Blog Posts

“COIN rose and fell in Vietnam, then returned 40 years later as the main mission in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Concerning the UK Parliament’s no vote on military action against Syria: The Ghost of Iraq Past and Syria Present by Rob Dover at Kings of War.

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Video: Nora Bensahel, Deputy Director of Studies and Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, discusses the U.S. strategy in Syria.

"The plan was immediately met with robust resistance from a whiplashed Obama team who had listened to Kerry lay out the administration's strongest case yet for action against Assad."

International Crisis Group: "Whether or not the US chooses to launch a military offensive, its responsibility should be to try to optimize chances of a diplomatic breakthrough."

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Continue on for a video and full text of President Obama's statement today concerning Syria's use of chemical weapons and probable military action against that country.

"Response began small, with a handful of minor conservative bloggers picking up the story and responding with varying degrees of outrage. But within days, Facebook and Twitter postings became vitriolic..."

What does a possible U.S. attack on Syria mean for the Obama administration's pivot to Asia, which Washington is presenting as part of its disengagement from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

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"...it presents a sketch portrait of what Afghan-led security might look like in some places after the international military coalition is gone next year."

Thinking Through Military Strategy in Syria: US Military Coercion Options - US Marine Corps, Strategic Initiatives Group

Continue on for Secretary of State Kerry's 'high confidence' statement concerning the Syrian government's use of chemical weapons. VOA article and news links...

As the world debates how to respond to the Syrian government's alleged use of chemical weapons, RFE/RL examines the international players on both sides of the conflict.

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The Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a part of the National Defense University, has published a security brief by Michael O. Sodipo on jihadist radicalism in northern Nigeria.

Company commanders discuss the challenges of leading soldiers following an insider attack and how they coped with those difficulties to keep their soldiers focused and committed.

"The intellectual ice is beginning to break in the Army. You could see it at the Fort Belvoir Officers’ Club on Tuesday afternoon."

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"Africa has turned into one of the United States' largest policy challenges during the Obama administration."

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Only after a brutally honest assessment of certain critical issues should we even begin to discuss any form of overt intervention in Syria.

Continue on for "A Short Guide to the Middle East".

"Strategically, that failure to understand the human factor is the root of the “abject failure” that the Army, Marines, and SOCOM are determined not to repeat."