Thursday, August 6, 2009

HOT5 Daily 8/6/2009

1. "Is Foggy Bottom Ready for Irregular Warfare" Our diplomacy hasn't kept up with changing international conditions. 

Representative Sample: Top-level U.S. statesmen are loath to give up on the nation-state system, which is the foundation for so much of international law and diplomacy, and the basis by which U.S. statesmen do their work. Yet American soldiers have learned from hard experience how to succeed in the parts of the world that continue to function on a tribal basis. U.S. statesmen need to catch up in their thinking to where U.S. soldiers already are.

2. "Why Shariah Must Be Opposed" Why Jewish Law can be tolerated in the West, but Islamic law cannot and should not be.

Representative Sample: a fundamental difference separates the two. Islam is a missionizing religion, Judaism is not. Islamists aspire to apply Islamic law to everyone, while observant Jews seek only to live by Jewish law themselves.

3. "Human Intel Or Technical Intel?" Both would be good.

Representative Sample: One point Cordesman made in his briefing to Washington reporters really jumped out: the surprisingly poor intelligence we have on the enemy. How is it that eight years into this war we don’t have better intelligence on exactly who we’re fighting?

4. "The "Assassins Mace" and the Taiwan Straight" What strategy might China employ if it ever decides to attack Taiwan?

Representative Sample: In a new study looking at a possible Chinese attack against Taiwan, the RAND Corporation has concluded that the air war, at least “could essentially be over before much of the [American and Taiwanese] air forces have even fired a shot.” While grim, that assessment isn’t the entirety of what the report’s authors concluded.

5. "Government may be getting just a little more unpopular" Let's hope so.

Representative Sample: lots of people like the loss of liberty that comes with a government that has a seemingly endless stream of funding -- and still spends more than it takes in. But not everybody hankers after the suffocating embrace of the all-powerful state. That's why so many members of Congress are going home this month, only to run headlong into vigorous protests

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