Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog

Agreed, an active duty CDR asking tough questions, I hope they don't go after him.

For those interested in more, CDR Salamander discussed the article and CDR Hendrix engaged the discussion in the comments.

Very interesting article. Not sure if straw in the wind or something else! I have always worried what the impacts would be of a US carrier sinking! What exactly is the posture of the diesel sub fleets of potential antagonists that believe the US NAVY must be opposed or bypassed by successful strategy or tactics? Is that (subs) or sea-skimmers the anti-carrier weaponary to watch, or both? Tom, just out of curiousity do you have naval strategy books (hopefully post-MAHAN) that you would recommend? What is really behind our out-spending the rest of the world on naval warfare? Is this driven by politics, economics, or strategy? What are the leading books analyzing the US NAVY in English by foreign naval strategists? What is the saying--a fool can ask more questions than a wise man may answer? Still worth knowing what your thoughts are and will naval strategy have a role--past and current--in your new book? Seems the PNM and BFA are largely landbased analysis. Yet you teach at Newport! One of the things that interests me about the Iraq deployment is how much ocean-based shipping is part of the logistics chain. In Viet Nam it was absolutely crucial. Is it still, because I think it is, and ocean-based shipping is much more crucial as a part of US critical infrastructure (and its protection) than some would think (and may be growing-LNG e.g.). What is the dependence logistically now of various powers on ocean shipping? Seems energy sector must have it or wither. Is that sector able to survive disruptions of ocean-shipping? Is that disruption possible?