Hawker Beechcraft, Brazil and the Plane Truth (Updated)

08/22/2012
2012-08-22 By Robbin Laird Throughout the competition for the USAF aircraft to supply a light attack aircraft to the Afghans, HB has focused on getting its trainer to grow into an attack aircraft.  And among its bag of tricks has been a clear sense of the U.S. Company against a “foreign”…

Iraq’s Bilateral Ties with the GCC Members

08/21/2012
2012-08-21 By Richard Weitz I have dealt with the bilateral relationship between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.  In this piece, I am going to deal with Iraq’s bilateral relationships with the other GCC states. Kuwait Historical factors make Iraq’s relations with GCC member Kuwait especially important. Kuwait’s territorial integrity and sovereignty were…

Taking a Counter Intelligence Look at the Light Attack Aircraft Competition

08/19/2012
2012-08-19 by Ed Timperlake A group of special operations warriors and intelligence agents have had enough. In speaking out about the politicization of Top Secret Sensitive Compartmented Intelligence (TS/SCI) they are bring much need sunlight to a stop a dangerous and deadly practice. These shadow warriors in service to America…

The Indian Defense Market: Changing Dynamics

08/19/2012
2012-08-19 By Richard Weitz The back-to-back visits of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, in charge of that country’s military-industrial complex, to India last month demonstrate the heightened competition for India’s defense import market, currently the largest in the world. India accounted for…

Iraq and Saudi Arabia: The Politics of Frustration

08/18/2012
2012-08-18 By Richard Weitz The GCC governments generally defer to Saudi leadership regarding Iraq. For years, the Saudi authorities have seen Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki as an Iranian agent, but it should not be forgotten that they also had poor relations with his predecessors, Ilyad Allawi and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, as well.…

“Dynamic Defense” and the Japanese Defense White Paper 2012

08/16/2012
2012-08-16 by Robbin Laird The Japanese government released its latest Defense White Paper late last month. This is the first white paper released since they announced their decision to acquire the F-35, and provides a further elucidation upon the new defense policy announced in 2010. The Japanese announced in that…

China and the Arctic: An Element of an Evolving Global Strategy

08/15/2012
2012-08-14 by Robbin Laird China is building an expanding global presence strategy, economically, politically and militarily.  And the impact of what they do on others is on the rise as well. We looked in our first Strategic Inflections Reports on the impact of the Chinese economy and its evolution worldwide. …

Japan’s Foreign Policy: From “Trading Firm” To International Security Actor

08/15/2012
2012-08-20 by Richard Weitz Historically, the Japanese nation has proven to be highly adaptive to international pressures. Not long after Admiral Matthew Perry forced Japan to open to foreign trade in 1853, the Japanese government initiated a comprehensive restructuring of the country’s political and economic systems. Termed the Meiji Restoration,…