10/17/2011: During the Second Line of Defense visit to the West Coast in late July 2011 to discuss USCG operations and challenges, a wide-ranging discussion was conducted with the San Francisco Sector. Captain Cyndy Stowe, Sector Commander led the discussion. Captain Bliven, Commanders Stuhlreyer, and Tama participated in the round…
By Dr. Richard Weitz 10/17/2011 - One problem created by Vladimir Putin’s return to the Russian presidency is that it might make it harder to negotiate an agreement to reduce Russia’s large stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs). No bilateral treaty limits the number of non-strategic nuclear weapons in the…
10/15/2011 - By Dr. Robbin Laird and Dr. Alain Dupas The Libyan military operation in Libya is not yet over. It is too early for scholarly and learned lessons. But it is not too early to look at the tactical experiences and how those experiences presage changes to come. We…
10/14/2011 By Richard Weitz Many of my questions in Turkey concerned that country’s ties with Russia. The Turkish officials we met considered their country’s relations with Russia to be their best ever. They pointed to their extensive bilateral trade, the millions of Russian tourists who visit Turkey each year, and the…
10/13/2011 - In August 2011, Second Line of Defense sat down with Vice Admiral Parker in his office Portsmouth, VA to discuss the challenges facing the USCG in the Atlantic Area. [caption id="attachment_24526" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Vice Admiral Parker During the SLD Interview (Credit: SLD)"][/caption] Vice Admiral Robert C. Parker assumed…
10/13/2011 By Richard Weitz The political turmoil in Syria is depriving Turkey’s ruling Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP, or Justice and Development Party) of one of its most significant foreign policy achievements. Since the AKP came to power in 2002, Turkey and Syria have seen a major improvement in their…
10/12/11 by Richard Weitz Second Line of Defense was invited to send a representative on a study trip to Turkey for U.S. foreign policy specialists. The trip, which is occuring from October 7-14, included visits to Ankara, Hatay, and Istanbul and meetings with a range of government officials, academic and…
10/10/11 by Robbin Laird This week we are posting some new and highlighting some earlier postings on the Libyan operation. The operation and its impacts are hardly over. Lessons learned would be premature. But insights gleaned from the operations so far as well threats spinning out of the Libyan events…
