Iran
US, Israel view Iran threat with different ‘clocks’: general
Yahoo News – August 19, 2012
The United States and Israel have different interpretations of the same intelligence reports on Iran’s nuclear programme, the US military’s top general said.
Korea
S. Korea, US start major annual military drill
Asiaone News – August 20, 2012
The South Korean and US military Monday began an annual major joint exercise to test defences against North Korea, a drill denounced by Pyongyang which vowed to strengthen its nuclear deterrent.
Asia-Pacific
The South China Sea’s Gathering Storm
James Webb, Wall Street Journal – August 19, 2012
Since World War II, despite the costly flare-ups in Korea and Vietnam, the United States has proved to be the essential guarantor of stability in the Asian-Pacific region, even as the power cycle shifted from Japan to the Soviet Union and most recently to China.
Syria
Jihadists are joining Syria’s bloody civil war
Justin Vela, Star Tribune – August 19, 2012
A shadowy jihadist organization that first surfaced on the Internet to assert responsibility for suicide bombings in Aleppo and Damascus has stepped out of the shadows and onto the front lines of the war for Syria’s cities.
Defense Spending
Exploding costs
Washington Post – August 19, 2012
As long as the United States possesses a nuclear arsenal and needs to deter threats, the warheads and bombs must be kept safe, secure and, if deployed, effective. This is a goal of a major U.S. effort to refurbish and extend the life of its existing weapons.
Surge in canceled deals offers preview of sequester damage ahead
Nick Taborek, Washington Post – August 19, 2012
A surge in canceled U.S. contracts as war funding winds down may be a preview of the damage ahead for government vendors under looming automatic budget cuts.
Defense workers to Congress: solve the problem, stop the automatic cuts
David Lawder, Reuters – August 19, 2012
The uncertainty over automatic cuts in U.S. defense spending to be triggered in January because of congressional inaction has spread to the engineers and project managers in South Florida’s aerospace industry.
