Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing This week a bomb exploded on a train in St Petersburg, killing eleven people and wounding many more. Initial reports point to a suicide bomber. It’s not clear what his motives were or if he was part of a network. Terrorism has struck Russia often in the Read More …
Brian M Downing Candidate Trump promised a more aggressive fight with ISIL and a return to military victories. He has not thus far disappointed supporters of tougher stances in world affairs. In the last month, a few hundred marines took up positions around ISIL’s Syrian capital of Reqqa, an unspecified Read More …
Brian M Downing The war in Afghanistan continues. Over the years it’s changed from an effort to destroy al Qaeda, into a US-led counterinsurgency against a revitalized Taliban. Over the last few years it’s become a war of attrition between the Afghan army (ANA) and the Taliban. Meanwhile, al Qaeda is Read More …
Brian M Downing The Middle East has few effective militaries. Army after army has shown little fighting spirit when it comes to foreign enemies or ISIL, preferring instead their primary and usually easy mission of internal repression. The Kurds, on the other hand, have demonstrated formidable military effectiveness. They have blunted ISIL Read More …
Brian M Downing The Trump administration is looking for a steep increase in military spending. It also wants significant cuts in social spending and the State Department budget to help pay for it. More guns, less butter. Less diplomacy too. The budget will be contested in Congress; the cuts and boosts might well be Read More …
Brian M Downing Syrian Kurds have played a critical role in the ISIL War. They handed ISIL its first defeat at Kobane, where the seemingly invincible band was driven back from the Turkish border with heavy losses. Today Kurdish troops serve in the composite Syrian Democratic Forces which are about Read More …
Brian M Downing Moscow and Washington vied for influence around the world in the first Cold War. They are doing the same in the second. In the first, the Soviet Union’s reach into the Gulf was limited. The USSR was atheistic, opposed to monarchy, and aligned with secular republics such Read More …
Brian M Downing President Trump ordered the Pentagon to present him with a more aggressive strategy for fighting ISIL, and the chiefs are about to offer options. One option calls for deploying more troops to Syria. The units would not be ground combat units, rather they would be primarily support troops to help Read More …
Brian M Downing Yesterday, in a decidedly informal press conference with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump dropped American support for a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He went on to say in passing that he would accept whatever solution the Israel government and Palestinian leadership arrived at. Meanwhile, expansion Read More …
Brian M Downing The new administration has taken several bold steps regarding the Middle East. The executive order on immigration from seven Muslim countries caused an uproar, though that’s far less important than its imprecision and questionable constitutionality. The plan to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Read More …