E-International Relations Interview With Small Wars Journal-El Centro Senior Fellow Dr. Robert J. Bunker

Robert J. Bunker is an Adjunct Research Professor at the Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College and Adjunct Faculty, Division of Politics and Economics, Claremont Graduate University. He is a former Futurist in Residence (FIR), FBI Academy, Quantico, VA and Minerva Chair, Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, PA. Dr. Bunker is the author/co-author and editor/co-editor of hundreds of publications including Global Criminal and Sovereign Free Economies and the Demise of the Western Democracies (Routledge, 2014), Criminal Insurgencies in Mexico and the Americas (Routledge, 2013), and Red Teams and Counterterrorism Training (University of Oklahoma Press, 2011). He can be reached at robert.bunker@cgu.edu.

E-International Relations Interview With Small Wars Journal-El Centro Senior Fellow Dr. Robert J. Bunker

Russia's Hybrid-Warfare Victory in Syria by Vera Michlin-Shapir, The National Interest

… It is true that Russia has experienced some successes on the Syrian battlefield, but these victories are far from establishing Moscow as the new power broker in the region. Russia’s achievement on the ground hinged mainly on the morale boost its backing gave the Syrian Arab Army. This allowed pro-regime forces to perform better in combat, while simultaneously weakening the resolve of rebel forces determined to depose the regime. By launching thousands of airstrikes, Russia has also effectively managed to stabilize a regime that was losing territory in the summer of 2015, and helped the Syrian regime push towards Aleppo and its surrounding towns by the end of the year.

However, when comparing maps of the current situation in Syria to thesituation in Syria prior to Russian intervention, Assad’s territorial gains with Moscow’s backing appear negligible. Also, the intervention has yet to put an end to the regime’s setbacks; in just the first week of May 2016, regime forces lost the Shaer gas field to ISIS and the strategic town of Khan Touman to the Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. The week prior witnessed the disastrous Russian airstrike on a hospital in Aleppo that killed over fifty innocents. Furthermore, thousands of Russian sorties over the course of eight months have yet to bring about the realization of Assad’s major strategic objective: taking Aleppo.

On the diplomatic front, Russia was seen as a promoter of a political negotiations between the regime and the rebel coalition, and as a backer of a truce between the sides. Yet these efforts did not yield a viable peace process and produced an unstable truce…

Read on.

We Need an American Foreign Legion by Sean McFate, Washington Post

President Obama recently announced that an additional 250 Special Operations forces will be sent to Syria to stem the spread of the Islamic State. It won’t work. By now, “too little, too late” has become the moniker of the administration’s Middle East policy. To be fair, the policy of Obama’s predecessor wasn’t effective either. What is needed is a new piece on the chessboard: an American Foreign Legion.

… The United States has traditionally had four options. The first is isolationism: Do nothing. This means ceding the battle to the terrorists and watching them grow from a distance until they reach our shores. Few would want this.

The second strategy is to send in Special Operations forces, as Obama is doing…

The third option is Iraq War III…

The fourth option is relying on military contractors…

There is a fifth, more acceptable option: Create an American Foreign Legion. When people think of foreign legions, they think of French mercenaries. But the French Foreign Legion is a part of the French military, is led by French officers, takes its orders exclusively from Paris, offers its legionnaires the opportunity to apply for French citizenship and serves only the French government. It’s like a French army unit, except that its enlisted members come from all over the world…

Read on.