Alessandro Politi: Global Outlook 2013 from the Military Centre for Strategic Studies, Ministry of Defence, Italy

This is the first-ever MoD short-term forecast and global vision (in its 67 year history). GLOBAL OUTLOOK 2013 PDF:  2013-06 Italian MOD Global Forecast Executive Summary The next two years will be marked more by power vacuums and gaps than by a reassuring graceful degradation of the world order or by the rise of new …

Congressional Research Service — Index Frozen 2 JUNE 2015

NOTICE: We are suspending our update of this index. All CRS reports will continue to be offered at the Federation of American Scientists, and updated as new version are received, but we will not longer maintain this separate index.   Updated FAS new 2 June 2015. All links lead to Federation of American Scientists (FAS) …

Chuck Spinney: Imperial Idiocy Wrecks Middle East (Fruits of Treason) — End of Sykes-Picot Betrayal, Five Inter-Mixed Conflicts, Return of the Tribes

Patrick Cockburn has written a very important essay on Syria in the London Review of Books (attached below).  The essay is aptly titled but has only a few oblique, albeit important, references to Sykes – Picot Agreement, a document some readers may not familiar with.  Let’s begin with a little background. The Sykes-Picot agreement (it …

Neal Rauhauser: Syrian Refugees in All Directions, Destabilizing Region

Post-Assad Syria: Turkey’s Perspective I just finished reading the Bipartisan Policy Center‘s paper U.S. – Turkish Cooperation Towards A Post Assad Syria. I knew I had been missing nuance but I did not realize how much complexity there was in the relationship between the two countries. First, Syria has been spilling refugees all over the region. …

Vladimir Putin: Syria My Way — An Overview

Western-Backed Insurgents suffer “Stalingrad-like Defeat” in Qasair. Syrian Army wins Decisive Victories throughout Syria Christof Lehmann (nsnbc),- On Saturday 8. June 2013 the Syrian Arab Army has won decisive battles over western-backed insurgents in Qasair and throughout the country. In Qasair, the last pockets of resistance in al-Budweia al Sharquia were fought down and the …

Chuck Spinney: Syrian Use of Chemical Weapons? Bullshit. + Syria Regional Meta-RECAP

Pressure is mounting for the US to become involved in the Syrian civil war.  Advocates of intervention have all sorts of motives.  Once of the most attractive talking points from the perspective of the interventionists is the Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons on its own people.  This short and well focused essay addresses that …