Erbil, Kurdistan (Northern Iraq)

The Other Shoe Drops: Syrian Kurds Declare Independence

As my readers know, I have given ample warnings on how the Syrian Civil War would spiral out of control and potentially envelop the Middle East in a regional war.  A key piece holding the patchwork of post-Colonial, Mesopotamian nations together has been the acquiescence of the Kurdish populations living primarily in Northern Iraq, Syria, […]

Flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

The Rise of the Islamic State of the Levant: As Iraq fractures so does the Middle East

  Al Qaeda(AQ) is more powerful today than it was over a decade ago when then President George W. Bush declared his nebulous, ill-fated war on terrorism.  Ironically, one could strongly argue it was the war against AQ that made AQ more popular and resilient than it could have ever hoped to be autonomously operating […]

Al Qaeda Takes Over Anbar Province.
Photo: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/warning-of-extended-war-in-middle-east-as-fallujah-falls-to-alqaeda-20140105-30bzv.html

As We Predicted: Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars Merge as President Obama’s Claims of a Defeated Al Qaeda Crumble

Disturbing news continues to pour out of Iraq as it appears Al Qaeda forces in Iraq have transformed from an insurgent force to conventional military force.  This is considered the last stage of a guerilla war by Mao Tse-Tung’s guide to guerilla warfare.  The successful takeover of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi by Al […]

US Projects "Best Case" to only have access to 21% of Afghanistan in 2014

Damning Letter on State of Afghanistan War to Secretaries of Defense and State Leaked: Office of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction confirms US will lose control of most of Afghanistan by 2014 and US has no oversight of nearly $100 million in Afghan infrastructure development projects.

October 10, 2013: Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel about serious concerns with the impact of the drawdown on security and the related implications for ensuring adequate oversight of the U.S.-funded reconstruction effort in Afghanistan.  In brief, […]

US Retreat from Afghanistan Complete in 2014; Source: http://www.military-history.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/10073130.jpg

The Forgotten War: Afghanistan 12 Years Later

    America’s war against Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan began over 12 years ago this last week.  This grim milestone came and went with no media coverage even as some of America’s best men and women were killed there in combat this week.  Now, in the lead up to a complete US military withdrawal […]

Syrian Rebels Continue to Lose Ground against Government Forces

Syrian government forces reinforced by Lebanese Hezbollah forces have been consolidating their control over the strategic rebel held district of Homs, which is Syria’s third largest city.  Homs has been controlled by rebels in part since 2011.  The recent military success by the Syrian military and Hezbollah fighters has left the rebels in retreat and […]

Media Missed the Biggest Coup in the Middle East and it wasn’t in Egypt

Tuning into the Fox and CNN “entertainment” networks, one would be lucky to catch a small bit of news between the brain numbing, around the clock reports on the Trayvon Martin Case and Anthony Weiner’s perverse antics.  Nonetheless, a close follower may have gathered that “former” Egyptian President Morsi was overthrown in a broadly supported coup […]

M1A1 Abrams tanks sit parked at a secured compound at the Besmaya Combat Training Center. The last shipment of M1A1 Abrams tanks arrived mid-August completing the Government of Iraq's purchase of 140 tanks through a Foreign Military Sales agreement with the United States. 
— Photo by Army Staff Sgt. Edward Daileg

Exploiting War as a Way to Resuscitate a Waning U.S. Economy?

INTRODUCTION The mighty U.S. military industrial complex (MIC) continues to swell, particularly after two decade-long, trillion dollar wars and a post 9/11 world wrought with conflict. A 2012 CNBC report concluded that among the ten biggest U.S. government contractors, defense contractors secured a remarkable nine of the ten spots (Toscano, 2012). These mega-Fortune 500 companies […]

STRINGER / REUTERS FILE PHOTO 

A man with a chemical mask on his head searches for survivors from the rubble of a damaged area, what activists said was a result of an airstrike by the Syrian Regime, in Al-Sukkari neighbourhood in Aleppo April 7, 2013.

Iraq’s Descent Back into Violence

April 2013 has gone down as the deadliest month in Iraq since June of 2008 when the worst of the insurgent violence was finally beginning to diminish.  The casualty figures are staggering with the United Nations reporting 712 people killed last month, including 117 members of the Iraqi security forces.[i]  Whether or not one believes […]

USS Fitzgerald launches missile in missile defense drill; Source: http://navylive.dodlive.mil/2012/10/25/largest-missile-defense-flight-test-in-history/

Part II: The Military-Industrial Complex Strikes Back: North Korea and War for Profit

Confirming B2Wire analysis from April 10, 2013, it appears that North Korea has put away its missiles and has now suddenly become a “non-threat.”  Not so ironically, the appearance and disappearance of the “imminent” threat North Korean missiles posed to the United States directly corresponded with the implementation of Sequestration and defense cuts and then […]

THAAD missile launch in 2005 
Source: http://www.mda.mil/

The Military-Industrial Complex Strikes Back: North Korea and War for Profit

Speaking in Washington on April 3, 2013, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. can’t afford to dismiss North Korean threats as bluster.  “It only takes being wrong once, and I don’t want to be the secretary of defense who was wrong once, so we will continue to take these threats seriously,” he said.[i]  Secretary […]

Source: consciouslifenews.com

It’s happening. Momentum builds as world drops the US Dollar as its reserve currency

For years economists have warned of the time when international trade will begin decoupling from the U.S. Dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  As the theory goes, the United States will face financial and economic collapse if the position of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is undermined.  In short, the U.S. can finance its […]

This undated picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on March 12, 2013 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) inspecting a long-range artillery sub-unit of Korean People's Army Unit 641 at undisclosed place in North Korea.   AFP / Getty Images / KCNA via KNS

War with North Korea: Why the analysts have it wrong

Over the last month, North Korea has significantly escalated tensions on the peninsula by announcing it has entered a “state of war” with South Korea, closed key border areas, and announced the reactivation of shuttered nuclear facilities.  The statement, carried by the communist country’s KCNA news agency, says inter-Korean relations will be dealt with in a wartime manner.  “From this […]

Assessing the Success of the War on Terror Part II: Return on Investment and Perpetual War

Part II of our series continues to evaluate the success of the War on Terror.  It is our thesis that not only has American policy and strategy failed to defeat terrorist threats to the United States from radical Islam, but it has in fact exasperated them.  Today, Al Qaeda and terrorism have become the new […]

Anti-American Protest.  Source:  LA Times

Assessing the Success of the War on Terror Part I: Pakistan and the Failure of the Drone Strategy

As the never ending War on Terror drags on into the fourth consecutive presidential term without any decisive gains, one must question not only the effectiveness and strategy, but also our very leadership.  Nowhere is the ground truth more palpable than in western Pakistan.  Since President Obama took office and significantly increased drone strikes against […]