Blog Posts

"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."

In an apparent effort to sway Iran’s public opinion in favor of the regime’s involvement in Middle East conflicts, the Iranian government’s television channels are airing a video that glorifies a key anti-American Iraqi Shiite group.

Ukraine's president said he is ready to negotiate with Russia to end the war in eastern Ukraine, but he also reaffirmed his country’s course toward NATO membership -- a move strongly opposed by Moscow.

"U.S. and Philippine officials on Tuesday discussed a new program to thwart efforts by Muslim extremists to recruit and mobilize followers in the country’s south after a bloody siege by jihadists aligned with the Islamic State group."

"As tensions with Washington rise, Tehran has discovered the Lebanese militia isn’t up for doing its dirty work."

"The Kremlin on Tuesday denied having told the United States that it was pulling personnel out of Venezuela, contradicting a Twitter posting a day earlier by President Trump."

"The Army finds itself in a strange in-between phase of warfare as it looks to meet and surpass its near-peer competitors while simultaneously emerging from two decades of counterinsurgency and counter terrorism warfare."

"Facebook and Twitter each said on Tuesday they had disabled a sprawling disinformation campaign that appeared to originate in Iran, including two accounts on Twitter that mimicked Republican congressional candidates and may have sought to push pro-Iranian political messages."

"Government forces in Syria have bombed a market in the country's northwest, killing at least four civilians, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Syria, Russia and Iran stop "bombing the hell out of Idlib province in Syria.""

"A lens on the thousands of children detained in northeast Syria’s al-Hol camp and the unanticipated humanitarian crisis brought on by the fight against terrorism."

"Tunnels and underground threats have faced military leaders for centuries, if not millennia. But how Marines will tackle the problem is still in its infancy."

"Wars require preparation and forethought about the post-conflict aftermath—that's something America didn't do when it withdrew from Iraq."

Via ZDNet - "We've been vying for the inside scoop on DARPA's latest robotics challenge since it was announced in late 2017. Teams are now getting a taste of what lies ahead in early integration exercises, and one thing's certain: This challenge will take robots where they've never gone before."

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo worries that the Trump administration's soon-to-be-released Middle East peace plan will be considered "unworkable," and might not gain traction, US media reported on Sunday.

President Donald Trump is demanding Syria, Russia and Iran stop "bombing the hell out of Idlib province in Syria. "Trump said in a late Sunday tweet that the bombings are "indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians."

"Hundreds of Syrian refugees have been arrested after returning home as the war they fled winds down — then interrogated, forced to inform on close family members and in some cases tortured, say returnees and human rights monitors."

"The United States faces a number of actors who use a wide range of political, informational, military, and economic measures to influence, coerce, intimidate, or undermine its interests or those of its friends and allies. This brief summarizes a study that provided a clearer view of these adversarial measures short of conventional warfare and derived implications and recommendations for the U.S. government and military."

"Russia has withdrawn key defense advisers from Venezuela, an embarrassment for President Nicolás Maduro as Moscow weighs the leader’s political and economic resilience against growing U.S. pressure."

"Acting defense secretary Patrick Shanahan had a message for the White House: Politics and the military don’t mix."

"A child rehabilitation center in the Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria is hosting dozens of Islamic State (IS) child recruits in an effort to reform them back to normalcy."

"Violent bomb blasts continued to shake Afghanistan as Taliban militants have rejected calls for a holiday truce."

"Baghdad's Green Zone has been a barometer for tension and conflict in Iraq for nearly two decades. The 4-square mile (10-square kilometer) heavily guarded strip on the banks of the Tigris River was known as "Little America" following the 2003 U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. It then became a hated symbol of the country's inequality, fueling the perception among Iraqis that their government is out of touch."

"To better understand new technologies and scientific efforts that could aid warfighters, the Army is connecting with industry and academia through its “Mad Scientist” initiative."

"The books published about the war, by memoirists on either side, are written from the perspective of those who survived, and can manage to speak of its horrors. The dead, voiceless, keep to themselves. And what of the unborn? When I remember my uncle, it is to grieve for a man whom I never knew, forty years after his death."

"The program, run by the local U.S.-backed Kurdish administration, aims to rehabilitate young, mostly Syrian former Islamic State fighters and help them reintegrate into society. Only a few such re-education programs are operating in Syria, where tens of thousands of former Islamic State militants and their families are being held in prisons or camps."