Wednesday Reading

Middle of the week sea tales to relieve that "hump day" workload from Fred Fry with Maritime Monday 182 with all the maritime links fit to post in one friendly place. Ever heard of TBS International Limited? Fred's
got photos of their ships and more. Like a warning about over fishing. Eat more chik'n as the cows say.

David Axe of War Is Boring has a piece about the curious nature of the Iranian pirate fighting force or whatever it is in the Gulf of Aden. Piracy prevention and intel collection - it's two forces in one!

Thoughts on fighting the Afghan war here and here. The latter is a pdf file. (Hat tip Maggie)
To understand COIN, you need to read more than one book, though and, in my view, you need to forget the lessons of Vietnam 1965 when WWII dominated military minds.

UPDATE: Think about what's discussed at Insurgency is easy, it's the counter insurgency that's hard from Warhorse Intel. See a pattern. Now, do the hard work and find a way to end it. Set out your plan in 2 to 3 paragraphs written at the 5th grade level so elected officials can understand it. Send it to me via email or add to comments below. No entry fee required, no prizes awarded. If your plan is adopted, however, you will be second guessed by people with the sole qulaification is that they got elected to office or hired by a news organization or both.