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The timing of Dr. Robert J. Bunker’s new SWJ pocket book is apropos given the increasing intransigence of the Chinese Communist Party in both its domestic, police state, security policies, and foreign expansionistic economic and military activities.

Forces loyal to eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar and the UN-backed Tripoli government both say they have agreed to a cease-fire, potentially bringing a truce in the fierce battle to control the war-ravaged North African country.

With the possibility of a major conflict brewing with the United States since the killing of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, the capabilities of the Iranian military are being sharply scrutinized. So just how strong are the Islamic republic's armed forces?

"More and more, new recruits are the children of old recruits. In 2019, 79 percent of Army recruits reported having a family member who served. For nearly 30 percent, it was a parent — a striking point in a nation where less than 1 percent of the population serves in the military."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has admitted it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian jetliner earlier this week. The Guard's aerospace commander said on state television Saturday, "I take full responsibility and I will obey whatever decision is taken." He said he "wished" he "were dead" when he learned about the fate of the aircraft.

A new ISW-CTP graphic by Nicholas Heras, Frederick Kagan, Kyra Rauschenbach, and Jason Zhou illustrates the phases of Iran's campaign.

"Considered by many to be one of the principal architects of Iran’s extensive regional reach, Soleimani cultivated relationships with dozens of proxies throughout the Middle East and beyond."

U.S. government officials are watching and waiting, with many believing it is only a matter of time before Iran lashes out in cyberspace for the U.S. drone strike that killed Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani last week.

The U.S. Army's Mad Scientist Initiative is seeking to expand our understanding of the Operational Environment (OE). To that end, we are conducting a short on-line survey -- please take about 5 minutes to complete our Global Perspectives Conference Survey.

"Ankara, which supports U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, is wary of slipping into proxy war with Moscow."

U.S. President Donald Trump signed legislation Friday that creates a space force and gives federal workers 12 weeks of paid parental leave.

"The top U.S. military leader on Friday pushed back against recent reports and criticisms that American military and government leaders deceived the public about the state of the war in Afghanistan."

Russia has been working to establish a new military force in the Kurdish-majority, northeastern part of Syria with the aim to deploy those troops and hardware to areas along the Syria-Turkey border, local sources told VOA.

" Three months late, the U.S. military finally has its budget for fiscal 2020. Congress on Thursday sent President Donald Trump the final version of the 2020 defense appropriations bill, part of a broad $1.4 trillion spending deal to finalize federal spending for 2020 and avert a government shutdown. The defense bill would provide $738 billion."

"A great-power conflict today would involve high-intensity combat that would make World War II pale in comparison. Great-power competition, on the other hand, is likely to involve a new era of messy global entanglements, ranging from economic rivalry to intelligence operations to full-on proxy warfare and insurgency campaigns focused on the world’s most critical lines of communication."

"Gen. Mark Milley, the top US military official, met his Russian counterpart Gen. Valery Gerasimov in Bern, Switzerland, today as part of an ongoing high-level military dialogue between the United States and Russia."

"The U.S. special envoy leading negotiations with the Taliban met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul on Wednesday, officials said, amid a renewed push to reach an accord with the insurgents.'

"While an announcement of a drawdown of several thousand American troops from Afghanistan is expected soon from the White House, the secretary of defense wants redeploy those forces to the Indo-Pacific region to confront China."

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"Congress on Tuesday ratcheted up pressure on Syria, Russia and China while making it more difficult for the Trump administration to reduce commitments to allies from Europe to Asia."

"After three years of legal wrangling, The Washington Post finally got the original documents from studies of lessons learned from the war in Afghanistan. In a wave of self-congratulatory backslapping, The Post is comparing the feat with the publication of the 'Pentagon Papers' during the Vietnam War. So far, what The Post has found is a glaring flash of the obvious."

"Trump had made clear to his advisers earlier this year that he wanted to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the November 2020 election."

The U.S. military told VOA Monday it has not received orders to reduce troop levels in Afghanistan and remains fully committed to Afghan partners to achieve security objectives.

Officials in Afghanistan confirmed Sunday the United States plans to withdraw thousands of troops from the country, insisting the move stemmed from a mutual understanding between the two allied nations.

"Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday threatened to close two strategic military bases used by the United States in Turkey, after Washington warned of sanctions over Ankara buying Russian arms."