By Kenneth Maxwell At about 9:45 on the morning of November 1, 1755, All Saints Day, the earth beneath Lisbon began to move. The churches were full. Many of the faithful were at mass when the vaults and walls came down on the congregations. “I could hardly take a step…
By Robbin Laird When I published my recent piece carrying Alvin and Heidi Toffler’s thinking forward into today’s strategic environment, I hoped it would start a conversation. I did not expect one of the most thoughtful responses to come from Deborah Westphal. Alvin Toffler recruited her to Toffler Associates in…
By Robbin Laird On Oct. 20, The Insider published an investigation into the chemistry behind Russia’s explosives. Its central finding was stark: for the plasticizers, binders, acids and stabilizers Russia’s defense plants need, Chinese companies supply virtually all of them and in most cases also manufacture them. The Roshal Plasticizer…
The last installment traced how the geography of European defense has shifted from a Franco-German engine to a genuinely networked pillar, layered across NATO, the EU, and smaller coalitions. This installment turns to the question underneath that architecture: even with the right actors in the right places, what does it…
By Robbin F. Laird When I met Alvin Toffler during my time at Columbia, Future Shock was already one of the defining books of its era. It had given a name to something many people felt but could not articulate: the sense that change itself had become a force acting…
By Robbin Laird Marcus Jones, writing for CIMSEC on October 2, has made a case that deserves a wider audience than the shipbuilding specialists who will read it first. His argument is that Korean shipbuilding will matter to American naval power only if American institutions change how they buy, schedule,…
By Pierre Tran PARIS – France has scrambled to limit the damage after its chief of the defense staff told parliamentarians Oct. 8 that partner Germany has pulled out of a landmark project to build a new heavy tank and uncrewed vehicles, known as the main ground combat system (MGCS).…
By Robbin Laird Having been a long-term observer of Franco-German defense industrial cooperation, the thing I know for sure is that it is never static and is often subject to political maneuvering, industrial dialogue, distrusts and conflict. The new stage of that co-operation continues in that tradition. In the same…
