04/27/2014: Introduction by Ed Timperlake Khe Sanh has an important place in the Vietnam War. For Marines, the epic battle is how they remember the name. In a remote mountain stronghold in 1968, six thousand US Marines awoke one January morning to find themselves surrounded by 20,000 enemy troops. Their only road…
2014-04-27 With Afghan operations drawing down, it is important to remember how challenging the Afghan enivornment is and the impact of that operational environment has been on US and allied military equipment. A recent photo from Camp Bastion is a good reminder of the demanding Afghan environment. [caption id="attachment_64851" align="alignnone"…
2014-04-26 For those of us who remember Russian history, kto kvo was Lenin’s famous quote about political struggle. The question of who benefits is a foundation for any political maneuvering, not short term “tough” policy stances. We published a piece earlier on the challenge of imposing sanctions on the Russians…
2014-04-25 by Robbin Laird The Russians have been map-making in Crimea. With the Ukraine in play, close observers of Russian behavior are taking their measure of what such behavior might mean elsewhere. Clearly, an area of note is the Baltics. With Putin’s emphasis on Russian ethnic solidarity trumping international borders,…
2014-04-25 by defenceWeb Last year South African soldiers deployed in the DRC as part of MONUSCO came under fire from rebel groups they speedily resorted to social media to let family and friends know they were safe. This is one of the myriad uses of social media, which an SA…
2014-04-24 By Cem Devrim Yaylalı The Montreux Convention regarding the regime of the Turkish Straits was signed on 20 July 1936 in Montreux. With this convention, the Republic of Turkey managed to end the issue of Straits, which was resolved temporarily with the Treaty of Lausanne, so as to protect its…
2014-04-24 By staff writer from defenceWeb A pertinent illustration of why South Africa needs a capable and well-equipped defense force comes from a discussion by the chairman and three members of the Defence Review committee. Taking the example of South African losses suffered in the Battle for Bangui last year, Roelf…
2014-04-22 By Murielle Delaporte In a recent article published in Leatherneck, Murielle Delaporte provided an overview of the Crisis Response unit with a focus on the effort in South Sudan. Interviews conducted in December 2013 at the Morón de la Frontera Air Force Base in Spain, where the SPMAGTF–CR temporarily…
