The Mumbai Terrorist Attacks and “Open Source” Warfare
We still don't know for certain yet why the attacks in Mumbai took place or who the perpetrators were and we may not know for quite a while if ever. There are lots of speculations and accusations but precious little hard data. We don't even know for certain how many were in the group that attacked Mumbai last ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on December 3, 2008 10:37
Bobby Jindal Presidential Bid Underway
A long profile in today's WaPo extolling Bobby Jindal as the Republican Party's best hope to regain the White House may constitute the unofficial start of Campaign 2012. It's about time. Last weekend, 18 days after Barack Obama decisively defeated their candidate for president, a mostly Republican crowd of self-described conservatives received their first introduction to someone many prominent members of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 30, 2008 08:00
Terrorist Rampage Ended in Mumbai (Updated)
After nearly three days the terrorist rampage that has rocked India's financial capital, Mumbai, has ended in a hail of bullets as Indian forces killed the last three gunmen who had barricaded themselves within a luxury hotel: MUMBAI, India – A 60-hour terror rampage that killed at least 195 people across India's financial capital ended Saturday when commandos killed the last ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 29, 2008 10:18
What the Heck Happened in Mumbai? (Updated)
The Washington Post is now reporting that the Indian Army is conducting raids in an attempt to free the hostages that have been taken in the attack that took place in Mumbai yesterday: Sharpshooters and Indian Army commandos launched dramatic raids Thursday into two of India's most luxurious hotels, attempting to root out gunmen whose deadly attacks have transformed parts of ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 27, 2008 16:26
The World of 2025
Thomas Fingar, the chair of the National Intelligence Council, spoke to the Atlantic Council last night on the release of "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World." He and his team project nearly two decades into the future in order to "stimulate strategic thinking" among U.S. policymakers during this period of transition between presidential administrations. This undertaking is useful, as Council ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 21, 2008 08:31
Quantifying World Poverty
Today the New York Times has an editorial about world poverty: There is a lot more poverty in the world than previously thought. The World Bank reported in August that in 2005, there were 1.4 billion people living below the poverty line — that is, living on less than $1.25 a day. That is more than a quarter of the developing world’s ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on September 2, 2008 08:54
Do What About Pakistan?
Spurred by Russia's invasion of Georgia and Pervez Musharraf's resignation, Robert Tracinski has an article at Real Clear Politics titled “What To Do About Pakistan?”. There are three components to Mr. Tracinski's ideas: Win in Afghanistan This is a distinctly “chicken and the egg” sort of proposition. I'm not entirely sure how one goes about winning in Afghanistan without ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 22, 2008 18:13
Pakistan ISI Planned, Supported Indian Embassy Bombing
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency helped plan and provided logistical support for last month's bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan according to U.S. intelligence reports leaked to the press by various "officials." Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt report for the NYT that, The conclusion was based on intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officers and militants who carried out the attack, the ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on August 1, 2008 07:26
Why Print Media Isn’t Dead Yet
Jeff Jarvis argues, persuasively, that newspapers should get out of the business of printing, distribution, circulation, and ad sales and concentrate on their essential function. And he's not just saying that they should shut down their print operations and focus on the Web. He figures that Google and others do all that stuff so well that journalism would be ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 10, 2008 12:40
Jesse Helms’ Foreign Policy Legacy
Christopher Hitchens joins the legions dancing on Jesse Helms' grave. Rather than piling on about the racism of a Southern politician whose career began sixty-odd years ago, he instead focuses on Helms' foreign policy: His chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was a period of national embarrassment and, sometimes, disgrace. The Helms-Burton Act of 1996, imposing additional economic sanctions on ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 7, 2008 12:57
