China deploys submarine to Gulf of Aden

Chinese Song-class (Type 039) submarine. (Image via ChineseDefence.com)

New post up at Liberty Unyielding.  Enjoy!

ZIM Piraeus unloads cargo in Oakland; ‘Block the Boat’ keeps party going

ZIM Piraeus lurks menacingly in San Francisco Bay, 20 Aug. (Image: Steve Rhodes via Twitter)

New post up at Liberty Unyielding.  Enjoy!

Navy SEALs take over hijacked tanker in Mediterranean

 

The new face of smuggling? (Photo: Reuters/Esam Omran Al-Fetori)

Earlier in March, a shadowy oil tanker, suddenly bearing the name Morning Glory, showed up in Es-Sider, Libya with a plan to load oil from terminals held by Libyan rebels.

Back in January, forces of the Libyan government fired on a tanker as it attempted to enter the rebel-held port, reportedly to load another cargo of oil.  The tanker, Baku,

Peace in our time: ‘Game of carriers’ in Eastern Med

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has moved to clamp down on Ukraine in advance of the laughably rigged “referendum” scheduled for 16 March, when Crimeans will vote on which way to secede from Ukraine: either as an “independent” state or through annexation by Russia.  Crimeans who want to remain part of Ukraine are out of luck.

The battle for Crimea may be preordained; the battle for Ukraine underway.  There are also indications of a larger battle shaping up in the region, as the aircraft carriers of Russia and the United States perform an elaborate minuet in the Eastern Mediterranean.  If you weren’t convinced that the Russian move on Ukraine would rapidly destabilize the region, consider what has been going on in the last week west of Cyprus.

Back to the future: The post-Pax foreign policy debate

It is no accident that the arc of the 20th century has in some ways circled back to where it started, one hundred years on from the prelude to the “Great War” of 1914-18.  Whether humans imagine themselves to be acting on ideology or “realism,” we continue to do pretty much the same things.  Between politics, geography, and time, we humans are very predictable.

But Americans need not despair.  Our Founders built America