War

On Thursday night the U.S. test-fired its second intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in the last seven days, as a clear warning to Russia that America is prepared to use a nuclear missile against Russia in the future.  The Minuteman III missile was fired from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, racing across the sky at 15,000 mph before landing 30 minutes later at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands of the South Pacific.

Less than two years ago, news of Russia test-firing an ICBM just as the east Ukraine civil war was heating up, was sufficient to send the stock market into a brief tailspin. Since then, the launches of nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles has become an almost daily occurrence, with the market hardly batting an eyelid.

A video released by ISIS shows the terrorist group making direct threats against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for their stance in combating extremism on their social media platforms.  The 25-minute video was released by “the sons of the Caliphate army”, and shows photographs of both Zuckerberg and Dorsey being targeted by bullets. USAtoday.com reports: The video was spotted by Vocativdeep web analysts on the social media service Telegram, which is used by ISIS.

Presidents have more latitude in foreign affairs than in domestic policy, and the trend over the past two administrations has been for presidents to be more hawkish than their campaign pledges led voters to expect. George W. Bush promised a “humble foreign policy.” Instead, he gave us the Iraq War. Barack Obama was elected in part to end Bush’s wars. But he too pursued regime change, with Pyrrhic success in Libya and abortively in Syria.

John Kerry said it would take between 15,000 to 30,000 ground troops to maintain a ‘safe zone’ inside northern Syria. Citing previously unheard of Pentagon estimates, the Secretary of State asked a Senate panel today: “Now are we ready to authorize that?” ABC7 News reports: Although a ceasefire is planned for this coming Saturday, there are growing calls within Washington for a so-called “Plan-B”: options for military action if the truce fails. Many Republicans, including Donald Trump, are calling for a “safe zone” in northern Syria to protect the increasing number of displaced people.