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The Biden administration’s refusal to distinguish between our principal military adversary and climate change is yet more evidence that the military is following ideology instead of winning our wars.In a press briefing on November 10, Pentagon spokesman retired Adm. John Kirby gave further evidence of the Biden administration’s incoherent national strategy. He refused to distinguish between China and “climate change” as threats to U.S. national security.In response to a question of “which is a bigger threat, the climate or China?” Kirby said, “You’ve heard the secretary talk about the climate as a — a real and existential national security threat...

“Come not between the dragon and his wrath,” King Lear enjoined, but this we must do to upend the wrath that has emanated from the most powerful foe America has faced. As terrible as the coronavirus crisis is, we must imagine a world ten or 20 years from now, in which the People’s Republic of China’s nominal gross domestic product is 50 percent larger than that of the United States.What power would an unconstrained China wield? What force of arms would they muster to intimidate and to control?If China’s actions in the coronavirus catastrophe offer any window into this...

Military Strategy: What are the optimal siege tactics for taking Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle? What if the Mouse House rises up as an evil totalitarianism government, enslaving the masses and dooming us all to a life of hand-stitching Pluto plushies? Something would have to be done. And one pack of folks has outlined the perfect plan of attack on Magic Kingdom's Cinderella Castle. The story originates at Quora.com as follows ... Cinderella Castle is the the worldwide-recognized icon of the Disney empire. Physical representations of it stand at the center of two Disney Parks: Walt Disney World in Florida, and...

In late November, Iran conducted a five day exercise to see how well its air and ground forces could defend against an air attack. The results were not what they expected. Israel has been threatening such an attack if Iran does not halt its nuclear weapons development. The Iranian exercise had air and air-defense units go through the motions of dealing with a hostile air strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. The Iranian generals who organized the exercise were surprised at how uncoordinated and ill prepared their forces were for such an attack. Communications were spotty (due to equipment failures and...

'Transparency' is not how Sun Tzu and China's PLA approach war By Lev Navrozov SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM Lev Navrozov emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1972 He settled in New York City where he quickly learned that there was no market for his eloquent and powerful English language attacks on the Soviet Union. To this day, he writes without fear or favor or the conventions of polite society. He chaired the "Alternative to the New York Times Committee" in 1980, challenged the editors of the New York Times to a debate (which they declined) and became a columnist for...

The first campaigns of the Long War are drawing to a close. The Jihadis have lost the opening rounds. What next? There’s an unconscious conviction that what happens next is… nothing. We go back to everyday life, the way things were before all that unpleasantness in lower Manhattan and Washington those long years ago. We shut out the harmful, hateful world once again, go our own way, and forget about jihads, and suicide belts, and dirty bombs, and beheadings, and all the other nightmares that have filled our days since 2001. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be in the cards....

Naval War College Professor Thomas Barnett has been one of the leading thinkers behind the Revolution in Military Affairs and the transformation of the Pentagon under Donald Rumsfeld. He is the author of the bestselling book "The Pentagon's New Map," which is a clear exposition of our new post-war political/military environmnet. He has appeared on CSPAN and in many other prominent forums. Of course, Dr. Barnett has attracted some of the hatred directed at Donald Rumsfeld. While some of this is from liberals a lot of the enmity against Rumsfeld derives from Pentagon insiders who cannot figure out that we...

In an interview earlier this month, multinational corps commander Lt. Gen. Thomas F. Metz admitted, "As much as I would love the Iraqis to love me, and my doctrine tells me I want to win the hearts and minds, I know I'm not going to do that." He's right. But few of his superiors seem to have accepted that reality. Rather, as recent events in Najaf reveal, military operations in Iraq continue to fall between two levels, destructive enough to provoke Iraqi resistance but not ruthless enough to suppress it. Instead, we continue to play at making war, sacrificing both...

We weren't "almost all wrong" about Saddam's WMDs. But our diplomatic strategy was. David Kay — former head of the U.S. WMD search team in Iraq — told a Senate Committee Wednesday that, "...we were almost all wrong" in believing Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. After a whole day of Democrat hyperventilation about why we haven't found any of Saddam's WMDs, it's time to take stock and remember Sun Tzu. The fact that Saddam's WMDs haven't been found proves precisely nothing about whether he had them, what form they were in, or what became of them. In David...

<p>The great paradox of the escalating Iraq War is that the attacking allies want fewer Iraqi casualties than does Saddam Hussein. We can't recall another war where this was true, but the insight is crucial to understanding how this struggle is likely to unfold, and how the Iraqi dictator hopes to survive.</p>

Stratfor Weekly: Iraq's Strategic Dilemma Here is your complimentary Stratfor Weekly, written by our Chairman and Founder, Dr. George Friedman. Please feel free to email this analysis to a friend. Iraq's Strategic Dilemma Summary Saddam Hussein's future course of action depends upon his perception of his military options and capabilities. U.S. officials view the Iraqi military through the lens of 1991, but Iraqi leaders have had 11 years to rethink their war-fighting doctrine. They know they will be immobilized and that U.S. air power will shatter their communications and intelligence networks. Of necessity, therefore, they have developed a static and...