Former CIA terrorism analyst's blog
http://jarretbrachman.net/
About
DR JARRET BRACHMAN is an internationally recognized al-Qa`ida specialist. The Associated Press has called him an “information warrior.” Al-Qaida’s supporters have called him the “excrement from Satan’s butt.” Even Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, the deputy director of al-Qaida, has cursed him by name on multiple occassions.
Brachman routinely advises local, state and federal law enforcement, intelligence, military agencies and the private sector on al-Qa`ida. Brachman has testified before the House Armed Services Committee and the British House of Lords and his research is regularly covered in the press. After spending four years as the Director of Research of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Brachman returned to the Midwest where he directs NDSU’s Center for Transportation Security (UGPTI) and advises clients on terrorism challenges.
Jarret’s recent book, Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice, is now available through Routledge Press.
New COIN blog
Ink Spots
Ink Spots is a blog dedicated to the discussion of counterinsurgency, stability operations, post-conflict environments, and whatever other security issues we deem worthy of comment. Our contributors are security professionals - from think tanks, government, consulting, and nonprofit work. We hope this site will be not merely a soap box for the five of us, but a forum for discussion and debate on those issues that matter to us all.
Pakistani Inst. for Peace Studies
Found just: http://san-pips.com/index.php and they are:
Not read any product yet.The Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) is an independent, not-for-profit non governmental research and advocacy think-tank. An initiative of leading Pakistani scholars, researchers and journalists, PIPS conducts wide-ranging research and analysis of political, social and religious conflicts that have a direct bearing on both national and international security.
davidbfpo
Post your List!
Below are my defense related subscriptions in Google Reader. I don't have time to read all the blogs out there, so I have tried to concentrate on ones that a) Break new thoughts (SWJ), b) give me thought provoking insights (Abu M, Walt, Ricks, Packer), c) keep me up to date in the defense community (Danger Room, Attackerman, Defense Tech) or d) provide news I can't find elsewhere (Free Range International, Long War Journal). The list below provides about 100 posts a day, and usually link to my non subscribed 2d tier blogs when they have good posts.
Abu Muqawama http://www.cnas.org/blogs/abumuqawama
Everyone knows Abu M. 'Nuff Said.
ATTACKERMAN http://attackerman.firedoglake.com
I guestblogged for Spencer, opinionated yet often relevant insights into defense politics
Free Range International http://blog.freerangeinternational.com/
Pithy yet excellent Afghanistan insight you won't find elsewhere
Information Dissemination http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com
Navy blog I like a lot, good thoughts
Interesting Times (George Packer) http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/georgepacker/
Interesting, but sparse postings
Stephen M. Walt http://walt.foreignpolicy.com
Love him or hate him, he always gets me thinking
Danger Room http://www.wired.com/dangerroom
Noah does an awesome job keeping up with DoD for WIRED
Defense Tech http://www.defensetech.org
Same as above
USA and USMC Counterinsurgency Center Blog http://usacac.army.mil/BLOG/blogs/coin/
Hey, it's my old blog!
The Long War Journal http://www.longwarjournal.org
News I can't find elsewhere on GWOT
The Best Defense (Tom Ricks) http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/
Tom drives a lot of discussion and makes interesting points
And of course: SWJ Blog!
For my non-mil reading I keep up with Lifehacker, Consumerist, The Daily Dish, Ars Technica, and the always hilarious FAIL Blog.
So, which high payoff blogs am I missing?
www.cimicweb.org
www.cimicweb.org came to light in this thread by a new SWC member explains this NATO facility (in the USA): http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=7947
If your focus is Afghanistan and / or the Horn of Africa worth a visit - on my quick skim.
davidbfpo
This probably sounds like I'm being a wiseguy - I'm not. What "thought provoking insights" have you ever gotten from Tom Ricks? Just recently, I'm thinking of his flimsy criticisms of 2-503 at Wanat and his recommendation to shut down West Point. I'm sure he has a lot of insights derived from hanging around with influential folks, but I have never seen any conveyed on his blog. Again - not being a wiseguy - I'm just curious.Originally Posted by Cavguy
Below is a copy and paste of my bookmarks (which is a work-in-progress). I omitted those that I already saw mentioned on this thread. I do not necessarily agree with most of what is written at all of these. Rather, they seem like a good cross-section of views and/or good selection of news that I am not likely to see in the newspaper.
-All Things Pakistan
-The Arabist
-Counterterrorism Blog
-Iran in the Gulf
-Michael J. Totten
-Middle East Perspectives
-Middle East Strategy at Harvard
-Oil and Glory
-Russia Blog
-Registan
-Sandbox
-Syria Comment
-Turkey and the Kurdish Question
-Uskowi on Iran
-USNI Blog
I would also add a non-blog to the mix: Mosaic - News form the Middle East, which is a daily program from Link TV that provides English translation of Mideast news outlets. 30 minutes a day - good to have in the background while making breakfast.
I like Tom's blog for a number of reasons.
1) He often raises issues we all know but don't/can't talk about in the "family" i.e relief of officers, counterproductive policies.
2) About once a month he breaks something truly interesting I haven't seen before. Like the draft CSI report on Wanat.
3) He's a good barometer of the civilian military pundit community.
Ref Wanat: I actually thought he did a service by airing his AAR, errors and all, because the Army sure hadn't done it in a year and a half since the incident. His posts drive discussion and action at several levels. Love or hate him, agree or disagree, if you don't follow him you'll miss some interesting stuff.
For those with an Afghan specific bent
Not mentioned so far but ones I keep a watching brief on are:
Afghan NGO Security Organisation - the situation according to the non-military actors.
UN Assistance Mission Afghanistan - blindingly obvious, but a good source of reports.
International Council on Security and Development - on the ground reporting and looks specifically at the intersections of security, development, counter-narcotics and public health issues.
RR
Blog sites I regularly frequent and can highly recommend (for what its worth);
www.dprkstudies.org
blogs.law.harvard.edu/mesh/ (Middle East Strategy at Harvard)
www.islam-watch.org
www.informationdissemination.net/
www.longwarjournal.org/
http://violenceprehistory.blogspot.com/
counterterrorismblog.org/
www.cominganarchy.com
and last but not least, the excellent
defenceoftherealm.blogspot.com/
A very good blog following international criminal organizations
Friends Of Ours
The Quatto Zone
http://www.quattozone.com/
Blog by
Tadd Sholtis
An Air Force public affairs officer for 15 years, the views expressed here are my own and (sometimes sadly, sometimes mercifully) not those of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense or Air Force.
Currently in Afghanistan, and much more interesting than a public affairs release.
Mark Grimsley, an associate professor of history at The Ohio State University, has a nice blog at Blog Them Out of the Stone Age. This blog may be particularly useful to those interested in the historiography of war and the teaching of military history in the Ivory Tower.
Journalists for The Economist have blogs here.
It is a sad irony that we have more media coverage than ever, but less understanding or real debate.
Alastair Campbell, ISBN-13 9780307268310, p. xv.There are times when it is hard to avoid the feeling that historians may unintentionally obstruct the view of history.
Peter J. Parish, ISBN-10 0604301826, p. ix.Simple answers are not possible.
Ian Kershaw, ISBN-10 0393046710, p. xxi.
New European think tank on Afghanistan
Formed in Berlin in May 2009 and just id'd (hat tip to 'Red Rat'), The Afghanistan Analysts Network: http://www.aan-afghanistan.org/index.asp?id=1
davidbfpo
Blog Talk Radio
Maimonides: "Consider this, those of you who are engaged in investigation, if you choose to seek truth. Cast aside passion, accepted thought, and the inclination toward what you used to esteem, and you shall not be lead into error."
For me, the trick is figuring out not just what to read, but how, and when. Getting the division right between RSS reader, podcasts, radio, blog-browsing, twitter, and email is a work-in-progress.
My breakdown...
Audio Podcasts (at the gym, as well as going to and from, and running)
- The Ethicist
- Harvard Business Review
- CSIS
- Economist
- Martin Wolf
- Mars Hill Church
- Walk in the Word
- Insight for Living
- InTouch Broadcast
Video Podcasts (in the kitchen)
- Mosaic: News from the Mideast
- BusinessWeek - Mandel on Economics
- Reason.tv
- al-Jazeera (Fault Lines, Riz Khan)
- Fareed Zakaria (not a fan of his, but he has great guests)
Stitcher (iPhone/Blackberry app that plays audio podcasts; usually listen to during commute)
- Economist "The World Next Week"
- Wall Street Journal "What's News"
- Cato Daily Podcast (more political, but not left v right)
- Stratfor Daily Podcast
RSS Reader (whenever - laptop or iPhone)
- The Daily Star (Lebanon)
- The Jerusalem Post
- al-Arabiya (Pan-Arab)
- New York Times
- Washington Post
- Sabah (Turkey)
- Moscow Times
- The Australian
- Financial Times
- UK Telegraph
- Wall Street Journal
Email lists (usually read on iPhone while in the slower-than-death elevator in my apartment building and other random moments of waiting for stuff)
- Af-Pak channel
- FP Morning Brief
- Stratfor
- Gulf in the Media
Random browsing
- Stuff in my blogroll (already listed elsewhere in this thread)
- Twitter - I've found that twitter is ideal for following blogs that I read and of very little value for following major news outlets; it's handy to see when a blog or other site is updated (SWJ, Registan, Michael Yon, etc), but I don't need 20 random alerts every day from XYZ newspaper. I also don't understand how anyone can really "follow" hundreds of people on twitter. I follow 24 people on twitter and I still miss stuff.
- Facebook - I'm a newcomer to Facebook; is this purely a social medium or do people use it for news-related stuff?
Great Terrorism Blog
I'm sorry I missed it until today.
I can't wait to read her thesis.
Yes
I only recently discovered this Australian lady had a blogsite and then overlooked posting it here. More careful thought than the proliferation of "expertise" elsewhere and worth checking weekly.
davidbfpo
This one just started this month...
http://www.raceforiran.com/
Also may be of interest to some, Twitter just implemented its lists (Beta) function. Here is one that I'm working on...
http://twitter.com/SchmedlapDotCom/thelongwar
Waq al-Waq
Copied here from a Yemen thread.This blog was started for a few reasons. We both have been studying Yemen for years, and as the country has risen in importance, the quality of discussion has declined. We wanted to contradict some other individuals, blogs and commentators who have no experience in Yemen or with Arabic, and who turn the facts to fit their opinions. We feel that presenting a thoughtful and nuanced discussion of Yemeni affairs, based in knowledge of its history and culture is in the best interest of all. That said, this is not an academic blog, and provides a lighter tone than our other publications, and also allows us to indulge our unhealthy interests in medieval swords and mysterious islands that color Yemeni history.
Enjoy.
Last edited by Jedburgh; 10-08-2011 at 01:02 PM. Reason: Updated link.
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