Eurasia

Iran Update, August 5, 2024

Iranian armed forces-run Defa Press published a list of potential civilian and military targets in Israel on August 5, which likely aims to decrease Israel’s ability to effectively defend against an Iranian attack by causing Israel to air- and missile-defense assets and creating panic among civilians.[1] The list includes Israeli …

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Mali cuts diplomatic ties with Ukraine over massacre of Wagner mercenaries claim

Mali has cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine after Kyiv suggested a tip off from its intelligence services had allowed rebels to massacre a force of government troops and Russian mercenaries. Mali’s northern Tuareg rebels claim they killed at least 84 mercenaries from the Kremlin-backed Wagner group along with 47 Malian …

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Spotlight on Terrorism: Hezbollah, Lebanon and Syria (July 29 – August 5 , 2024)

During the past week, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for 43 attacks on military and civilian targets in northern Israel, including communities attacked for the first time since the beginning of the war. A civilian was killed; an officer and an IDF soldier were injured.Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked Hezbollah targets and …

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Defending Israel, but not Kurdistan?

When U.S. Patriots shot down an Iranian missile over Erbil on April 15, Kurds wondered why such defenses weren’t activated when they were attacked. Late in the night of April 13, Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, was shaken by the sound of a Patriot missile battery shooting down …

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World War III Coming Soon, U.S. Military Woefully Unprepared

“The Commission finds that DoD’s business practices, byzantine research and development and procurement systems, reliance on decades-old military hardware, and culture of risk avoidance reflect an era of uncontested military dominance… Such methods are not suited to today’s strategic environment…. The U.S. public are largely unaware of the dangers the …

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Israeli Islam Isn’t a Contradiction, but It Isn’t Easy

The surprising and evolving intersections between the Jewish state and Islamic institutions. Introduction The term “Israeli Islam” may sound like an oxymoron, but Islam is present in Israeli society—and inside the Israeli state. Just under one-fifth of Israelis are registered by the state as Muslims; Muhammad has been the most …

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America Isn’t Ready for the Wars of the Future

And They’re Already Here On the battlefields of Ukraine, the future of war is quickly becoming its present. Thousands of drones fill the skies. These drones and their operators are using artificial intelligence systems to avoid obstacles and identify potential targets. AI models are also helping Ukraine predict where to …

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Why Israel Escalates

Risky Assassinations Are a Desperate Bid to Restore Deterrence The ten-month-old war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip long ago escaped its local geography, triggering dangerous military escalations across the Middle East—deadly clashes on the Israeli-Lebanese border, Houthi assaults in the Red Sea and on Tel Aviv, attacks …

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Commission on the National Defense Strategy

Congress created the Commission on the National Defense Strategy in the Fiscal Year 2022 National Defense Authorization Act as an independent body charged with assessing the 2022 National Defense Strategy. Its members are non-governmental experts in national security. The Commission released its final report on July 29, 2024. RAND contributed …

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Qatar Is Responsible For Khalid Sheikh Mohammad’s 2,977 Murders On 9/11 – That Are Only Some Of 31 Attacks And Plots That He Outlined In His Own Confession

Introduction The U.S.’s plea bargain with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammad (KSM) would have prevented the full exposure of Qatar’s role and responsibility in the attack. The plea bargain, which has now been rescinded by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, brought to light new and old documents about …

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