The Initial Round of "Why in the Bering Sea" Has Begun

My armchair assessment is a similar one: Because operating near US home waters (don't scoff, Alaska is a state) near the Aleutian Islands is the best available allegory, from the Chinese perspective, for US forces operating inside the first island chain. In other words, they are demonstrating that they can.

Now the question is what does that mean for the US? Particularly for those US forces that pay the most frequent visits to these remote pieces of US sovereign territory, the US Coast Guard?

http://blog.usni.org/2015/09/08/the-rise-of-chinas-navy

Timing is Everything - "Please Buy me an Icebreaker" edition

http://www.workboat.com/news-feed/2015/historic-north-pole-arrival-for-coast-guard-icebreaker

Putin's Strategy is Far Better than You Think - War on the Rocks

http://warontherocks.com/2015/09/putin-is-a-far-better-strategist-than-you-think/

Ship Photos of the Day - Shell's Arctic Fleet - gCaptain

Although all of these vessels are now at or near the Shell drilling site in the Chukchi Sea, these photos all appear to have been taken in Dutch Harbor.

http://gcaptain.com/ship-photos-of-the-day-shells-arctic-fleet/

Oh yeah, I heard about that place!

https://medium.com/@maxchanowitz/new-bar-in-town-d3397e0a3035

In Alaska, Obama becomes 1st president to enter the Arctic | KOTZEBUE, Alaska:

http://www.sunherald.com/2015/09/02/6394016/obama-visit-puts-spotlight-on.html

A Great Example of an ad hoc Situation Report/Assessment

Set aside political perspectives one-way or another. This just released e-mail from Chelsea Clinton to the Secretary of State about conditions that she found on the ground in post-earthquake Haiti is a good example of how to articulate seemingly utter chaos, provide recommendations, and pointedly note obvious failures and successes.

It is worth a read.

https://foia.state.gov/searchapp/DOCUMENTS/HRCEmail_August_Web/IPS-0120/DOC_0C05774208/C05774208.pdf