Iran
Details emerge on Iran’s priorities in nuclear talks
Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor – July 6, 2012
Details are emerging about the content of Iran’s nuclear talks with world powers, days after a 15-hour marathon meeting of technical experts in Istanbul, which show the two sides poles apart but engaged on substantive issues.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan blast kills 6 U.S. troops
Laura King and Aimal Yaqubi, Los Angeles Times – July 9, 2012
In what was an extraordinarily violent day even by Afghan standards, separate incidents on Sunday killed seven Western troops, including six Americans who died in a single blast, along with five Afghan police officers and at least 18 civilians, Western and Afghan officials said.
Nuclear Weapons
13 minutes to doomsday
Washington Post – July 8, 2012
Throughout the Cold War, the United States kept land-based missiles with nuclear warheads on alert and ready to launch in three to four minutes after the president gave the order.
The B-1 bomber – Back to the future
Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today – July 8, 2012
President Obama’s new military strategy is taking shape here on the sun-seared grasslands of West Texas where B-1 bomber pilots train.
Defense Spending
Defense Firms Fear U.S. Budget Cuts
Nathan Hodge, Wall Street Journal – July 8, 2012
For months, U.S. aerospace and defense firms have warned that across-the-board cuts put into law by last year’s Budget Control Act would spell disaster for the industry. Now they are starting to talk openly about when they might have to hand out pink slips to their employees.
Law of the Sea
Conservatives and the Law of the Sea Time Warp
John Norton Moore, Wall Street Journal – July 8, 2012
In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged legislators to reject the 30-year-old Law of the Sea Treaty, saying it would force the United States “to pay royalties to less productive countries, based on rhetoric about the common heritage of mankind.”
