Monday NatSec Roundup

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning

• I dunno what to say about the Afghan peace talks. It’s important to remember that these talks are not about ending the war, they’re about limiting the extent of US participation in the (very possibly decades) of war that remain. Indeed, the talks aren’t even really about limiting foreign influence in the war, as Pakistan will continue to sponsor the Taliban for as long as it feels the need for “strategic depth.”
• My sense is that China’s best play in the Japan-ROK rift would be to sit back and watch it develop in the most destructive way possible. Of late, however, Chinese diplomacy seems to have cast off its sensible “never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake” approach, and so we may see some clumsy effort at intervention…
• I have a chapter in this book, Culture of Military Organizations, and you should buy it. The book; the chapter is not for individual sale.
• This story, about the experience of North Korean refugees in Seoul, is simply heartbreaking.
• On the domestic politics of fire in Brazil. Bolsonaro has rhetorically tied his own hands, and has limited latitude in dealing with the competing demands of his constituency and of the international community.
• How to recruit cybersecurity experts into government, and especially into DoD, has long been a major problem. Qualifications useful for other positions are sometime antithetical to effectiveness in cyber-oriented jobs.