In The News

Turkish Strategy - Libya’s Haftar on Defensive: DW

Tom Allinson May 7, 2020
Since 2014, two factions have divided Libya: Libyan National Army forces in the east led by Khalifa Haftar, supported by the UAE, France and Russian mercenaries, versus Fayez Serraj's Government of National Accord in the west, recognized by the United Nations and supported by Turkey and Syrian mercenaries. Control has shifted abruptly to the GNA side, Reports Tom Allinson for Deutsche Welle...

Libya Defies Calls for Global Ceasefire: Guardian

Patrick Wintour April 2, 2020
The civil war in Libya has escalated even though the United Nations called for a “global ceasefire.” Warlord General Khalifa Haftar and his forces, the Libyan National Army, or LNA, claim to occupy some towns in the northwest and repel attacks by the UN-backed government army aiming to capture the key airbase. After the two warring parties recently agreed to a humanitarian truce, the peace...

Turkey-Syria Tensions Escalate: Al Jazeera

Linah Alsaafin and Zaheena Rasheed February 28, 2020
The Syrian government's indiscriminate air raids, backed by Russian airpower, aim to crush opposition forces in Idlib. The attacks killed more than 30 Turkish troops. “The toll is the deadliest suffered by the Turkish army since it intervened in Syria in 2016 and is raising fears of a direct confrontation between Turkey and Russia on the battlefield,” reports Al Jazeera. By one rescue worker...

Will US-Taliban Deal End the War? New York Times

Laurel Miller February 19, 2020
The Taliban’s ongoing fierce attacks in Afghanistan have blocked efforts at peace. US and Taliban negotiators approach a deal. The conditions are minimal with a brief ceasefire. The Taliban expects US troops to withdraw troops and the US does not want Afghanistan to be used by transnational terrorists. The Taliban have demonstrated the extent to which they will fight for a state with Islamic...

Global Defense Spending on Rise: BBC

Jonathan Marcus February 14, 2020
Global defense spending swells with low interest rates, easy borrowing and technological advancements. Military spending for 2019 rose 4 percent over 2018, reports BBC News. The International Institute for Strategic Studies released the figures. “In both the US and China defence spending increased by 6.6% in 2019, though the rate of growth is accelerating in the US, while it is slowing in China...

Liberation of Auschwitz 75 Years Later: ABC

Esther Castillejo, Almin Karamehmedovic and Enjoli Francis January 29, 2020
Germany opened the Auschwitz concentration camp in April 1940, first as a detention center for Polish political prisoners and then as a forced labor and death camp for prisoners deemed hostile to Germany or racially inferior, by far mostly people of Jewish descent. About 1.3 million people died at the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex, the largest of Nazi camps, with gas chambers used for systematic...

Iran Strikes Iraq Bases: Washington Post

Karen DeYoung, Paul Sonne and Dan Lamothe January 8, 2020
Iran launched more than 10 ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases with US military personnel, described as retaliation for the death of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani at US hands. Analysts describe the missile attack as restrained, though Iran warned it would meet a US response with additional attacks, including countries hosting US bases. Iran claimed casualties; the United States and Iraq...