Rebels and Army shoot it out in DR Congo

At least eight civilians have been killed during a firefight between the army and rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Gilbert Kambale, a civil society leader, told AFP news agency on Monday that rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) attacked the town of Beni in North Kivu overnight, with eight civilians, […]

USS Mason deployed defensive measures off the coast of Yemen

The crew of a guided-missile destroyer fired three missiles to defend themselves and another ship after being attacked on Sunday in the Red Sea by two presumed cruise missiles fired by Iran-backed Houthi-forces, USNI News has learned. During the attack against USS Mason (DDG-87), the ship’s crew fired the missiles to defend the guided-missile destroyer […]

Is the new cold war with Russia about to turn hot?

I’m a broken record on the topic of the war in Syria, and especially its Russian component. But this issue waxes and wanes from the public discussion. We seem prepared to hurl service members into a war we haven’t yet adequately analyzed. What would be the real gain by committing to this war? This doesn’t feel […]

Top General says Army on cusp of monumental change – in decade or two.

We’ve entered an age of irregular warfare. We aren’t designed to fight this kind of war, yet. “The future of the Army may not involve divisions, corps, tanks or Bradley fighting vehicles, said the Army’s chief of staff. And that future isn’t 100 years away, or even 50. It’s only about 25 to 30 years away.” […]

China kidnaps dissidents from foreign countries

The growing number of kidnapped and unlawfully detained dissidents in China were at the center of the attention of the UN Human Rights Council’s 33rd session last week in Geneva. Addressing the council, Angela Gui, a 22-year old student and daughter of bookseller and free expression advocate Gui Minhai, asked the Council to make sure […]

Kurds want ISIL defeated, but Assad as our top ally

The Kurds are our friends. They protect American journalists and are the bastion of sanity left in the war-torn portion of Syria. It was an interesting and telling moment during the second debate when Hillary Clinton communicated some apprehension in “some circles” about increasing arms to the Kurds. The Kurds do not have a political […]

Chinese Private Security Firms in Africa

China’s “going out” policy has landed Chinese firms in many high risk environments. Not surprisingly, this has stimulated the growth of private security companies (PSC) “with Chinese characteristics.” The first private Chinese security firm to operate overseas was, apparently, a Ningbo company, in 2004. Although most of these companies operate in truly high risk areas […]

Watch: Interview reveals how a British PR firm helped shape the war on terror in Iraq

In the video below, Martin Wells a former employee of Bells Pottinger is interviewed. Bells Pottinger is the London PR company hired and paid millions to make “Arabic style” news and fake al Qaeda propaganda videos during the Iraq war. The primary reason behind the fake videos was the ability to track the audience. If they tracked the audience, […]

Second debate turns ugly and policy made an appearance

The second debate is over, and it was like staring at the sun. That debate was ugly. There’s too much to say. I’m not sure where to begin. Overall, it was entertaining. The opening speeches were OK, not great, almost eerily tame. They both knew this was going to turn into a geriatric boxing match. […]

Why bother intervening in Syria?

The cease-fire in Syria that the United States and Russia tortuously negotiated has, like the one before it, fallen apart. The trouble began when an errant American airstrike killed some 60 Syrian government soldiers. Then, Russia resumed its disingenuous grandstanding and the Syrian government, with Russia’s support, went back to indiscriminately bombing rebel-held areas of […]

15 years of war in Afghanistan

From October 7, 2001, until December 28, 2014, US and NATO forces carried out combat operations in Afghanistan. While those operations were meant to end and the US had begun withdrawing troops from the country by the end of 2014, the Taliban continued success on the battlefield, coupled with the ineffective performance Afghan security forces, […]

Chinese take over of US companies to be probed by Congress

Two U.S. representatives from California, including the head of the House intelligence committee, have joined the group of lawmakers backing an appeal to the government to increase scrutiny of Chinese takeovers of American companies. Republicans Devin Nunes and Ken Calvert added their names to a bipartisan list of 16 other legislators who asked the U.S. […]