December's Armed Forces Journal is online and here's the lineup:
Terror at the Border by Robert Killebrew
With American attention diverted to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economic crisis and a hard-fought national election, national security experts have largely overlooked the bitter countercartel war in Mexico. But that war, which is beginning to overlap the US border, is only the forerunner of an even more serious threat. Sometime in the near future a lethal combination of transnational terrorism and criminal gangs is going to cross the US border in force. According to some, it already has, and we haven't even noticed.
Learning from Lawrence: Lawrence the Insurgent by Robert Batement
Of late, there are quite a few people who have taken to quoting T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia. The quotation presented above is seen almost every day now, on military briefings and in State Department papers, in news articles and in public statements from people involved in all aspects of our effort. In the eyes of many, Lawrence, it seems, holds the answer to our dilemmas - in our efforts to suppress an insurgency and helping develop a democracy.
Transition Strategy: If Iran Goes Nuclear by Joseph Collins
Iran and its nuclear program will be a top issue for the Obama administration. Both US political parties have declared an Iranian nuclear weapons capability to be "unacceptable." We all believe that we would better off if we lived in a world of fewer nuclear powers, and if erratic and ambitious states such as Iran did not develop nuclear weapons.
Flashpoint: Buccaneers are Back by Peter Brookes
The thought of pirates usually evokes Hollywood blockbusters involving swashbuckling buccaneers, tropical isles and buried treasure marked on a tattered map with an "X." To those mindful of history, piracy might conjure up notions of the Barbary pirates, who sailed the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, raiding coastal towns, capturing merchant ships (some American), and ransoming or enslaving their crews in North African ports. Strikingly, some two centuries later, piracy at sea is back - with a vengeance.
Talk, Without Preconception by Thomas Momiyama
The US stands as an uncontested superpower, albeit serendipitously with the demise of the USSR and despite being incessantly denounced and challenged by rogue states and insurgency factions. America's stature is questioned domestically and abroad for its "unilateral" invasions and tactically vexing deployment and engagement of military assets in the Near and Middle East under debatable political judgments. Nonetheless, America's de facto superpower status destines it to the role of leading the world into peace and freedom. President-elect Barack Obama must reckon that role in his long-range vision of the nation.
Fighting Words by Ralph Peters
If our troops shot as wildly as our politicians and bureaucrats fire off words, we'd never win a single firefight. The inaccurate terminology tossed about by presidents and pundits alike obscures the nature of the threats we face, the character of our enemies and the inadequacies of our response. If we cannot, or will not, label our opponents, their cause and their motivations correctly, how can we forge an efficient and effective national strategy?
More at Armed Forces Journal.