Blog Posts

Some U.S. and Iraqi officials are voicing growing optimism about the prospects of retaking the key city of Mosul from the Islamic State terror group sooner than first anticipated.

"Defense Secretary Carter will gather defense ministers from allied nations this week to plan what officials hope will be the decisive stage in the campaign against the Islamic State."

As the process of electing the next American president goes into its final stages, national security and foreign policy analysts are divided over the long-term U.S. role in Afghanistan.

"As the self-declared IS has carried out or inspired attacks in Nice, Istanbul, and Orlando, US Secretary of State Kerry said Sunday they show the militant group is 'on the run.'"

As investigators in France began sifting through the devastation of the attack on Bastille Day in Nice that killed 84 people, some Western intelligence officials were already alarmed.

"The age of the IS, in which the tools of terrorism appear increasingly crude and haphazard, has led to a reimagining of the common notion of who is and who is not a terrorist."

"Our current obsession with Islamic extremism will be much the same. A century from now, historians will dismiss the war on terror as an overreaction inflamed by xenophobia and bigotry."

“Montes spied on her own country for Castro, doing much damage, yet Obama may soon liberate her.”

In the hours after the terror attack in Nice, France, PM Manuel Valls riled many critics when he said that “times have changed, and France should learn to live with terrorism.”

"It would be fair to conclude that Obama has come to his policy of intervention-lite through trial and error."

Keep up to date on the Nice terror attack and other items of interest at the SWJ News and Opinion Page.

Continue on for a summary and a link to the full report.

Continue on for information on the 2016 Annual Special Operations Research Association Symposium and the call for papers.

Continue on for the latest issue of Military Review.

“The Obama administration’s new proposal would open the way for deep cooperation between U.S. and Russian military and intelligence agencies and coordinated air attacks by American and Russian planes.”

A White House spokesman said with May as Britain’s new leader, there was confidence that the ‘special relationship’ would not only be protected but advanced.

"The idea of the United States saving the Middle East from itself appeals to liberal hawks and neoconservatives alike."

U.S. forces are using new authorities - which include airstrikes against the Taliban - "almost daily” in support of the Afghan government.

Early government efforts to counter extremist narratives have proven to be uninspired and unsuccessful.

Continue on for links to all the new JFQ articles. Good stuff!

"It is too easy to dismiss the upsurge in violence in Kashmir as just another cycle in a conflict that has ebbed and flowed ever since the India's independence in 1947."

In a landmark ruling, the U.N. arbitration court is dismissing China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, saying it has "no historic title" to the vast maritime region.

"The Islamic State’s attacks prove that, despite its recent losses, it remains strong and capable of executing its global strategy to undermine modern states."

"Even after two months in the role, Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada remains something of a mystery to the Taliban rank and file, according to analysts and insurgent commanders."

The United States will deploy 560 more troops to Iraq to help shape the fight to retake Mosul from IS, following the recent seizure of a key airbase near the city by Iraqi forces.