Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks’ daily take on national security.
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West_Point,_from_Phillipstown,_1831 Teaching cadets in the age of Trump
After class, surrounded by the same dusty chalkboards I used as a cadet years ago, I quickly realized something was wrong.
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This picture taken on September 3, 2017 and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 4, 2017 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un attending a meeting with a committee of the Workers' Party of Korea about the test of a hydrogen bomb, at an unknown location. North Korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb designed for a long-range missile on September 3 and called its sixth and most powerful nuclear test a "perfect success", sparking world condemnation and promises of tougher US sanctions. / AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS / STR / South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY AFP. / (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images) 15 assumptions about the behavior of North Korea’s Kim Family Regime (KFR)
he KFR will not give up its nuclear and missile programs.
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Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. (Tom Sawyer's comrade). By Mark Twain. With one hundred and seventy-four illustrations. New York, Charles L. Webster and Company, 1885. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS: PS1305 .A1 1885c: Copy 1: Original pictorial green cloth. Numerous newspaper clippings pasted inside both covers. Gift of Dr. Wilbur P. Morgan of Baltimore. Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia. All rights reserved. Reliefs and such: It’s been quite a summer
An Army major general is under investigation for sending racy texts to the wife of an enlisted man.
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Kampfpanzer Leopard 2 A5 bei einer Lehr- und Gefechtsvorführung. Best in the world? Nope. In fact, our small units are no longer as well trained as those of our allies, reports this Army captain.
At the squad, platoon, and company level, the U.S. Army is not as good as its allies, reports an Army captain.
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1000w_q95 Should this have been the American strategy in Afghanistan? Yes, I think so
In a new book on the American war in Afghanistan, Aaron MacLean presents this alternative approach as the road not taken.
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general_sir_alan_brooke_chief_of_general_staff_1942_tr153 Churchill had his faults, but he was a far better strategist than his generals were
In June 1944, after the D-Day landings in Normandy, his top military advisor, General Alan Brooke, wrote in his diary that, “We had a long and painful evening of it listening to Winston’s strategic ravings.”
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hawker_hurricane_r4118_arrives_riat_fairford_10thjuly2014_arp Sept. 15, 1940: Churchill watches as the last of the RAF reserves are committed
After a week of this pounding, Churchill traveled to the headquarters of the 11th Fighter Group, the unit responsible for the defense of the air over London and southeastern England.
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Monkeyweirdo The scariest article I have read in some time: Nuclear war is becoming thinkable, especially on the Korean peninsula
The new issue of International Security magazine contains a hair-raising article about nuclear weapons.
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orwell May 20, 1937: Orwell is shot in the neck
Orwell expected to remain at the front until late summer.
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fury_2014_poster1 Fury: A hard close-up view of small unit cohesion, both the good and bad sides
I give high marks to the film’s authenticity, which portrays true cohesion.
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fury_2014_poster1 What I intended to do in Fury: The film’s writer and director responds to CSM Rush
It seems that, because of Fury, I will forever be known by some parties as the filmmaker who failed to do his homework.
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US National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster denies the report of US President Donald Trump revealing classified information to Russian officials in the Oval Office, during a statement to the press outside of the West Wing at the White House in Washington, DC, May 15, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) McMaster’s former staff officer in Iraq: A general must not just stand by while a lie is being promulgated
Here is the response I received from retired Lt. Col. Paul Yingling, who was McMaster’s deputy commander in Iraq.
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Police officers stand by after Greenpeace activists unveiled a banner reading "liberty, equality, fraternity" on the Eiffel Tower in Paris early on May 5, 2017, to protest against the far-right Front National (FN) party, two days before the second round of the presidential election. / AFP PHOTO / Jacques DEMARTHON (Photo credit should read JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images) Best Defense’s special report from Paris: Security feels solid but not suffocating
Those on patrol look comfortable, not panicky, like they are used to this and can do their tasks without a lot of drama.
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zdt_0_022 Women in national security: A tipsheet on some good Twitter accounts to follow
The other day, Vanity Fair's Jim Warren carried a comment of mine about how nowadays there are a lot of smart women in national security commenting on Twitter. Here’s the list I gave him.
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screen-shot-2017-05-12-at-9-43-06-am Book review: ‘American War’ — a grim novel about a second American Civil War
I’ve been harping in this blog for awhile on the possibility of another American division, so I was interested to see a new novel tackle that subject.
