Новости за 02.08.2018

A puzzling article on the private diplomacy underway between two Americans, one ex-US Army and a retired diplomat with the Taliban in Doha. Recently joined by a DoS official. Just why this in the public domain eludes me....

More of a pointer to a 2017 ICCT report on Uighur jihadist fighters beyond China and a forthcoming book that has chapters on the Uighur insurgency. So two links. The first is to the ICCT report: ---Quote--- n November 2017, we co-authored “Uighur Foreign Fighters: An Underexamined Jihadist...

Hat tip to WoTR for a multi-authored reviw of Stephen Tankel's book. It ends with: ---Quote--- Although none of these authors offer a silver bullet — or assert that any are available — policymakers and citizens alike will benefit from thinking about the post-9/11 counter-terrorism challenge,...

A reminder today of a UK Stabilisation Unit report 'Elite Bargains and Political Deals' and a FCO Minister stated: ---Quote--- This research report sets out to answer two of the most difficult questions in foreign policy today: How can we help reduce levels of violent conflict? And how do we...

ISIS is making a comeback in Iraq just months after Baghdad declared victory ...

Afghanistan Strategy: Few Tough Questions, Fewer Detailed Answers

Afghanistan Strategy: Few Tough Questions, Fewer Detailed Answers by Robert M. Cassidy - Real Clear Defense

Sometimes answers to problems are blatantly obvious. ---Quote--- Seven suspects who were arrested in connection with an attempted robbery at a jewelry store in Texas over the weekend have been identified as Mexican nationals that were in the U.S. illegally. U.S. Customs and Border Protection...

File under 'poorly planned vacations' ---Quote--- Four cycling tourists, including two Americans, were killed in an attack in Tajikistan, authorities told ABC News. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack in a Twitter post Monday. A group of seven cyclists was heading north in Danghara...

A NYT article reflecting time on the ground, even if clearly much of it with Indian security forces. One small passage, the context being the funeral of a dead militant - the focus of the article: ---Quote--- One woman who identified herself as a separatist leader looked out at the sea of...

Cutting Their Teeth or Tying Their Hands?: Northwest Frontier Tactics and World War, 1897 – 1945 SWJED Thu, 08/02/2018 - 12:56am

Perhaps no army in history has ever juggled as wide and challenging an array of campaigns and conditions as the British Army did from 1897 to 1945. Battling enemies from Burma to Belgium, the British Army rapidly transformed itself from a small imperial constabulary to a war-winning conscript mass army, shrank back almost overnight, and then repeated the trick barely twenty years later. Читать дальше...

Technological Fluency 2035 – 2050 SWJED Thu, 08/02/2018 - 12:38am

This article is the latest addition to the U.S. Army TRADOC G2 Mad Scientist Initiative’s Future of Warfare 2030-2050 project at Small Wars Journal. This paper examines the term technological fluency as it applies to future Special Operations Forces in the 2030 – 2050 timeframe. It begins with a proposed definition. It then shapes the discussion.

U.S. Prepares to Reduce Troops and Shed Missions in Africa

U.S. Prepares to Reduce Troops and Shed Missions in Africa by Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt – New York Times

Tool of Peace and War: Save the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute

Tool of Peace and War: Save the Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute by Tammy S. Schultz - Council on Foreign Relations

NATO Expanding Training Mission to Aid U.S.-led Coalition in Iraq

NATO Expanding Training Mission to Aid U.S.-led Coalition in Iraq by Scott Wyland - Stars & Stripes