This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.
- Happening this morning: a suicide bomber killed three people when he detonated at the entrance of the US Embassy compound in Ankara, Turkey. (Bear in mind this item is breaking news and the specifics are undoubtedly subject to change as things become clearer.)
- Inside the war for the Syrian mountains.
- Last Thursday the bodies of at least fifty men in their 20s and 30s were found bound and executed outside of Aleppo.
- An unbelievable photo essay from Reuters photojournalist Goran Tomasevic in Syria.
- Israeli warplanes struck targets inside Syria on Wednesday.
- The UN says that, as of Tuesday, 712,000 Syrian refugees had left the country or were awaiting processing, meaning that roughly 200,000 of those refugees were from the last seven weeks alone. (It should be noted that this isn’t counting internally displaced people.)
- A UN Panel concluded that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law.
- UC Hastings law professor George Bisharat argues on the New York Times op-ed page that Palestine ought to take Israel to The Hague.
- Vijay Prashad and Aijaz Ahmed discuss the intervention in Mali (video).
- Fleeing militants torched a library of ancient manuscripts in Timbuktu, but there is some good news. According to an expert, may of the important manuscripts in those collections were housed in a number of private family libraries and may have been saved.
- Laura Seay challenges amateur and limp analysis of the ongoing intervention and militancy in Mali.
- The US is preparing to establish a drone base in northwest Africa.
- Ongoing second anniversary revolutionary violence in Egypt presents an Egypt whose political transition is racked by contention and setbacks.
- Egypt’s army chief warns of potential collapse.
- The news editor of Egypt Independent, Tom Dale, gets brave and specific about the terrible rape and assault he has witnessed (and tried to stop) and heard reports of in Tahrir Square and how they undercut the revolution.
- Twitter suspended the account of Somalia’s Al-Shabaab after they used the platform to post a death threat to Kenyan hostages.
- Authorities in Yemen seized a sailboat filled with explosives, arms and money. There are indications that Iran was smuggling this contraband in to militants in Yemen.
- An eight-year-old boy, Qassim Habib, died when the government of Bahrain tear gassed his village. (The government is saying he died of pneumonia.)
- “Compromise, conflict or collapse.” Ann Jones surveys the possibilities for post-2014 Afghanistan.
- Fears that security will worsen have spurred on a spike in the number of Afghans fleeing, or trying to flee, the country. Afghans make up a third of the world’s refugees, and last year alone 50,000 fled to Europe and Australia. That’s double the number of refugees from the year before. The attempts to flee the country also often prove deadly.
- Human Rights Watch warns in its annual global report that the prospects for Afghanistan’s human rights situation are grim and deteriorating.
- Marine Capt. Timothy Kudo talks pointedly in a Washington Post op-ed about killing people in his time in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Last April, Pfc. Ted Daniels used his helmet cam to record what has become the most-watched footage of the Afghan war.
- Ansar ul-Islam vs. Tehreek e-Taliban in Khyber.
- Chinese hackers have been attacking the New York Times for months… ever since they published an investigation finding that the relatives of PM Wen Jiabao were in possession of several billion dollars.
- Google released very detailed maps of North Korea, including its gulags.
- France sold Russia warships that can’t work in the cold.
- There was a preliminary hearing held on Monday at Guantánamo for Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and other accused 9/11 co-conspirators.
- On the growing quest for the release of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “blind sheikh,” long imprisoned in high security detention centers in the US.
- Boston College has filed to close the Belfast Project case, since former IRA member Dolours Price has now died.
- Part of a €150m (£130m) EU peace fund for Northern Ireland will target the working class loyalist youth whose potential role in upheaval has been highlighted with the recent Belfast flag rioting.
- Former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt will stand trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity alongside his former intelligence chief.
- John Kerry was confirmed by the Senate for Secretary of State. Today is Hillary Clinton’s last day in the position.
- From The New Inquiry’s Game of Drones issue… “Louder Than Bombs.”
- Former CIA officer John Kiriakou was sentenced to 30 months in prison for disclosing the name of a covert operative to a reporter. Kiriakou is noted for going public/whistleblowing on the practices of enhanced interrogation techniques within the CIA.
- Chuck Hagel’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee was long and hostile.
- Nick Turse looks at the darker side of Chuck Hagel’s Vietnam service.
- Pew polling reveals broad support for the move to allow women in combat roles, and belief that it will improve the situation for female servicemembers while having minimal impact on effectiveness.
- Journalist and historian Stanley Karnow, known for his reporting from Vietnam, has died at 87.
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Photo: Sunday, January 27th. An Egyptian protester in Cairo throws a tear gas canister back at police. Khalil Hamra/AP.
