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 Reuters | Thu, 05/02/2019 - 12:27am | 0 comments
"Islamic State remains a potent threat around the world despite reduced capabilities, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said on Tuesday, adding its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had made his latest video appearance in a 'remote area'."
by The Washington Post | Thu, 05/02/2019 - 12:25am | 0 comments
"Opposition leader Juan Guaidó brought thousands of demonstrators into the streets of the Venezuelan capital to confront tear-gas firing security forces Wednesday as the opposition sought to regroup and regain momentum in the campaign to oust President Nicolás Maduro after a failed effort to ignite a military uprising a day earlier."
by Military Times | Thu, 05/02/2019 - 12:04am | 0 comments
"Defense Department officials don’t know when — or if — the military’s deployment to the U.S. southern border will end. In testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he is pressing Department of Homeland Security officials for more information on their personnel shortfalls, with an eye towards when the military missions on the border might end."
by The Washington Post | Wed, 05/01/2019 - 2:46pm | 0 comments
"The White House sent Congress a $4.5 billion emergency spending request for the border on Wednesday, citing an unfolding 'humanitarian and security crisis' as record numbers of Central American families seek entrance into the United States."
by The Center for a New American Security | Wed, 05/01/2019 - 2:20pm | 0 comments
"An Instruction Guide for Leveraging Syria’s Fragmentation to Achieve U.S. Policy Objectives" - Continue on for an excerpt from the Executive Study and links to the full report.
by Voice of America | Wed, 05/01/2019 - 1:00am | 0 comments
"Venezuela's self-declared president Juan Guaido is calling for another day of massive street protests Wednesday to try and convince Nicolas Maduro that he must go. Guaido said late Tuesday night that Maduro’s claim that he still has the respect and support of the Venezuelan military is false."
by The Washington Post | Wed, 05/01/2019 - 12:57am | 1 comment
"The National Security Agency revealed the identities of many more citizens, permanent residents and corporations who were mentioned in intelligence reports last year, in a process known as 'unmasking' that has been a source of controversy for President Trump and his allies in Congress."
by The Washington Post | Tue, 04/30/2019 - 8:17pm | 0 comments
"Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó appeared Tuesday with troops at a Caracas military base to announce a 'final phase' to remove President Nicolás Maduro from office."
by Lawfare | Tue, 04/30/2019 - 1:06pm | 0 comments
"This is the first in a new series of posts about developments in Justice Department efforts to combat transnational organized criminal groups."
by The American Conservative | Tue, 04/30/2019 - 11:24am | 0 comments
"How this oft-forgotten conflict unleashed our hyper-powered American exceptionalism and birthed an era of forever war."
by Reuters | Tue, 04/30/2019 - 9:10am | 0 comments
"Erik Prince - the founder of the controversial private security firm Blackwater and a prominent supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump - has been pushing a plan to deploy a private army to help topple Venezuela’s socialist president."
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."