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 Military Times | Tue, 04/30/2019 - 8:48am | 0 comments
"The U.S. military’s biggest successes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria involved uprooting the militants first from Mosul, Iraq, and then Raqqa, Syria. But those operations are also catching the most flak for what many human rights groups and international organizations viewed as a callous use of artillery and air power that killed too many civilians."
by The Washington Post | Tue, 04/30/2019 - 8:22am | 0 comments
"More than 3,200 Afghans gathered here Monday to seek a consensus on peace talks with the Taliban, but hopes for success were dampened by the recent cancellation of first-ever talks between Afghan and insurgent representatives in Qatar, and by the refusal of numerous Afghan political figures to attend the current meeting."
by The Wall Street Journal | Tue, 04/30/2019 - 12:13am | 0 comments
"At least one suicide bomber in the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka trained with Islamic State in Syria, people with knowledge of the investigations said, reflecting the extremist group’s continued reach after the collapse of its self-declared caliphate."
by The New York Times | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 10:59pm | 0 comments
"The Islamic State lost control of eastern Syria, but a visit there found cities in shambles, an uncertain future and ISIS still carrying out deadly attacks."
by The Los Angeles Times | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 8:49pm | 0 comments
"A Reseda man planned to detonate improvised explosive devices at several Southern California locations to cause 'mass casualties' in a terror plot thwarted by law enforcement officials, authorities said Monday."
by The Washington Post | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 5:15pm | 0 comments
"Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi surfaced Tuesday in a video for the first time in five years, indicating that he has survived the territorial defeat of the caliphate he proclaimed and retains overall control of the group."
by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 8:04am | 0 comments
"Afghan President Ashraf Ghani opened a four-day Loya Jirga, or Grand Assembly on April 29, with more than 3,200 delegates seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban."
by The New York Times | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 7:52am | 0 comments
"... surge of rage and harassment directed at a doctor living abroad may seem inexplicable. But social scientists say it reveals the impulses that lead people, particularly when they feel weak or threatened, to band together to punish a perceived transgressor — and the ways that social media has encouraged those impulses."
by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 7:38am | 0 comments
"Military spending in Ukraine and several other Central and Eastern European countries rose sharply in 2018, largely in reaction to perceived threats from Russia, a leading research institute says in a new report."
by TOLONews | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 7:16am | 0 comments
"Khalilzad says that the United States efforts in Afghanistan have led to an international consensus on Afghan peace."
by The Washington Post | Mon, 04/29/2019 - 6:39am | 0 comments
"A week after enduring hideous violence on their holiest of days, Sri Lankan Christians largely stayed away from their places of worship."
by SWJ Editors | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 5:26pm | 0 comments
Via 'The Idaho Statesman' - "A group of Boise residents has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force, opposing the new urban warfare training program set to happen over the city and the surrounding area."
by The New York Times | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 3:28pm | 0 comments
"When the Wahhabis came, with their austere ideology and abundant coffers, the town of Kattankudy yielded fertile ground."
by The New York Times | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 3:22pm | 0 comments
"Sri Lanka remained on high alert as raids continued to round up people suspected of having involvement in the attacks on churches and hotels last week. The archbishop of Colombo, the capital, who had suspended church services for security reasons, offered a televised Sunday Mass from his home."
by The Diplomat | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 2:42pm | 0 comments
"Peace talks are predicated on the notion that the Taliban have fundamentally changed. They haven’t."
by The Washington Post | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 9:26am | 0 comments
“Any terrorist attack is by definition an intelligence failure,” said Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London. “Intelligence’s job is to stay on top of these problems and stop them from happening.”
by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 1:24am | 0 comments
"The United States, Russia, and China have agreed on the goal of withdrawing foreign forces from Afghanistan and to seek an "inclusive Afghan-led" peace process, the three countries declared in a joint statement."
by The New York Times | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 12:45am | 0 comments
"For a military that once spanned the globe, this squad of some 1,000 troops and assorted armor represents the largest British battle group deployed anywhere in the world. Budget cuts have led to sharp reductions in troops, equipment and investment, and analysts warn that Britain is no longer capable of defending its homeland by itself."
by Al-Monitor | Sun, 04/28/2019 - 12:31am | 0 comments
"Nearly everywhere US troops go in Syria, the Pentagon-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) provide protection, escorting small units and acting as America’s intelligence collectors on the ground."
by The New York Times | Sat, 04/27/2019 - 9:52pm | 0 comments
"While neither guided bomb nor armored vehicle, a gray oblong water pump sticking out from the brush along a remote dirt road is intended to be just as clear a sign of the United States’ efforts to stop the spread of the Islamic State."
by Combating Terrorism Center at West Point | Sat, 04/27/2019 - 11:08am | 0 comments
Continue on for links to all the latest CTC 'Sentinel' articles.
by Foreign Policy | Sat, 04/27/2019 - 9:05am | 0 comments
"Responding to the recent violence with typical policies to counter violent extremism could make things far worse.'
by Stars & Stripes | Sat, 04/27/2019 - 8:31am | 0 comments
"The Pentagon will expand the military’s mission along the southern border, sending nearly 300 additional active-duty troops there who will be authorized to have direct contact with migrants entering the United States to provide them food and shuttle them between locations, defense officials said Friday."
by The New York Times | Sat, 04/27/2019 - 8:03am | 0 comments
"Nobody has a dementia diagnosis yet, but the first hip and knee replacements are on the horizon. So are wheelchair ramps, sleep apnea breathing masks, grab bars on cell walls and, perhaps, dialysis. Hospice care is on the agenda."
by The Washington Post | Sat, 04/27/2019 - 7:50am | 0 comments
"The United States and Turkey are negotiating a plan for their troops to jointly patrol a safe zone about 20 miles wide along Syria’s northeastern border with Turkey, according to officials from both countries."