How to Contain Libya’s New Warlord

Libya is already a mess, but things may be about to take a serious turn for the worse. Only a few months have passed since the United Nations helped Libyans to cobble together a unity government that was supposed to end the country’s two-year civil war. Yet now that faint hope of stability is threatening to vanish […]

Saudi Arabia is expanding its anti-Iran strategy far beyond the Middle East

Under King Salman, Saudi Arabia is expanding its confrontation with Iran well beyond the Middle East, no longer relying heavily on Western allies to smother Tehran’s ambitions outside the Arab world. Since Salman came to power early last year, and Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers, Riyadh has adjusted its strategy for countering […]

Generals, Diplomats Urge Obama to Freeze Afghanistan Troop Levels

KABUL, Afghanistan — A planned drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan threatens to set back progress in the 15-year war and could allow militants to establish a greater foothold there, a group of 13 retired U.S. generals and senior diplomats have warned President Barack Obama. In an open letter published Friday in The National Interest, […]

South China Sea: US warns Beijing against building ‘great wall of self-isolation’

China risks further alienating regional neighbours and building a “great wall of self-isolation” as it pursues its military expansion across the South China Sea, US defense secretary Ashton Carter warned on Saturday. Speaking at a security summit in Singapore, Carter said countries across the Asia-Pacific region continue to fret over China’s sweeping claims of sovereignty in the South […]

U.S. general sending troop plan for Afghanistan to U.S. leaders

WASHINGTON — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is sending his recommendations to senior leaders this week on how many American troops should remain in the country next year to work with Afghan forces battling a resurgent Taliban, a military spokesman said Wednesday. Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland said Gen. John Nicholson is finishing his assessment of […]

CIA to detail secret Cold War actions

The CIA is planning to offer details about four previously undisclosed covert actions conducted during the Cold War, a federal advisory committee declared in a report. It is unclear which actions will be detailed, however they will be from the Ronald Reagan administration or earlier. The disclosures will be published in upcoming volumes of an […]

Questions and answers about American troops in Syria

WASHINGTON –  At least 200 U.S. special operations troops are in Syria advising the Syrian Democratic Forces in their effort to retake the city of Raqqa, the self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State group. In recent days, as the U.S.-supported Kurdish and Arab fighters begin to move closer to Raqqa, there have been persistent questions […]

U.S. Special Operators Back in Yemen

In the chaos between the Sunni Yemenis and the Shitte Houthis – AQAP took advantage of the fighting and seized large swathes of land in the east including the port city of Al Mukalla.

Japan PM Shinzo Abe slams Obama over “despicable” Okinawa murder

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe publicly chastised President Obama Wednesday over the recent murder of a woman in Okinawa, which Japanese police have linked to an American worker at a U.S. military base. “At the outset of our small group discussion, I firmly launched a protest against President Obama as the Japanese prime minister with regards […]

Obama Banishing Vietnam War Vestige by Lifting Arms Embargo

After spending his first day in Vietnam shuttling among meetings with different government leaders, Obama will spend the next two days speaking directly to the Vietnamese people and meeting with civil society groups and young entrepreneurs.