The Dynamics of Change in the Middle East

06/10/2011
An Interview with Gilles Kepel (Credit: http://gilleskepel.weebly.com/) 06/09/2011 - Second Line of Defense’ Robbin Laird sat down with Gilles Kepel in Paris and had a wide-ranging discussion on trends in the Middle East.  At the heart of the discussion was a clear argument that any simplistic assumption that there is…

The Discipline in the System Piece of the TACC

06/08/2011
An Interview with Col. Mintzlaff [caption id="attachment_18520" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Col. Mintzlaff During the Interview, April 2011 (Credit: SLD)"][/caption] 06/08/2011 - During the roundtable at Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC)  the challenge of maintaining discipline in the system was a key focus for discussion. The airlift system and the multi-modal approach reinforce…

The Role of the Barrel at the TACC

06/08/2011
The Adjudication Piece An Interview with Major Corinne Bonner [caption id="attachment_18870" align="alignleft" width="204" caption="Major Bonner During the SLD Interview (Credit: SLD)"][/caption] 06/09/2011 - During the roundtable at the Tanker Airlift Control Center (TACC) , the discussion closed with the challenge of adjudication (i.e. matching resources to demand and bringing plan and…

The C-235 in the French Air Force

06/08/2011
06/09/2011: During the Airbus Trade Media event in Spain in mid-May, Commandant David Spieles of the French Air Force provided an overview of how the French Air Force used the C-235 and their plans for the evolution of the fleet.  The core point really revolved around the relative ruggedness of…

Allies Struggle to Implement NATO’s Lisbon Summit Decisions

06/07/2011
By Dr. Richard Weitz 06/07/2011 - The attendees of the November 19-20, 2010 NATO Lisbon summits (among the NATO heads of state alone and their subsequent meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev within the framework of the NATO-Russia Council) faced two independent BMD decisions: (1) whether NATO would agree to integrate…

The Future of the People’s Republic of China (II)

06/07/2011
Have We Experienced the Dawn of the Chinese Century? By the Hon. Bill Anderson [caption id="attachment_19514" align="alignleft" width="231"] China as Epicenter of the Globe? (Credit: Bigstock)[/caption] 06/07/2011 - As Second Line of Defense completes its first issues forum, I offer a final thought from a different perspective on Chinese influence…both…