them.

Read more: Observing the Incidents Off the Chinese Coast

Staying on a naval centric tack, comes this post on United States Naval Institute Blog. It was reprint of an article in the 1954 edition of the Naval Institute Proceedings Magazine, entitled; NATIONAL POLICY AND THE TRANSOCEANIC NAVY by Samuel P. Huntington.

The introduction:

By almost any measure Harvard Professor Sam Huntington was the preeminent political scientist of his generation. When he was but 27, three years before he wrote The Soldier and the State, the classic on civil-military relations, Professor Huntington authored a May 1954 Proceedings article, ‘National Policy and the Transoceanic Navy’. In this powerful essay, he laid down a challenge to the military services that resonates today even more than it did over 50 years ago: “If a service does not possess a well-defined strategic concept, the public and political leaders will be confused as to the role of the service . . . and apathetic or hostile to the claims made by the service on the resources of society.” And specifically of the Navy, “What function do you perform which obligates society to assume responsibility for your maintenance?”

Tom Wilkerson Major General, USMC (Ret.)
U. S. Naval Institute CEO

Read the whole post.
From Our Archive: NATIONAL POLICY AND THE TRANSOCEANIC NAVY by Samuel P. Huntington


Turning to thoughts on America and the current attempts to navigate out of the shoals of despair caused by greed and Nestbeschmutzers, a word used by a professor friend when he encountered people who ruined their own country. To illustrate this, comes this pair of posts from Fabius Maximus.

Our ruling elites scamper and play while our world burns.
And,
The eternal truths of history can guide us through this crisis.

Finally from Mark at Zenpundit, this review of Thomas Barnett's Great Powers: America and the World After Bush

Great Powers: America and the World After Bush is a book whose influence will be deep and long. It is also a book that will be loved and reviled. Loved because in it, Barnett connects history with strategy and foreign policy and does so with unvarnished, supremely confident, optimism regarding a future of an Americanized Globalization and a globalized America. It will also be bitterly reviled for exactly same reason.

In essence, Great Powers is an intellectual-political Rorschach test.

Read more: Book review: With Great Powers comes Great Responsibilities….

Course Adjustments and The Return of Optimism

TWEAKING THE SAILS AT DAWN

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Working my way down my blogroll this Sunday morning, I begin to sense a feeling of change as I read some of the posts from my fellow bloggers. My first stop today was at Thomas Barnett's always revealing and informative blog. His Sunday column was brimming with optimism, and became instant fodder for new post. However, the very next blog I visited swept away all thoughts of using Tom's column as the centerpiece of this post. Dan of tdaxp.com ties together several issues of recent concerns and in a few short sentences linked several articles that support his headline, Positioned for the Future.

Dan begins:

During August and September — when oil prices were high, Russia invaded Georgia, the financial crisis began unfolding, the doom-and-gloomers were at it. We were told that it was the end of capitalism. We were told that our foreign policy was being controlled by Mikheil Saakashvili. We were told that our choices were a close friendshp with Putin or a new Cold War.

Dan continues with countering evidence that the above statements are premature and wrong. Read the whole post, Positioned for the Future.

A few days ago, Thomas Friedman in the New York Times has this to say about Iran.

Have you seen the reports that Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is suffering from exhaustion? It’s probably because he is not sleeping at night. I know why. Watching oil prices fall from $147 a barrel to $57 is not like counting sheep. It’s the kind of thing that gives an Iranian autocrat bad dreams.After all, it was the collapse of global oil prices in the early 1990s that brought down the Soviet Union. And Iran today is looking very Soviet to me.

Read the whole article,Sleepless in Tehran.

And also from the New York Times, who usually buries an article like this in the back pages was this by By C. J. CHIVERS in their October 31, 2008 edition.
A Warning, a Blast, a Fight to Save an Afghan Life From the New York Times.

COMBAT OUTPOST LOWELL, Afghanistan — Jamaludin, an aging Afghan cook, twisted and writhed on the green stretcher. Blood ran from his mouth and nose. Medics had cut away his clothes, revealing puncture holes where shrapnel from a Taliban mortar round had struck him minutes before.

Capt. Norberto A. Rodriguez, an American Army doctor, listened through a stethoscope as two Army medics and a Navy corpsman inventoried Jamaludin’s wounds. There were holes on his back, neck, buttocks, left leg and beside his right eye.

This next post may not look optimistic at first, but because it opens up what might be the most important discussion of our future it deserves to be here as the anchor piece on this Sunday Morning.

Mark at Zenpundit posted this today, The Coming of America’s Defense Meltdown. On first blush, it reads like we are faced with a crisis that would have the effect of threatening every facet of our society. Why? because security is the linchpin that creates the environment where societies can function and prosper, take it away, and chaos reigns. I include it here because it shows that thoughtful minds are thinking and proposing new ideas and directions in order to maintain as security rule-set that benefits all Americans and in turn the rest of the world.

Mark provides the links to other blogs who have written about a soon to be released series of essays about America's future defense posture. Mark ends his post with these words.

There’s going to be a titanic struggle over defense budget priorities in the next administration and the natural bias of Congress and the military-industrial complex in downsizing eras is to keep the same process dysfunctionalities intact rather than re-examine how a smaller pie can best be spent (and the pie is likely to be much smaller circa 2010 regardless of who is elected president). So in the 1990’s the armed services shed personnel - usually warfighters rather than desk jockeys - to preserve platforms; in the 1970’s we “hollowed out” the military by skipping on training, maintenance, spare parts and so on.

Back then, those poorly made decisions occurred during peacetime. Today, the country is at war in far-flung corners of the globe. It’s important that the right issues are raised and tough questions asked.

Mark notes that several blog friends have written about this soon to be released work, like, Fabius Maximus who posted this, America’s Defense Meltdown. and this, from Don Vandergriff, who outlines what each of the 13 authors will address.

A little snippet from Col. G.I. Wilson (U.S. Marine Corps, ret.) and Maj. Donald Vandergriff (U.S. Army, ret.) who write on Leading the Human Dimension Out of a Legacy of Failure

The fundamental reform requirement is to learn to lead people first and manage things second. Instead, today we administer people as a subset of managing things.

The primary route to valuing people is to learn to nurture highly innovative, unshakably ethical thinkers. Sadly, in today’s armed forces such people, those who lead by virtue of their courage, creativity, boldness, vision, honesty and sometimes irreverence, are known as mavericks.

Note the word ethics and leadership amid the strategies and tools of war. Like I said, it has the scent of optimism amid the clouds of gunpowder.

And for the Navy, William Lind mirrors what insightful blog friend Galrahn of Information Dissemination has been in the forefront of advocating, True 4GW Maritime Strategy is Corbett and Mahan.

Lind's Recommendations:

1. The main personnel deficiency of the Navy is an officer corps dominated by technicians. That reinforces the Navy’s Second Generation institutional culture. Reform requires adopting a Third Generation culture and putting the engineers back in the engine room.

2. Fourth Generation War demands the Navy shift its focus from Mahanian battles for sea control to controlling coastal and inland waters in places where the state is disintegrating.

3. Submarines are today’s capital ships, and the U.S. Navy must remain a dominant submarine force while exploring alternative submarine designs.

4. Aircraft carriers remain useful “big boxes.” However, they should be decoupled from standardized air wings and thought of as general purpose carriers, transporting whatever is useful in a specific crisis or conflict.

5. The Navy should acquire an aircraft similar to the Air Force’s A-10 so it can begin to effectively support troops on the ground.

6. Cruisers, destroyers and frigates are obsolescent as warship types and should be retired; their functions assumed by small carriers or converted merchant ships.

7. The Navy should build a new flotilla of small warships suited to green and brown waters and deployable as self-sustaining “packages” in Fourth Generation conflicts. (The Navy’s current “Littoral Combat Ship” is an apparently failed attempt at this design.)

I await the release of this important work and am looking forward to the coming verbal battles that allow a free people to choose their own path, even if it turns out to be rougher than expected.

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We American's will choose our leadership for the next four years this week. Whoever wins, will be charged by the will of the people to do their very best to lead all the people and carry on the traditions that have made American what it has become over the past 232 years. I am confident in the will of the people to decide, and if unhappy with their decision, tweak the course, via the congress in two years, and change the leadership at the top in four.

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Don't forget to vote this Tuesday!

HG's Sunday Paper

Fabius Maximus

Financial Crisis in America

Michael Yon

Great Powers: America and the World After Bush

This has been busy week for me, I have final papers coming in from two classes, so my blogging will be curtained until they are properly graded and responded too. In lieu of that, I have created a sort of online Sunday paper to point visitors to blogs with interesting and timely posts.

Fabius Maximus opens with two posts. He has been active in offering solutions for solving the current financial crisis and this is the latest in a long series of thought provoking posts.
New recommendations to solve our financial crisis (and I admit that I was wrong)

Fabius begins:

Parts 1 and 2 are being implemented, much as described. Part 3 was described as necessary at some point in the future. I said that these probably would not work over the medium to long term, but would mitigate the downturn (slow or even reduce the economic decline, and alleviate the resulting suffering). It appears that I was wrong.
The rate of decline — destabilization of the global financial system – has become so great that these measures will prove insufficient. In my opinion (these are, of course, guesses). Since I doubt our leaders have a Plan B, here is a suggestion:

We need extreme mobilization by the government of our economic resources, as we have done during wars.

This Fab post raises interesting observations about the global warming issue that has graced our national conscious for the better of two decades.

He opens his post with.

Evidence continues to trickle in that we need not fear global temperatures rising to ruinous levels. Anthony Watts provides a reality check at his invaluable site “What’s Up with That?“ This is the same material, reformatted and condensed — with some additional material to give a better context. As always, I recommend reading the full articles.
Good news about global warming!

Turning to the world stage and war news. Small Wars Journal as usual does a superlative job of covering the latest with their concise daily roundups and informative blog discussion links. Here is a post that stood out for it's demonstration of timeless wisdom.

Which Way I Ought To Go From Here? by John M. Collins, who the editors describe this way:

John M. Collins began to amass military experience when he enlisted in the Army as a private in 1942. Thirty years and three wars later, in 1972, he retired as a colonel. He spent the next quarter century as the leading analyst on military and defense issues at the Congressional Research Service. Many of us address him as Warlord.

Collins offers this introduction.

Alice in Wonderland asked the Cheshire Cat, "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

The answer was, "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."

The Honorable Les Aspin, as Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, asked much the same question on 9 October 1985 when he held hearings entitled "What Have We Got for a Trillion dollars?"

The world has changed a lot since then, when the US-Soviet military balance was still center stage, but structured ways of appraising national security problems and potential solutions have not. I'm therefore resurrecting my 23-year-old testimony for reconsideration, because it deals with a flock of fundamentals that the new Administration might usefully apply in its quest for ways to match military ends, ways, and means most successfully. Mismatches between forces and objectives, forces and threats, forces and strategies, forces and other forces remain prominent today.

I recommend taking the time to read all of John Collin's testimony, it is timeless in it's wisdom.

This is just in from the blogsosphere's most intrepid war correspondent, Michael Yon.

Brother, Can You Spare an Afghani? and Jurassic Trailer Park These articles serves a duel purpose of reporting the war and representing our Travel Section. Yon files a revealing photo essay and story that begins with the following observation.

Traveling along the roads of Afghanistan (when there are roads) provides a different perspective on life back home. Folks in the U.S. are worried about the economy, and while I can understand that many are struggling, it’s easy to forget how much we still have. In Afghanistan, and other countries all over the world, there are many people who literally beg for their next meals.

No Sunday paper would be complete with out it's OP-ED page. Continuing a Sunday tradition Thomas Barnett files this column.

Heroes and villains according to Woodward

There is an old Washington saying that "where you stand depends on where you sit," meaning policy views correlate to bureaucratic position.

This is worth remembering as General David Petraeus begins his strategy review of Afghanistan. Those looking for an instant replay of his counterinsurgency tactics in Iraq will be disappointed.

No Sunday news would be complete without a financial page and Martin Wolf writing in the Financial Times has this to say about the banking crisis.

The world wakes from the wish-dream of decoupling

He begins:

The worst consequences of the banking crisis – a true depression – have been avoided. But the impact of the implosion of what economist Nouriel Roubini calls “the largest leveraged asset bubble and credit bubble in history” is hitting real economies hard,

Closing out this Sunday Edition is our book corner where Zenpundit has this teaser on pending book reviews.

Reading…. Where Zen give hints of three of the latest books he is devouring.

And The AntiLibrary is available for those who are looking for more reviews.

Thanks for taking the time drop by. I hope you find the articles as thought provoking and informative as I did.

Sunday Morning with Coffee and the Blog

In years past Sunday morning was a time to pick up the paper and retreat to a quit place with a cup of coffee to peruse the major events and opinions of the past week, laid out amid the fresh ink and ads of what once had been a tree. Today, the electronic media has largely replaced that method for educating one's self on the events of the day.

The follow articles caught my fancy and I am endorsing them over to all those interested to read and expand one's viewpoint. I don't agree with everyone, but each is excellent in the level of craftsmanship of their arguments.

Leading off:
Mark Safranski of Zenpundit who links a post by Tom Barnett and adds comments that make more sense to the average reader. Barnett on Peters analyzing Putin.

Mark says:

One departure for me from Peters and from Tom ( at least in the sense that he did not mention it) is that I do not see Putin as consumed by anger or temper in his moves against Saakashvili, though Putin may very well have a temper.

And the welcome return of abu mugqawama aka, Andrew Exum, who has returned to the blog he founded to offer these wise words. Back like Jordan, wearin' the 45 .

Nuts, that took long enough. I told Charlie last week that I would be willing to help out on the blog a bit, and she only took five days to send me an invitation. No wonder this blog has gone straight to hell in my absence. (Not really. You guys have been great.)Now don't everyone get all excited. I'm still semi-retired. I just told Charlie that I would blog once a week -- in the first person no less! -- to help out with the load now that Kip has done rode off into the sunset.

And a view of the crisis on Wall Street by Steve DeAngelis;

Amidst all the bad news continuing to emanate from Wall Street and the accusations of corruption, greed and incompetence aimed at corporate executives who permitted it to occur, Americans haven't take much thought about the effect all of it is having on emerging markets around the world. As troubles in the American economy ripple around the globe, fears of a recession or depression are starting to grow and some countries appear on the cusp of economic panic ["Russia Again Halts Stock Trading," by Philip P. Pan and Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, 18 September 2008].
Read it in full:
Wall Street and Emerging Markets

Turning to look at American politics from across the pond, is an essay from economist Martin Wolf in the Financial Times.

He begins:

We are all Americans now. By this I do not merely mean that the leadership of the US shapes the world in which we live. The world we live in is the world the Americans or, more precisely, the Anglo-Americans have made. The US will retain a huge influence. How will it use it? That is the question we should ask about the presidential election. The choice also seems clear: it is between those who expect a world of conflict and those who believe in seeking co-operation.

What the presidential choice could mean

Prolific blogger Fabius Maximus challenges all, to open their minds and explore the issues with him as he posts on the emerging financial crisis gripping the nation.

Slowly a few voices are raised about the pending theft of taxpayer money

What do we know about the financial crisis? What are the key questions?

A vital but widely misunderstood aspect of our financial crisis

Op-Ed column from Thomas Barnett Barnett: America's hard-learned lessons from Iraq


Finally, a short report from Michael Yon on what happened to the French last month in Afghanistan, where he asks: Please read this short dispatch

So grab a second cup of coffee and go back and enjoy your Sunday blog.

An Un-Splendid Little War

John Milton Hay was appointed Secretary of State by President William McKinley. Years later when Theodore Roosevelt occupied the White House, Hay wrote the President about the Spanish American War. In that letter he summarized the conflict with a quote that came to be linked with the first war of American expansion beyond her borders. He called it:

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"A Splendid Little War"

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In the Kremlin this weekend, one wonders if Putin's advisors would be speaking in the same terms, more importantly is how the governments of nations on Russia's borders and in the core states will react to this war. Without desending into choosing sides the links below lay out a brief look back at the war between Russia and Georgia and try and create a historical timeline to study the course of the war. The opinion of what this all means are colored by the political lenses of the observer. Some see this as a return to the "Cold War" and others, that this is Russia's version of America's Grenada war in 1984. Still others, with a more horizontal vision look beyond to see the events as the growing pains of a paranoid nation trying to find it's way.

Russia has searched for a post-Soviet identity since that empire's stunningly sudden collapse two decades ago. For now, Moscow is nothing more than an immature energy conglomerate masquerading as a government. Learning what he did from the Bush administration's lengthy - and now exhausted - bout of unilateralism, Putin confuses the power of supply with the power of demand, thinking he holds all the cards.

Thomas PM Barnett, 2008

We begin our look back at the last week with.

A Two-Sided Descent Into Full-Scale War - Peter Finn, Washington Post

Georgia and Russia were on a collision course.

In three hours, full-scale war would begin.

With a huge air, land and sea campaign, Russian forces routed the Georgians in the following days and advanced far into Georgian territory, overrunning major cities and military bases. An ensuing uproar in the West, accusing Russia of using excessive force, has clouded details of how the war began.

Interviews with Georgian leaders, Russian officials, Western diplomats and Bush administration officials, together with briefings by the Russian military in Moscow, show that a series of escalating military moves by each side convinced the other that war was imminent.

Georgia - CIA World Factbook

Russia - CIA World Factbook

What follows is a backward look at the war as it unfolded. the BBC travels backward day by day to the beinning.

Day-by-Day: South Ossetia Crisis - BBC News

And as the guns fall silent, the anger persists as it has for a thousand years.

After Battle, Anger Follows Ethnic Lines - Tavernese and Siegel, New York Times

Sunday Readings:

Weekend Reading Recommendations by Fabius Maximus

Influencing Russia by Steve DeAngelis, Enterra Solutions

Barnett: Response to Georgia conflict: firm but moderate

Recommended Reads of the Week

The blog posts below caught my eye and deserve special attention for their detailed analysis of the subjects they address.

The read of the week, goes to Mark Safranskiof Zenpundit who penned his first op-ed piece for Pajamas Media . Special congratulations to Mark for this new venue.

Congress Debates Muzzling Congressmen Online

And with a detailed and well crafted post Fabius Maximus, takes a look at oil supply, from another perspective.

Good news about oil, but for our grandkids - not us

The Steve DeAngelis, Enterra Solutions, serves up an optimistic post about making a difference.

Little Sacrifices that Big Differences


Next there has been significant developments in the United States Navy and their ship building program. These changes may bode well for the U.S. in the long run as we begin to build a navy to match the challenges we actually face in the coming decades. This is important because we are finally looking to build a fleet that can combat piracy and drug smuggling the recently has graduated to using submarines to transport drugs into the U.S. One might not think this is a big deal, but after drugs, can come a lot of other dirty stuff. We beat the German U-boats with a flotilla of small carriers and destroyer escorts, not capital ships.

DDG-1000 Hits an Iceberg, Taking on Water

Trends in Navy Shipbuilding

And finally to put a scary bedtime story at the end of this night of reads is This week's column By Thomas Barnett