INDIANAPOLIS – The morning commute in this landlocked Midwestern city is an obstacle course of potholes, buckled pavement, and shards of fugitive cement. Like infantrymen navigating a minefield, motorists swerve and stop, and zig and zag in rush hour traffic to avoid the peril from below.
GOLAN, SYRIA — As the acute phase of civil warfare in Syria winds down while the government of President Bashar al-Assad increasingly gains the upper hand over foreign-funded insurgents, regional powers are desperately boosting aid for local proxies in a last-ditch attempt to rekindle the nearly seven-year-long conflict and gain a strategic foothold in the war-torn Arab republic.
WASHINGTON – Last Friday, depending on which side of the partisan divide one was watching from, President Trump was either vindicated or his treachery was confirmed. The impetus for these seemingly disparate reactions was Robert Mueller’s indictment against 13 Russian nationals, the latest and largest indictment to result from his investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (Analysis) — On February 13, Israeli police recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted in two corruption cases on suspicion of accepting bribes, fraud, and breach of trust.
As we conclude this exclusive MPN series, we compare Operation Pacific Eagle to the notorious counterinsurgency initiative “Plan Colombia” and look at how the new Pentagon mission enables the U.S. to continue encircling China with its military bases. We speak to exiled Filipino revolutionary Jose Maria Sison and Professors William I. Robinson and Roland Simbulan.
EUPHRATES RIVER VALLEY, SYRIA (Analysis) — While President Trump has recently hailed the defeat of ISIS, the group has been able to stave-off a complete defeat by retreating to a few, small remaining pockets in Syria.
WASHINGTON – In the last few years, arguably the most visible and well-publicized march on the U.S. capital has been the “Women’s March,” a movement aimed at advocating for legislation and policies promoting women’s rights as well as a protest against the misogynistic actions and statements of high-profile U.S. politicians.
AFRIN, SYRIA — On Saturday, Syrian news agency SANA reported that six men had been hospitalized after an alleged Turkish chemical weapons attack on a small town near the city of Afrin in Northern Syria. Jiwan Mohammad, the director of the Afrin Hospital, told SANA that the men’s symptoms were indicative of those experienced after contact with chemical weapons, including “difficulty breathing, coughing and burning all over the body.”
BALTIMORE – As the Baltimore Police Department currently sits front and center in a massive corruption trial, talk of having individual police officers be fiscally responsible for the lawsuits against them is making the rounds. Two officers in Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force were found guilty earlier this week of racketeering and robbery in the federal trial. Six other officers pleaded guilty prior to trial and are currently awaiting sentencing.
WASHINGTON – While cyborg soldiers and fully automated weapons have long been fodder for futuristic sci-fi thrillers, they are now a reality and, if the Pentagon gets its way, will soon become the norm in the U.S. military. As Defense One reported last Thursday, the Army had just concluded a live-fire exercise using a remote-controlled ground combat vehicle complete with a fully automated machine gun.
