Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing United States Secretary of Defense Gates recently complained there was no plan to halt Iran’s nuclear research, which is thought to be aimed at building atomic weapons. It is more accurate to say that plans to halt the program – both diplomatic and military – are impractical Read More …
Brian M Downing The precise nature and inspiration of the uprising last week in the remote Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan is not presently known. Few, however, doubt that Russia has supported President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s ouster and will benefit from the government that is coalescing in Bishkek. Russia quickly recognized Read More …
Brian M Downing Films about wars have been part of the cinema since DW Griffith put scenes of the Civil War in Birth of a Nation (1915). There were thousands of veterans of that conflict still alive then and I’ll bet many of them didn’t like what they saw. Recently, Read More …
Counter-insurgency, then and now A Question of Command by Mark Moyar Reviewed by Brian M Downing In Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead, an operation on the fictional island of Anopopei comes to a successful conclusion, but owing to the campaign’s intricacies, no one is quite sure why. Headquarters writes a report Read More …
Brian M Downing Statements coming from the London summit on Afghanistan recognize the need for a negotiated settlement to the wars that have raged there for most of the last thirty-two years. The statements are surprisingly candid; diplomatic language is usually less direct than what the NATO chieftains and Kabul Read More …
Brian M Downing A top al-Qaeda commander was reportedly killed on Wednesday by government forces in Yemen’s southern Shabwa province, coinciding with a top United States official suggesting that the US should launch air strikes there and Iran ramping up tensions with Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s Saba news agency reported that Read More …
Brian M Downing In recent weeks the US has begun to pressure Pakistan into doing more to counter the insurgency in Afghanistan, by interdicting supplies going to insurgents and by helping to target Taliban leaders operating near Quetta, in western Pakistan. Joint chiefs head Admiral Mullen has strongly urged Read More …
Brian M Downing Discussion of Afghanistan policy is not being conducted with an adequate understanding of the insurgency there. Insurgents are considered akin to a crime syndicate that has expanded its influence through intimidation and violence, or to a religious cult that spreads through hortatory oration. These views are partly Read More …
Brian M Downing The September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States led to various responses in the American public, shock and outrage the most immediate. Subsequent polling data showed another response. Trust in government rose sharply and immediately – a curious phenomenon, for 9/11 could be readily seen as Read More …
Brian M Downing Elections took place in Afghanistan last week amid a spate of Taliban violence and a dearth of public optimism. Few observers in or out of the country expect meaningful change to come, whether Mr Karzai or Mr Abdullah or another wins. The results might not be known Read More …