2012-09-06 By Robbin Laird Major Mike “Gravy” Roundtree, flew the 199th sortie of the F-35 on August 24, 2012. Just after his flight, I had a chance to talk with him about that flight and his assessment of the F-35 and its role for the USMC. Question: You are a…
2012-09-05 By Richard Weitz Despite the widespread civil disorders that began in Syria in March 2011, the Iraqi government has pressed on with its policy of rapprochement with the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Maliki initially refrained from taking a position on the violence in Syria, saying only that Iraqis want…
By D.K. Matai Spain is emerging as the center of the battlefield for the survival of the Eurozone as the probability for further fragmentation and exits increases dramatically. The flight of capital from Spain is now bigger than what Indonesia, one of the hardest hit countries during the Asian financial…
2019-09-12 By Robbin Laird During my visit to Eglin AFB, I had a chance to talk with Major Mike Byrd, USAF, a maintainer in the F-35 program about many aspects of the maintenance training process. In this interview we focused upon the weapons loading training platform at Eglin. Byrd: The…
2012-09-04 By Robbin Laird I had the opportunity to visit the 33rd Fighter Wing on August 24, 2012. I first visited the wing in January 2010, and much of what I saw this month was aspirational in January 2010. Seeing pilots and maintainers populating classrooms, and planes on the tarmac, flying…
2012-09-04 By Richard Weitz The United States should make a greater effort to help Japan and Russia reduce their territorial tensions. Whatever its causes, the dispute prevents these two countries from aligning together to advance their common security and economic interests, which are also shared by the United States. When Boris…
2012-09-02 By Richard Weitz Japan and Russia are on a collision course and can be resolved only if both sides have the wil to do so. History has a long reach in the Pacific and managing history is a constant of any Pacific strategy. Japanese and Russian historians can cite competing…
2012-09-02 By Richard Weitz Since Saddam was ousted in 2003 until recently, two issues have dominated the Iraqi-Syrian relationship. Syria’s initial decision to host the remnants of the Iraqi Baath Party who fled Baghdad aroused fear and resentment with the new government in Baghdad. Iraqi authorities suspected that Syria was allowing…
