Ideas
Most-Read of 2020 (So Far)
We're three months into the next year already, if you go by the fiscal calendar. Here's the most-clicked posts on our site since Oct. 1.
Ideas
Best of 2019: Editor's Choice
Even with several best-of lists, it's hard to choose among the thousands of articles we published this year. Here are a few notables that we haven't noted elsewhere.
Ideas
Best of 2019: Ideas
Revisit some of the best op-eds and commentary we had the privilege of publishing over the past year.
Threats
Esper 'Concerned' About Russian Influence in Egypt, Saudi Arabia
The defense secretary says Moscow's other Mideast efforts worry him more than its growing presence in Syria.
Ideas
An End to Magical Thinking in the Middle East
It’s time to abandon the dogma that’s driven our foreign policy and led to so much disaster in the region.
Ideas
Russia’s Military Is Writing an Armed-Robot Playbook
The new tactics and operating concepts will draw on three years of Syrian operations.
Ideas
What America’s Allies Really Think About Trump’s Syria Decision
During a few wild weeks in October, U.S. allies watched as their own worst nightmare befell America’s Kurdish partners in Syria. Here’s what that means for America’s standing in the world.
Threats
About 600 US Troops to Remain in Syria, Esper Says
But for what mission? Pentagon chief says Trump’s focus on "keeping" oil is part of fighting ISIS.
Ideas
The Mothers Who Fled the Turkish Incursion
Attacks by Turkish-backed forces shattered a hard-won pseudo-normalcy for Syrian women who had lived under ISIS.
Ideas
Betraying The Kurds Makes Things Harder for US Operators Everywhere
It will henceforth be much more difficult for U.S. combat forces and advisors to get help from local partners around the world.
Threats
The Mad Scramble for Syria
After weeks of chaos in the northeast, great powers redrew a small chunk of the map. And a bigger story is just beginning.
Policy
McConnell Asked White House For Sanctions Position, Dem Senator Says
The Senate majority leader is weighing the myriad sanctions proposals on the Hill, Sen. Van Hollen said at the Defense One Outlook 2020 conference.
Threats
The US Might Have Warded Off Turkey’s Syria Invasion, Says DOD’s Outgoing Mideast Policy Chief
U.S. and Turkish officials were shoring up a joint-patrol deal when Trump scuttled it.
Ideas
It’s Not All Trump’s Fault: Syria Shows the Danger of War on the Cheap
America’s surprise withdrawal is deeply destabilizing, but so is the proxy war that Western countries have fought for five years.
Ideas
Pay More Attention to the Women of ISIS
Many are victims of the terrorist group. But others have demonstrated their resolve to use violence and seek revenge for the Caliphate.
Threats
General: Trump Pullout Did Not Affect Baghdadi Raid Timing
“We struck because the time was about right,” said CENTCOM’s Gen. Frank McKenzie, of intelligence and other factors.
Policy
Pentagon Vows to Guard the Syrian Oil That Trump Wants to Seize
That includes warding off Syrian and Russian forces, SecDef Esper says, with murky justification under domestic and international law.
Ideas
Syrian Women Helped Find Baghdadi, Beat ISIS, Will Face ‘Tough Time’ Ahead, Leader Says
'We will continue our resistance and our struggle,' says the head of the all-women’s YPJ, in a rare interview.
Threats
ISIS Leader Baghdadi Killed Himself During US Special Ops Raid, Trump Confirms
Trump claims, against the evidence, that killing Baghdadi was administration's "top national security priority."
Ideas
What Was the Point of the Syria ‘Withdrawal’?
Donald Trump, who vowed to get troops out of Syria altogether, incurred all the strategic costs without getting any of the political benefit.
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