Foreign Policy
The Continuing Story of Turkey
Turkey agrees to a cease-fire, but says the Kurds must vacate the border area. Full article is here: https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/10/17/turkey-agrees-to-5-day-cease-fire-in-syria-pence-says/ Anyone want to take any bets on how long before Turkey ramps it up again? Yeah, me neither. They want to re-establish the Ottoman Empire, which they lost under the Sykes-Picot agreement. Remember that one? They never […]
More On Syria
As you probably know, the “debates” aren’t really debates. They are circus for the masses. The only thing missing is toreros and picadors. Last night, Butthead Buttigieg and Tulsi Gabbard got into a pissing match over the withdrawal of US troops from Syria. Fauxcahontas stuck her oar into that, as did others, but that is […]
Updates on Syria v. Turkey
Last week, Turkey fired on US forces posted in northern Syria: https://www.militarytimes.com/2019/10/13/us-troops-believe-turkey-deliberately-fired-artillery-at-an-american-commando-outpost-in-syria/ American troops and former U.S. officials believe a Turkish artillery strike on Friday that landed about 300 meters from a U.S. commando outpost near the Syrian city of Kobani was done deliberately. No U.S. troops were injured in the strike, but U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces […]
The Middle East – The Sykes-Picot Agreement 1916
When you first read this document, which was drawn up quickly and the map of the Middle East divided equally quickly by the use of a simple straight-edge ruler, it appears innocuous. But it is not. It specifies the division of what was, at the time, the Ottoman Turkish empire with the intent to give […]
Cold War Redux?
Some good stuff about US-Ukraine relations here, and how we’re training Ukrainian troops in situ to use good hardware like Javelins. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/03/06/more-lethal-aid-to-ukraine-us-trainers-javelins-have-already-made-russians-a-little-more-nervous/ From the article: The U.S. has been providing lethal aid in the form of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine since May, and Russian armor is reportedly deterred by the investment. On top of the […]
Update on Russian Explosion
From the Times of Israel comes this update on what happened in northern Russia on August 8th: https://www.timesofisrael.com/radiation-spiked-up-to-16-times-normal-after-russian-nuclear-missile-blast/ From the article: Unnamed intelligence sources told The New York Times that they believed the explosion involved a prototype missile known in NATO circles as the SSC-X-9 Skyfall, which could theoretically reach anywhere on the planet. Russian President […]
ISIS Regroups
If you recall, when Pres. Trump said he was planning to withdraw troops from Syria, GEN Mattis (Ret.) disagreed, and then left the building. Well, ISIS is on the move again. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2019/08/06/report-isis-has-been-rebuilding-as-us-troops-withdraw-from-syria/ From the article: Since about half of 2,000 special operations and other train-advise-assist forces returned to the U.S. in the spring, ISIS has been staging a […]
Saudis Prepping for Annual Hajj
Preparations are underway for the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, which draws extremely large numbers of people every year. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/video/2019/08/06/saudi-special-forces-go-all-out-for-hajj-display/ The video at the link is a demo of their military’s preparations for their visitors. Their biggest concern is the very real possibility that hotheads will try to disrupt things and engage in attempts to […]
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