by Paul R. Pillar A recent column by David Ignatius contains an important insight about how different countries perceive their roles in countering the extremist group known as ISIS. Ignatius observed a table-top war game at Israel’s Institute for National Security… Continue Reading
by Tom Engelhardt One of the charms of the future is its powerful element of unpredictability, its ability to ambush us in lovely ways or bite us unexpectedly in the ass. Most of the futures I imagined as a boy… Continue Reading
by Nick Turse There’s good news coming out of Iraq… again. The efforts of a 65-nation coalition and punishing U.S. airstrikes have helped local ground forces roll back gains by the Islamic State (IS). Government forces and Shiite militias, for… Continue Reading
by Jim Lobe Yesterday’s New York Times front-page story, “Pentagon Seeks to Knit Foreign Bases into ISIS-Foiling Network,” is hardly surprising in terms of content. But the phrasing of the headline provoked a flood of memories recalling some of my… Continue Reading
by Giorgio Cafiero and Alex Stout In the fall of 2014, the Obama administration prioritized securing support from Washington’s allies in the Sunni Arab world before launching a multinational air campaign against targets in Iraq and Syria belonging to Islamic… Continue Reading