The Planetary Society blog
- Two natural bridges on the MoonImagine this landscape: you're walking across an unusually smooth lunar surface, an impact melt sheet on the floor of a relatively recently formed crater. Suddenly, a pit opens before you, leading to a floor six meters below you. Crossing the pit is a thin, arching bridge of solid lunar rock. Taking a chance on an unusual walk, you venture out onto the […]
Sublime Oblivion
- Spooks, Mercs or Merchants over Iceland?This is a reprint of a post from Arctic Progress. Back when Iceland tipped over into financial collapse during 2008 and the UK seized Icelandic banks’ assets using anti-terrorist laws as fig cover, Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar stated that Russia … Continue reading → […]
Strange Maps
- 479 - Gangs of LAAll conflict tends towards binarity, be it on the chess board, in the political arena or on the mean streets of Los Angeles. This map shows parts of south LA, and the way it is divided between the two main gangs, the Bloods and the Crips. Curiously, the colour scheme is identical to the one dividing US counties and states into ‘red’ (Republican) and ‘blue’ ( […]
IMINT & Analysis
- Does All of Our Intelligence Data Pass The "So What" Test?Data relevance is critical to achieving success in the Intelligence Community (IC). Simply put, everything that we do must pass the “so what?” test, and we need to move away from creating intelligence data for intelligence’ sake. This means that every intelligence product and briefing should have a clear goal and tangible outcomes.The unfortunate reality is […]
New Wars
- LCS NewsBecause we have slowed down posting on the LCS Acronym page (though feel free to keep them coming as the creative juices flows!), I decided to make use of vital space and start posting any Breaking News on the littoral combat ship (LCS) here. Also feel free to post alternative LCS ideas and let the [...] […]
Abu Muqawama
- On Bacevich, Part IThe last time I saw Andrew Bacevich was a month or so ago, and he chastised me for not responding to this piece he wrote on the New Republic's website. I explained that I had been busy finishing a draft of my dissertation but that I would give it some thought and would respond. I have been thinking a lot about morality and foreign policy since, so Part […]
Arms Control Wonk
- Working at the MarginsMy alter ego, Chauncey Gardiner, joins me (again) for this post, which is prompted, no doubt, by an August spent pulling weeds in the bog garden and thinking/writing about U.S.-Pakistan nuclear relations. Restoration Creek – just a trickle, really – winds its way through the woods behind the house from a spring at the base [...] […]