A SEAL Officer’s Fatal Descent in a Cursed Deployment
A SEAL Officer’s Fatal Descent in a Cursed Deployment by Nicholas Kulish and Christopher Drew, New York Times
… When Commander Price, the 42-year-old leader of SEAL Team 4, did not appear for a meeting the next morning with an Afghan general, his men searched in the mess hall, in the showers and finally along the row of berths called the Green Mile. In his room, they found him lying in his sleeping bag, the pistol in his hand, a pool of blood beneath the bed.
His death was shocking: Suicide was rare among SEALs, unusual during a deployment in a war zone and unprecedented for a high-achieving SEAL officer. He became the last SEAL to die in Afghanistan.
Everything had seemed to go wrong in Commander Price’s final deployment, which began in September. In short order, he lost four men — two SEAL team members, two Army soldiers — under his command…
Russian Airstrikes in Syria Put Peace Talks in Doubt
Russian Airstrikes in Syria Put Peace Talks in Doubt by Liz Sly, Washington Post
Russia’s military intervention in Syria is finally generating gains on the ground for Syrian government forces, tilting the battlefield in favor of President Bashar al-Assad to such an extent that the Obama administration’s quest for a negotiated settlement to the war suddenly looks a lot less likely to succeed.
The gains are small-scale, hard-won and in terms of territory overall don’t add up to much, in keeping with the incremental nature of war.
But after 3½ months of relentless airstrikes that have mostly targeted the Western-backed opposition to Assad’s rule, they have proved sufficient to push beyond doubt any likelihood that Assad will be removed from power by the nearly five-year-old revolt against his rule. The gains on the ground are also calling into question whether there can be meaningful negotiations to end a conflict Assad and his allies now seem convinced they can win…