Small Wars Journal

Blog Posts

SWJ Blog is a multi-author blog publishing news and commentary on the various goings on across the broad community of practice.  We gladly accept guest posts from serious voices in the community.

by The British Broadcasting Corporation | Mon, 06/10/2019 - 6:16pm | 0 comments
"The US's top diplomat for Africa is going to Sudan this week amid unrest, the State Department said on Monday."
by Associated Press | Mon, 06/10/2019 - 6:57am | 0 comments
Continue on for the latest developments in Afghanistan via the Associated Press...
by Reuters | Mon, 06/10/2019 - 6:28am | 0 comments
"France and the Netherlands have taken custody of French and Dutch orphans of Islamic State fighters in northeast Syria, an official in the Kurdish-led administration there said on Monday."
by The Wall Street Journal | Sun, 06/09/2019 - 12:45pm | 1 comment
"President Trump says using such tactics creates leverage, but critics point to downsides."
by The Christian Science Monitor | Sun, 06/09/2019 - 1:04am | 0 comments
"... but the attack, which killed 13 people at the American-funded institution, points to the incongruous challenge for the United States of creating a top-flight university in Afghanistan, designed to produce future leaders, while at the same time waging the longest war in U.S. history."
by Defense News | Sun, 06/09/2019 - 12:43am | 0 comments
"South Korea and the United States agreed June 3 to move the headquarters of Combined Forces Command out of the greater Seoul metropolitan area as part of efforts to set up a new joint command structure led by a South Korean four-star general."
by The British Broadcasting Corporation | Sun, 06/09/2019 - 12:28am | 0 comments
"Turkey has been given a deadline of the end of July to choose between buying US F-35 fighter jets and Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems."
by Associated Press | Sat, 06/08/2019 - 8:35pm | 0 comments
"The USS Abraham Lincoln, with its contingent of Navy destroyers and cruisers and a fighting force of about 70 aircraft, is the centerpiece of the Pentagon's response to what it calls Iranian threats to attack U.S. forces or commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf region. In recent years, there has been no regular U.S. aircraft carrier presence in the Middle East."
by The New York Times | Sat, 06/08/2019 - 12:33pm | 0 comments
"Israel has a right to annex at least some, but 'unlikely all,' of the West Bank, the United States ambassador, David M. Friedman, said in an interview, opening the door to American acceptance of what would be an enormously provocative act."
by The Washington Post | Sat, 06/08/2019 - 3:59am | 0 comments
"This was supposed to be the year the farmers of eastern Syria and Iraq bounced back. For the first time in a decade, neither war nor drought had intervened to deter what promised to be a bumper harvest. Fields of golden wheat rippled across the vast lands once ravaged by militant fighters, the most fertile area of the region that in centuries past served as the breadbasket of the known world."
by Voice of America | Fri, 06/07/2019 - 4:41pm | 0 comments
"The United Nations is demanding an immediate end to indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in northwest Syria, warning the warring parties their actions might amount to war crimes."
by The Washington Post | Fri, 06/07/2019 - 8:20am | 1 comment
"Military camera operators have assisted in about 13,000 apprehensions since February, and in marijuana seizures totaling about 3,000 pounds. The apprehensions generally are of people looking to surrender to Border Patrol agents, officials acknowledged, and account for about 3 percent of all apprehensions on the border since February."
by Reuters | Fri, 06/07/2019 - 8:16am | 0 comments
"As pressure grows for a political settlement to end 18 years of war in Afghanistan, the drug trade remains a major threat, leaving the country at the risk of becoming a “narco-state”, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a U.S. Congressional watchdog, said in recent report."
by Associated Press | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 9:45pm | 0 comments
Iran has chosen to “step back and recalculate” after making preparations for an apparent attack against U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf region, but it is too early to conclude the threat is gone, the top commander of American forces in the Mideast said Thursday.
by The British Broadcasting Corporation | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 9:25pm | 0 comments
"The United Arab Emirates has told the UN Security Council that a "state actor" was most likely behind attacks on four tankers off its coast."
by The Modern War Institute | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 8:18pm | 0 comments
"In 2007, UK and coalition forces in the southeastern Iraqi city of Basra faced a series of tactical challenges. Those challenges—like the ones US forces would confront that year and the next further north in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood—offer insight into some universal and enduring characteristics of urban military operations."
by Voice of America | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 11:44am | 0 comments
"English-speaking Islamic State supporters are refusing to give up on the terror group’s ability to remain a force in Syria and Iraq, according to a new study that examined their behavior on the Telegram instant messaging service."
by Army Times | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 9:43am | 0 comments
"The Pentagon has concluded its investigation into the October 2017 Niger ambush that left four American soldiers and four Nigerien partner forces dead."
by Military Times | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 12:07am | 0 comments
"The days are coming when a squad leader on a battlefield, far from headquarters and large supporting units, will pull out something that looks like a smartphone, open an app and push a button and something in front of his squad will explode."
by The Wall Street Journal | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 12:06am | 0 comments
"Repatriation of women and children shows how Trump administration is willing to take a different tack than some of its allies."
by Divergent Options | Thu, 06/06/2019 - 12:04am | 0 comments
"The attack by Al Qaeda on 9/11/2001 was the second such attack on the continental U.S., the first being in the 20th century. In view of ongoing discussions about U.S. border security, it is useful to look at the U.S. response to terrorist attacks from Mexico a hundred years ago."
by The New York Times | Wed, 06/05/2019 - 9:16pm | 0 comments
"The United States on Wednesday barreled closer to imposing tariffs on all Mexican imports as high-stakes negotiations at the White House failed to immediately resolve President Trump’s demand that Mexico prevent a surge of Central American migrants from flowing across the southwestern border.
by The Washington Post | Wed, 06/05/2019 - 8:54pm | 0 comments
"Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered a candid assessment of Venezuela’s opposition during a closed-door meeting in New York last week, saying that the opponents of President Nicolás Maduro are highly fractious and that U.S. efforts to keep them together have been more difficult than is publicly known."
by Army Times | Wed, 06/05/2019 - 8:05pm | 0 comments
"Congress wants to ensure special operations forces are being used for missions that fit their roles, leaving other tasks to conventional troops."
by The Washington Post | Wed, 06/05/2019 - 6:41am | 0 comments
"For nearly two months, this besieged North African capital of more than 1 million people has been ensnared in its worst episode of violence since the toppling of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi almost eight years ago."