Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing Iran will strike back hard after Suleimani’s assassination. To Iranians, the event is roughly comparable to the 9/11 attacks on the US. So popular was the IRGC general that If the mullahs and generals do not demonstrate resoluteness in coming days or weeks, they will face popular Read More …
Messiah (2020) review by Brian M Downing A ten-part Netflix series with several directors 8/10 This is an ambitious and well executed look at faith and despair in the Middle East and US. A Middle Eastern man appears before a fearful crowd in Damascus just as ISIL troops are about Read More …
Brian M Downing An American drone strike has killed Qassem Soleimani, the renowned head of the IRGC’s foreign operations. Over the last decade he patched together dozens of Syrian, Iraqi, and international-Shia militias. They fought US troops in the years after the 2003 invasion, bolstered faltering Syrian forces, fought alongside, Read More …
Brian M Downing The US embassy in Baghdad was attacked and besieged by crowds angered by recent US airstrikes on Iran-backed militias. Those strikes came just after one such militia rocketed a base containing US personnel, killing an American contractor. The siege appears to be lifting but the Saudi-Iranian conflict, Read More …
Brian M Downing Oil and power The international interest in Libya is of course mainly about oil, but not simply for the commodity on the world market. Oil and gas can be used to expand power. Russia uses its hydrocarbons to gain influence in Europe and corral former SSRs that Read More …
Brian M Downing The optimism of 2011’s Arab Spring gave way long ago to civil war, jihadism, and disintegration. When Qaddafi met his end in a ditch, Libya became especially chaotic. The colonel governed through personal power and subservient local councils. When he went, the councils vanished and the country Read More …
Brian M Downing The politics and temperament of the emerging left-of-center majority are in place. There of course is no guarantee that they will be the same in a decade or so but a spirit of reconciliation or even civility isn’t likely to emerge, let alone prevail. The object of Read More …
Brian M Downing The US is more divided, polarized, and antagonistic than at any time since Lee handed his sword to Grant. Conflicts over history, sexual identity, spending priorities, toleration, speech, abortion, and gun control plague political institutions and public civility. Presidential elections are only rarely landslides these days and Read More …
Director: Danny DeVito Starring: Jack Nicholson, JT Walsh, Danny DeVito, Armand Assante 5/10 Having recently watched The Irishman, I decided to see this. It isn’t in the same league as Scorsese’s movie and it isn’t very good. Nicholson is more convincing as Hoffa than Pacino was. He looked and sounded Read More …
Brian M Downing The most recent act of terrorism stemming from Saudi Arabia took place last week when a Saudi trainee killed three American military personnel in Florida. Over the years Saudis have propagated an anti-Western ideology across the Islamic world, bombed our embassies, attacked our naval vessel, executed Read More …