Blog Posts

When you leave your house to vote, remember that the most important precincts are the ones you can't see.

“After its latest test of a long-range rocket, the nuclear threat from North Korea has re-emerged as a major global challenge.”

“Russia’s strategy is negotiations from the position of strength for pro-Assad forces.”

The players that count say…

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday major powers have agreed to seek a cessation of hostilities in Syria to begin in one week’s time.

“The ability to win the big one is vital, but so is the ability to win the small wars. We paid a price for forgetting what we learned in Vietnam.”

“Russia is proposing talks about a cease-fire in Syria, but European diplomats are skeptical about the offer.”

“There may be a military solution, one senior American official conceded Wednesday, ‘just not our solution.’”

“No one in the West has the appetite to confront Russia as it pursues its interests in the Middle East.”

“We have a long ways to go, given the enormous complexity of this challenge.”

Who, what, where, when, and why are the traditional elements of both exposition and fiction. Cinema is often a little of both.

“Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and other officials described the Islamic State as the ‘pre-eminent terrorist threat.’”

Continue on for a link to the prepared assessment dated 9 February.

No, this is not a Duffel Blog piece.

“A new hybrid warfare playbook would attempt to lay out the kind of assistance the alliance would provide should a member state come under outside pressure from Russia.”

Continue on for “Evolving the Marine Corps for Irregular Warfare” and “Sprinting to Fight the Last War: A Response to “Evolving the Marine Corps for Irregular Warfare”

"Some forecast an implosion of secular and less religious-based militias aligned with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army in northern Syria."

“A force-wide look at misconduct among senior military officers — and the efforts to prevent it — found significant differences among the services’ cultures.”

“And yet for all of its promise, the Human Terrain System failed to deliver.”

The rigidity of the military’s career system has consequences far more dire than dissatisfied junior officers or talent flight.

“The Islamic State’s recent defeats on the battlefield signal that its once-vaunted militia army has been hobbled.”

“With the transition of responsibility for COIN operations to Afghan security forces, the United States should continue to both bolster Afghan COIN capabilities.”

“Gray, it seems, is the new black. The concept of ‘gray zone’ conflict has generated significant attention and controversy recently.”

“Battlefield realities rather than great power politics will determine the ultimate terms of a settlement to end the Syrian Civil War.”

“Some US officials are heralding new intelligence on the number of IS fighters as a sign the tide is starting to turn in the battle against the group but there are concerns.”