People are going to be voting for their favorite weblogs at the annual Weblogs Awards starting today. There is a category for military weblogs, but don't waste your time, since my blog is not listed (kidding). Here are the milblog nominees, for your consideration.
The War on Big Tobacco
Blackfive
Michael Yon
This Ain't Hell
One Marine's View
Op For
Army of Dude
Milblogging.com
Knee Deep in the Hooah!
Now interestingly, I only have one of them on my blogrolls (OpFor). This should not be entirely surprising - many of them are, shall we say, of the conservative bend and can be rather shrill about particular issues. More to the point, most of these blogs are focused more on personal perspectives of military personnel rather than on true discussions of national security strategy. I suspect that's why I don't really go to these sites too often. I think I'm leaning towards "Army of Dude," which seems to include very well-written stories about soldiers in Iraq.
These sites are popular, given their (generally) good writing skills and focus on first-person perspectives, but I'm discouraged (whining) that there is not a competition for a best national strategy blog - that is to say, those blogs where the discussions revolve more around the development and execution of national security and foreign policy. I would submit to you my top ten list (alphabetical, not preference):
Arms and Influence
Democracy Arsenal
Don Vandergriff
Foreign Policy Watch
Kings of War
MountainRunner
Opposed Systems Design
Sic Semper Tyrannis
War, the military, COIN and stuff
WhirledView
To be clear, these are all non-corporate blogs that feature regular commentary on general national security and foreign policy issues. I also love all the other blogs on my blogroll, many of which focus on single, specialized areas of national defense. So while we're on the subject, any suggestions for national security strategy blogs that I've missed?
One that you might like is
http://www.longwarjournal.org/
Posted by: Cargosquid | 05 January 2009 at 10:37 AM
I too felt disappointed by the military blog top 10 and was hoping to see any of the top 10 you listed yourself. I'd also mention westhawk, winds of change, and danger room
Posted by: daskro | 05 January 2009 at 11:10 AM
The world of milbloggers is surprisingly small if you ignore those who 'only' tell personal stories from deployments.
Posted by: Sven Ortmann | 05 January 2009 at 05:09 PM
I'll vouch for Danger Room with Daskro above, and Information Dissemination (http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/) is a great source for maritime commentary and strategic insight. China Matters (http://chinamatters.blogspot.com/) is similarly strong, although focused on China. I list it because of China's role in shaping US strategy and thinking
Posted by: KSR | 05 January 2009 at 05:09 PM
Danger Room and Long War Journal are my faves for serious discussion of national security type issues. But sometimes, you just want something funny and entertaining, and I always thought the first person perspectives from deployed members were good for a chuckle. Big Tobacco is good, and so is Army of Dude, and I wish Fobbits need Ice Cream made the cut, but I guess they didn't.
Posted by: LT Nixon | 05 January 2009 at 05:32 PM
Hey, thanks for the link and spotlight, J.
-Matt
Posted by: mdc | 07 January 2009 at 09:31 AM
Thank you, Jason. That is some rarified company.
Posted by: Wiggins | 13 January 2009 at 06:00 PM