Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

A merry Christmas from Best Defense

See you next week. I aim to get some writing done on my book, and also to take the dogs for some long walks in the snowy woods. My little pups do not think it queer to hike without a farmhouse near. Until then, here’s something to watch: I don’t know quite what to make ...

BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images
BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images
BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images

See you next week. I aim to get some writing done on my book, and also to take the dogs for some long walks in the snowy woods. My little pups do not think it queer to hike without a farmhouse near.

See you next week. I aim to get some writing done on my book, and also to take the dogs for some long walks in the snowy woods. My little pups do not think it queer to hike without a farmhouse near.

Until then, here’s something to watch: I don’t know quite what to make of this video, apparently from the friendly folks at the Swedish air force. As I watched I kept on wondering why the jet blast didn’t hit the sledders. Also, here is a good video on how Joe Biden rolls.

A special holiday greeting to former Home Depot chief Bernie Marcus, for funding a special rehabilitation project for brain-injured soldiers.

And a salute to Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust for swift action in letting ROTC back on campus. Here is commentary from that rarest of creatures, a Harvard ROTC grad. (Soldiers would wonder at his presence in Iraq, he recalls, because they thought "Harvard grads were the people who sent them half-way around the world to some forgotten hell-hole, not the ones who went there with them." He also says the real test will come the next time the United States gets into an unpopular war.) The White House says President Obama will sign the law repealing the ban on being honestly gay in the military tomorrow. But Virginia may kick Ashley Wilkes out of its National Guard.

A big lump of coal to the government of Iran, which just sentenced Jafar Panahi, maker of the lovely film Offside, to six years in prison, and also banned him from making films for 20 years.

And please feel free to use this post to talk amongst yourselves. One issue: A reader wants to know some good books about Yemen to read over the holiday break. Any suggestions?

And with that, this blog is closed for the week.

(HT to BH & AM)

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.
An illustration shows the Statue of Liberty holding a torch with other hands alongside hers as she lifts the flame, also resembling laurel, into place on the edge of the United Nations laurel logo.

A New Multilateralism

How the United States can rejuvenate the global institutions it created.

A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.
A view from the cockpit shows backlit control panels and two pilots inside a KC-130J aerial refueler en route from Williamtown to Darwin as the sun sets on the horizon.

America Prepares for a Pacific War With China It Doesn’t Want

Embedded with U.S. forces in the Pacific, I saw the dilemmas of deterrence firsthand.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, seen in a suit and tie and in profile, walks outside the venue at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Behind him is a sculptural tree in a larger planter that appears to be leaning away from him.

The Endless Frustration of Chinese Diplomacy

Beijing’s representatives are always scared they could be the next to vanish.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomes Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman during an official ceremony at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, on June 22, 2022.

The End of America’s Middle East

The region’s four major countries have all forfeited Washington’s trust.