Submitted by Angela Borozna via OrientalReview.org,
Do Russians want another war? If you are Russian, you would be surprised by the question. Why would anyone want war (hot or cold)? But if you are an American, and grew up fearing ‘bad Russians’ such question does not surprise you a bit. After all, the whole Cold War was based on the main assumption – Russians/Soviets want war!
Belgian anti- terror police have released new footage of the third suspect in last months Brussels terror attacks. The Mirror reports: The suspect – who is believed to have discarded his suicide bomb after it failed to detonate – is seen walking away from the carnage before ditching his jacket in a bid to escape detection. The chilling footage has been released by Belgian anti-terror police at a news conference today. Brussels was hit by suicide bombings at the airport and on the Metro which killed 32 victims and wounded 270. The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group.
Andrew Bacevich has written an excellent article on the need to end our ongoing “war for the Greater Middle East.” This part jumped out at me in connection with the debate over the Libyan war:
A particular campaign that goes awry [bold mine-DL] like Somalia or Iraq or Libya may attract passing attention, but never the context in which that campaign was undertaken [bold mine-DL]. We can be certain that the election of 2016 will be no different.
The Iraqi army’s effort to retake the northern city of Mosul from ISIS has been put on hold. The first phase of the campaign to liberate Mosul is running into difficulties as the army is short of men, training and tactics to be able to act independently from the more battle hardened Shiite and Kurdish militias. Reuters reports: Almost three weeks into the operation, Iraqi forces have retaken just three villages from Islamic State in the Makhmour area, which is set to be a key staging ground for a future assault on Mosul, around 60 km (40 miles) further north.