Up from the Cracks
I'd intended to do some blog housekeeping this weekend, but I think it's going to take me a bit longer to get everything sketched out. This post will mop up a few of the minor stories that are worth noting, but that fell through the cracks while I was on holiday; in the next few days, I'm going to make a concerted effort to analyze three major news stories: North Korea's missile tests, Israel's campaign in Gaza, and the current situation in Afghanistan.
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Last week, a Japanese freighter repelled an attack by pirates in the Strait of Malacca. The Strait of Malacca, a thin strip of water separating the mainland portion of Malaysia, Singapore, and northern Sumatra (Indonesia). Those who paid attention during the coverage of the 2004 Tsunami will remember that the Indonesian government has only tenuous control over the Aceh region of Sumatra (the northwest corner of the island). The relationship of Aceh province to Indonesia is similar to the relationship of Waziristan and Balochistan to Pakistan: officially, the former regions are part of the latter, but the administration by the ruling country is limited at best. Piracy arises in territorial waters that aren't well-defended by a strong naval presence. The same thing has been happening off the coast of Somalia, and the United States Navy had at one point dispatched a couple of ships to exercise some control. The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest sea lines of communication in the world. Hopefully this issue will be seriously tackled by the economic community, as it represents a major vulnerability to international trade and infrastructure.
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There have been several news stories out of Mauritania lately, and long-time readers of TSTF know that I cover every Mauritania story I see since I have a good friend there, and since there was a bloodless coup d'etat there last August. On 26th June, Mauritania held a referendum election so that the Mauritanian electorate could approve changes to their constitution. Ninety-seven percent of voters backed changes to the existing constitution, including presidential term limits. There was a voter turnout of nearly seventy-seven percent, which should make us freedom-exporting Americans feel shame and humiliation at our pathetic voter turnouts. Also in June, the Mauritanian government arrested alleged al Qaeda affiliates, and has begun trying them on terrorism charges.
I'm approaching the developments in Mauritania with cautious optimism. According to my friend, the new regime is both more popular and more conservative than the preceding one; she says that since the coup, beer has become more expensive, for example. That worries me a bit, because the last thing I want to see is another hard-line Islamic republic. On the other hand, I'm a supporter of any regime that prosecutes Islamist terrorists, as Mauritania appears to be doing. My hope is that Mauritania will follow the example of Utah: preserve the rights of the minority, while making reasonable laws according to the will of the majority.
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And finally, the British Ministry of Defense is shaking up their acquisition procedures. They claim that they want to get the best equipment at the best price. In recent years, the MoD has been making a massive effort to scale back defense spending. When I was in the United Kingdom during 2004, they eliminated several warships from the Royal Navy, eliminating the positions of several hundred sailors and civilian staffers. In December of '04, the MoD's manpower ceiling was lowered by Parliament, leading the British Army to restructure and relocate several units to keep from losing them altogether. All of Scotland's storied, historic, and honorable units were combined into a big gagglefuck called the Royal Regiment of Scotland; the entirety of this move, which included more units than just the Scottish ones, eliminated four battalions altogether, in a time when the United Kingdom was deploying troops to Iraq, Afghanistan, and all of the other places where they were serving prior to those conflicts. Experienced officers spoke out against the plan; more details about this particular move by the MoD can be found here.
Interestingly enough, one of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's legacies as the SecDef will be to make similar changes to the U.S. Army; also, with the contiuation of programs like the DD(X), the Navy is seeing some of the same developments.
Being a specialist in military subject matter, I think that the idea of a lighter, faster force structure system is a sound one. The system that was developed from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War is obsolete, and it's pertinent to change up both the force structure and the equipment that our military uses. I hope, though, that both our own military, and the military assets of our closest ally, are being organized in such a way as to most effectively prosecute the war that we are likely to be fighting into the foreseeable future. We don't need a massive army to liberate Eastern Europe and defend against a Soviet invasion; however, that doesn't mean that the United States or the United Kingdom can afford to eliminate too many troop positions. LIke it or not, we will be in Iraq and Afghanistan into the foreseeable future, and although nobody wants to talk about it, a proper prosecution of the war could very well lead us to take military action against any number of rogue states that sponsor terrorism. Raider/ranger style units are good, and I'll be the first one to agree that such units, plus special forces units like the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps Force Recon, Special Air Service, and Royal Marines are one of the most crucial elements to the War on Terror. Like it or not, raider/ranger units and spec ops personnel are not properly employed as a garrison/occupation force. I sincerely hope that we (and our allies) retain the type and number of troops necessary to successfully carry out these prolonged campaigns.
And, for the record, it would be in the Brits' best interest to test their new procurement system by replacing the SA 80, which is pretty much worthless as far as most experts are concerned.
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Tomorrow, I'll make a concerted effort to tackle the issue of North Korea, and make a number of points on the subject relating to the nuclear programs of India and Pakistan. Stay tuned.
---
Last week, a Japanese freighter repelled an attack by pirates in the Strait of Malacca. The Strait of Malacca, a thin strip of water separating the mainland portion of Malaysia, Singapore, and northern Sumatra (Indonesia). Those who paid attention during the coverage of the 2004 Tsunami will remember that the Indonesian government has only tenuous control over the Aceh region of Sumatra (the northwest corner of the island). The relationship of Aceh province to Indonesia is similar to the relationship of Waziristan and Balochistan to Pakistan: officially, the former regions are part of the latter, but the administration by the ruling country is limited at best. Piracy arises in territorial waters that aren't well-defended by a strong naval presence. The same thing has been happening off the coast of Somalia, and the United States Navy had at one point dispatched a couple of ships to exercise some control. The Strait of Malacca is one of the busiest sea lines of communication in the world. Hopefully this issue will be seriously tackled by the economic community, as it represents a major vulnerability to international trade and infrastructure.
---
There have been several news stories out of Mauritania lately, and long-time readers of TSTF know that I cover every Mauritania story I see since I have a good friend there, and since there was a bloodless coup d'etat there last August. On 26th June, Mauritania held a referendum election so that the Mauritanian electorate could approve changes to their constitution. Ninety-seven percent of voters backed changes to the existing constitution, including presidential term limits. There was a voter turnout of nearly seventy-seven percent, which should make us freedom-exporting Americans feel shame and humiliation at our pathetic voter turnouts. Also in June, the Mauritanian government arrested alleged al Qaeda affiliates, and has begun trying them on terrorism charges.
I'm approaching the developments in Mauritania with cautious optimism. According to my friend, the new regime is both more popular and more conservative than the preceding one; she says that since the coup, beer has become more expensive, for example. That worries me a bit, because the last thing I want to see is another hard-line Islamic republic. On the other hand, I'm a supporter of any regime that prosecutes Islamist terrorists, as Mauritania appears to be doing. My hope is that Mauritania will follow the example of Utah: preserve the rights of the minority, while making reasonable laws according to the will of the majority.
---
And finally, the British Ministry of Defense is shaking up their acquisition procedures. They claim that they want to get the best equipment at the best price. In recent years, the MoD has been making a massive effort to scale back defense spending. When I was in the United Kingdom during 2004, they eliminated several warships from the Royal Navy, eliminating the positions of several hundred sailors and civilian staffers. In December of '04, the MoD's manpower ceiling was lowered by Parliament, leading the British Army to restructure and relocate several units to keep from losing them altogether. All of Scotland's storied, historic, and honorable units were combined into a big gagglefuck called the Royal Regiment of Scotland; the entirety of this move, which included more units than just the Scottish ones, eliminated four battalions altogether, in a time when the United Kingdom was deploying troops to Iraq, Afghanistan, and all of the other places where they were serving prior to those conflicts. Experienced officers spoke out against the plan; more details about this particular move by the MoD can be found here.
Interestingly enough, one of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld's legacies as the SecDef will be to make similar changes to the U.S. Army; also, with the contiuation of programs like the DD(X), the Navy is seeing some of the same developments.
Being a specialist in military subject matter, I think that the idea of a lighter, faster force structure system is a sound one. The system that was developed from the end of World War II to the end of the Cold War is obsolete, and it's pertinent to change up both the force structure and the equipment that our military uses. I hope, though, that both our own military, and the military assets of our closest ally, are being organized in such a way as to most effectively prosecute the war that we are likely to be fighting into the foreseeable future. We don't need a massive army to liberate Eastern Europe and defend against a Soviet invasion; however, that doesn't mean that the United States or the United Kingdom can afford to eliminate too many troop positions. LIke it or not, we will be in Iraq and Afghanistan into the foreseeable future, and although nobody wants to talk about it, a proper prosecution of the war could very well lead us to take military action against any number of rogue states that sponsor terrorism. Raider/ranger style units are good, and I'll be the first one to agree that such units, plus special forces units like the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps Force Recon, Special Air Service, and Royal Marines are one of the most crucial elements to the War on Terror. Like it or not, raider/ranger units and spec ops personnel are not properly employed as a garrison/occupation force. I sincerely hope that we (and our allies) retain the type and number of troops necessary to successfully carry out these prolonged campaigns.
And, for the record, it would be in the Brits' best interest to test their new procurement system by replacing the SA 80, which is pretty much worthless as far as most experts are concerned.
---
Tomorrow, I'll make a concerted effort to tackle the issue of North Korea, and make a number of points on the subject relating to the nuclear programs of India and Pakistan. Stay tuned.
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