Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing Ukrainian intelligence has been warning that N Korean troops are training in the Russian Far East for deployment in Ukraine. American intelligence now believes that some 10,000 N Korean soldiers, in Russian uniforms, are heading into the war. Moscow will likely be giving Pyongyang missile and nuclear Read More …
Brian M Downing The policy of Russia is changeless. Its methods, its tactics, its maneuvers may change, but the polar star of its policy, world domination, is a fixed star. – Karl Marx The war on Ukraine didn’t stem from NATO expansion. It was the result of Putin’s fixation on Read More …
Brian M Downing The Ukraine war has taken a new turn. Russia blunted Ukraine’s summer offensive and made slight advances in the center. It has now shifted to the north and begun driving on Kharkiv. Advances have been significant. Russia came close to taking the city at the opening of Read More …
Brian M Downing Russia and China, along with allies Iran and N Korea, are acting in concert to replace the US-led world order. Russia began the war with efforts in Georgia and Crimea before trying to seize all of Ukraine. Iran and regional proxies Hamas, Hisbollah, and the Houthis are Read More …
Brian M Downing The Houthis began as a movement opposed to rising Saudi-Wahhabi influence in Yemen. They are Shia but their identity and cause are tied more to regional differences than to sectarian doctrines. The north has been fighting the Sunni south for a decade. After many offensives and counteroffensives, Read More …
Director: Sam Esmail Stars: Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Kevin Bacon 7/10 A couple (Roberts and Hawke) and their two children rent an isolated estate on Long Island. They are self-absorbed, antagonistic toward one another, barely integrated into family life, and disinterested in the world outside them. Cell and Read More …
Brian M Downing Henry Kissinger died yesterday at the age of one hundred – fifty-four years after becoming Richard Nixon’s foreign policy architect. He directed policy at critical junctures of the Cold War and amid the Vietnam conflict, He remained a commentator on world affairs until only a few months Read More …
Brian M Downing The US and Saudi Arabia have been aligned since the 1945 FDR-ibn Saud meeting aboard an American warship. Washington was concerned the Second World War was consuming too much domestic oil and wanted Europe’s reconstruction to use foreign crude. A deal was struck. The Saudis would allow Read More …
Brian M Downing The Islamic Republic is on the move and taking advantage of Israeli-American missteps. The view here has long been that the US would benefit from better ties with Iran. Sunni-Shia enmity would ease and China’s rise in the Gulf would be put off. Israel would benefit too Read More …
Brian M Downing The Israeli government is being criticized for ignoring Egyptian warnings of a major Hamas strike. There may be a larger intelligence failure – one stretching back years and posing great danger for Israeli security and American standing. The present war isn’t just against Iran, Hamas, and aligned Read More …