CIA – Syria and Iraq ‘can be put back together again’, suggests autonomous regions

Brennan said that compared to al Qaeda, Daesh is a lot less “deliberate” in its planning and more “free-wheeling,” willing to carry out attacks on shorter notice.
“You look at 9/11 and other major attacks, and it was very deliberate, methodical, a lot of planning went into it. I think ISIL tries to move from idea to bang within months or within weeks,” Brennan said, using the administration’s preferred acronym for Daesh .

5-key insights on the Syrian conflict via Hillary’s email and the Stratfor Wikileaks

A formerly classified US policy paper found within Hillary Clinton’s emails (archived byWikiLeaks), promoting the forceful overthrow of Assad as “a massive boon to Israel’s security”, and as a way to start a war with Iran.
It appears that the Clinton email quoted below was sent in April 2012 (the email’s internal date upon release is an error)

Mission Impossible: Keeping Track of US Special Ops in Africa

The Defense Department’s own Africa Center for Strategic Studies, a research institution dedicated to the analysis of security issues on that continent, drew attention to skyrocketing terrorism fatalities there in recent years. It also published a map of “Africa’s Active Militant Islamist Groups” that showed 22 organizations menacing the continent

Obama Cancels Meeting With New Philippine President Duterte

President Barack Obama called off a planned meeting Tuesday with new Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, seeking distance from a U.S. ally’s leader during a diplomatic tour that’s put Obama in close quarters with a cast of contentious world figures. It’s unusual for one president to tell another what to say or not say, and much […]

Obama: ‘Gaps of trust’ hamper Syria deal with Russia

US President Obama says an agreement with Russia on ending the violence in Syria is being hampered by “gaps of trust” between the two governments. Asked by CNN’s Michelle Kosinski about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President described it as “candid” and “blunt” focusing mainly on Syria and Ukraine. Mr. Obama called […]

DIA tweets its way into China tiff

A United States spy agency is apologizing for a tweet that jabbed at China over its treatment of American reporters who had traveled with President Barack Obama to cover the G20 meeting there. “Classy as always China,” the Defense Intelligence Agency tweeted Saturday from its @DefenseIntel account. The Pentagon-housed spy agency on Sunday apologized, tweeting: […]