Russian Navy Update
Dmitry Gorenburg has an excellent four part review regarding the state of the Russian Navy and Russia’s shipbuilding plan over the next decade.

On food, Asia can’t keep pace with rising middle class demand
WSJ story on how Asia’s food demand continues to rise while the amount of land devoted to food production is pretty much capped this decade due to urbanization and planned investments just aren’t happening as envisioned (so yield per acre not rising enough to cover the delta in demand).

Top Advisor to Iranian Regime: Prepare for Nuclear War
A top advisor to Iran’s Defense Minister has written an article published by a website run by the MOIS about when Iran could use nuclear weapons against its enemies. Its publication of a state-connected website should be seen as an unofficial statement preparing the way for Iran to leave the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and officially develop nukes, a game plan I laid out here.

Is Hizbullah trying to take over Lebanon with Iran’s help?
The Lebanese guerrilla group is about to have its true face unmasked by the UN Hariri investigation – of course it’s panicking.

Chris van Avery is an Asia-Pacific FAO and Military Professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, and blogs on a variety of topics at The Yankee Sage.