• Chinese reveal stealth jet breakthrough, designed with stolen American technology…

    A group of scientists from China may have created a stealth material that could make future fighter jets very difficult to detect by some of today’s most cutting-edge anti-stealth radar. The researchers developed a new material they say can defeat microwave radar at ultrahigh frequencies, or UHF. Such material is usually too thick to be applied to aircraft like fighter jets, but this new material is thin enough for military aircraft, ships, and other equipment. – Defense One

  • Kurdish Rojava: a dream of secular democracy in the Middle East

    One of the safer crossings into Syria is at a small town called Fishkhabour, in the far northwestern corner of Iraq. In a whitewashed shack on the shore of the Tigris River, an official from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government pointed out the window toward a pontoon bridge that bobbed in the cola-colored water. A year ago, 30,000 refugees fleeing an Islamic State massacre in Syria walked for 30 hours before crossing it in the opposite direction, half-starved, half-dead, terrorized. – The New York Times

  • Many Iraqis believe that America created ISIS(Video)

    BAIJI, Iraq — On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion. – The Washington Post

  • Which very much echoes this previous SOFREP article

    From Catholic priests to businessmen to PKK cadre members, the belief that America created ISIS appears prevalent in Kurdistan. Why do so many Kurds from so many different walks of life think that ISIS is an American construction, when the U.S. military has spent so much time, energy, and lives fighting Islamic extremism in Iraq, to include ISIS? Given that American advisors are on the ground helping the Kurds, and coalition aircraft drop bombs on ISIS targets on a daily basis, this belief is about as irrational as it is common. – SOFREP

  • Fun and guns in Transnistria

    The breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria has probably the largest weapons depots in eastern Europe. There are concerns that the remainder of these arms stockpiles could be used in a future military conflict. The rather nondescript village of Cobasna is located around 200 kilometers from the border, which divides the Republic of Moldova from the separatist region of Transnistria. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Transnistria – the region on the other side of the Dnjestr River – declared its independence, but was not officially recognized by any other country. – Deutsche Welle

[Featured imgae: AP / LM OTTERO]