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 The New York Times | Thu, 04/11/2019 - 10:18am | 0 comments
"The United States has charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with one count of conspiracy to hack a computer related to his role in the 2010 release of reams of secret American documents, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday just hours after British authorities arrested him in London."
by Military Times | Thu, 04/11/2019 - 9:49am | 0 comments
"A dual citizen of Libya and the U.S. has marched an army to the Libyan capital of Tripoli, but don’t expect U.S. forces to stop him. The only solution to the conflict, a U.S. Africa Command spokesman told Military Times, is a political one."
by The Washington Post | Thu, 04/11/2019 - 9:29am | 0 comments
"Sudan’s defense minister said Thursday that President Omar al-Bashir had been taken into military custody, effectively announcing a military coup to end his 30-year rule."
by Wavell Room | Thu, 04/11/2019 - 7:27am | 0 comments
“The character of politics and warfare is evolving rapidly, driven by the pervasiveness of information and the rate of technological change. Our competitors have become masters at exploiting the seams between peace and war. As I said here in January, what constitutes a weapon in this ‘grey zone’, below the threshold of conventional war, no longer has to go ‘bang’.”
by Army Times | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 8:57pm | 0 comments
"Great power competition has been the primary driver of the Pentagon over the past few years, but the Defense Department doesn’t get to pick the next war."
by Voice of America | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 8:15pm | 0 comments
"President Donald Trump says more troops will need to be sent to the country's southern border because too many dangerous people are illegally entering the United States."
by Military Times | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 8:00pm | 0 comments
"The top civilian over low-intensity conflicts, a long-held SOF specialty, and the new head of U.S. Special Operations Command told lawmakers this week that special operators will see the fight flip from how they’ve experienced the past two decades of counterterrorism and counterinsurgency warfare."
by The New York Times | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 6:53pm | 0 comments
"The Iranian government has used the Guard Corps internationally to create, train, arm and sometimes plot strategy for paramilitary forces and nonstate actors in other countries."
by The Washington Post | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 11:23am | 0 comments
"With renegade eastern commander Khalifa Hifter at the gates of the Libyan capital, the United Nations and Western and Arab governments have called for a halt to the fighting — to no avail."
by The Washington Examiner | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 9:43am | 0 comments
"A northern Texas sheriff says his county has seen a big uptick in methamphetamine and heroin seizures since October, saying Mexican drug smugglers are using large groups of migrants to divert Border Patrol’s attention while they run narcotics over the border in nearby areas."
by Foreign Policy | Wed, 04/10/2019 - 9:06am | 0 comments
"Abuse behind bars and a record high rate of detainment are a recipe for disaster."
by Foreign Affairs | Tue, 04/09/2019 - 11:24am | 0 comments
"The territorial defeat of ISIS is not the end of the U.S. mission in Syria, where today some 2,000 American troops help the SDF administer and control the northeastern third of the country. The question now is how Washington can use this residual presence to secure its long-term interests in the country."
by The Wall Street Journal | Tue, 04/09/2019 - 7:57am | 0 comments
"Labeling the IRGC a terrorist organization is simple truth-telling."
by The Wall Street Journal | Tue, 04/09/2019 - 5:33am | 0 comments
"Decision marks first time an element of a foreign state has been officially designated terrorist entity."
by The New York Times | Tue, 04/09/2019 - 3:11am | 0 comments
"President Trump moved to clear out the senior ranks of the Department of Homeland Security on Monday, a day after forcing the resignation of its secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, as he accelerated a purge of the nation’s immigration and security leadership."
by The Washington Post | Tue, 04/09/2019 - 3:05am | 0 comments
"Three American service members and a contractor were killed in a car-bomb attack in Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. military said. The bomber struck as military personnel were conducting a security patrol near Bagram air base, a major air hub for foreign forces in Afghanistan."
by The Wall Street Journal | Mon, 04/08/2019 - 7:48pm | 0 comments
"Forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Haftar carried out an airstrike against the Libyan capital’s only functioning airport, as the rogue military commander defied U.S. calls to halt an assault on Tripoli."
by Voice of America | Sun, 04/07/2019 - 4:25pm | 0 comments
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has established a new leadership council comprising government officials, opposition politicians and civil society representatives that will manage national peace efforts and put together an "effective" team of negotiators for possible talks with the Taliban insurgency.
by The Wall Street Journal | Sun, 04/07/2019 - 4:06pm | 0 comments
"The U.S. military said it pulled a small contingent of American forces from Libya as the country teetered on the brink of full-scale civil war, with fighting continuing around the capital Tripoli."
by The New York Times | Sun, 04/07/2019 - 2:07pm | 0 comments
"How to square this kind of deep loyalty to the armed forces and high public support with a long record of failures?"
by The Washington Post | Sun, 04/07/2019 - 7:44am | 0 comments
"A renegade militia seeking to storm its way into Libya’s capital battled for control of the international airport Saturday in a showdown that threatened to spill into bloody urban combat in the streets of Tripoli."
by Military Times | Sat, 04/06/2019 - 11:06pm | 0 comments
"Mountain Home Air Force Base’s use of nine southern Idaho cities for urban close-air support training has run into a stumbling block. Seems some Idaho residents don’t like it at all."
by The New York Times | Sat, 04/06/2019 - 8:48pm | 0 comments
"Mindfulness — the practice of using breathing techniques, similar to those in meditation, to gain focus and reduce distraction — is inching into the military in the United States and those of a handful of other nations."
by Reuters | Sat, 04/06/2019 - 6:40pm | 0 comments
"The United States is expected to designate Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization, three U.S. officials told Reuters, marking the first time Washington has labeled another country’s military a terrorist group."
by The Washington Post | Sat, 04/06/2019 - 10:43am | 0 comments
"Fighter jets for Libya’s U.N.-backed government targeted forces of a renegade commander Saturday in attempts to stop his advance on the Libyan capital in a showdown that threatened to spill into bloody urban combat."