Rules for Pentagon Use of Proxy Forces Shed Light on a Shadowy War Power

U.S. Special Operations forces are not required to vet for past human rights violations by the foreign troops they arm and train as surrogates, newly disclosed documents show.

The irregular warfare program has provided training to allied forces in countries that face a threat of invasion by larger neighbors, the senior Defense Department official said. The Washington Post has reported that an irregular warfare proxy program in Ukraine was terminated just before the Russian invasion, and that some officials want to restart it.

Rules for Pentagon Use of Proxy Forces Shed Light on a Shadowy War Power

American-Saudi Agreement on Two-State Solution in Yemen, Dispute over Fate of Islah

American-Saudi Agreement on Two-State Solution in Yemen, Dispute over Fate of Islah

Related:

Want peace in Yemen? First, restore the balance of power.

US troops to expand patrols in Syria despite tension with Turkey + US forces prepare to build 1st military base in Syria’s Raqqa

The Pentagon is preparing to resume full ground operations alongside Kurdish partners in northern Syria, officials said Tuesday, a move that risks further inflaming relations with NATO ally Turkey, which blames the Kurds for a deadly bombing in Istanbul last month and has threatened a ground assault in retaliation.

US troops to expand patrols in Syria despite tension with Turkey

Related:

US forces prepare to build 1st military base in Syria’s Raqqa

The Syrian Democratic Forces is an armed militia of the rebels in North and East Syria (AANES). An alliance of forces formed during the Syrian civil war composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian/Syriac, as well as some smaller Armenian, Turkmen and Chechen forces. It is militarily led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, and also includes several ethnic militias, as well as elements of the Syrian opposition’s Free Syrian Army. Founded in October 2015, the SDF states its mission as fighting to create a secular, democratic and federalised Syria. According to Turkey, the Syrian Democratic Forces has direct links to the PKK.

Wikipedia

The SDF equals the YPG/PKK/Kurds

Shadowy US Spy Firm Promises To Surveil Crypto Users For the Highest Bidder

Leaked files reviewed by MintPress expose how intelligence services the world over can track cryptocurrency transactions to their source and therefore identify users by monitoring the movements of smartphone and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices, such as Amazon Echo. The contents comprehensively detonate the myth of crypto anonymity, and have grave implications for individuals and states seeking to shield their financial activity from the prying eyes of hostile governments and authorities.

Shadowy US Spy Firm Promises To Surveil Crypto Users For the Highest Bidder

Previously:

Anomaly Six

Wisconsin Army National Guard headed to Horn of Africa for 10 months

Wisconsin Army National Guard headed to Horn of Africa for 10 months

Related:

Virginia National Guard soldiers return home from Africa

[11-2021] 1,000 National Guard Soldiers to Deploy to Africa as Mid East Wars Wind Down

It is unclear if the 1,000 Guardsmen is an increase in the Pentagon’s force in Africa, or if those troops are replacing others currently deployed. The U.S. has been increasingly operating in countries like Somalia and Niger as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have drawn down.

There are some 6,000 American troops, Defense Department civilians and contractors across Africa, an Army spokesperson told Military.com. About 3,400 of those people operate from Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, which serves as the major hub for the U.S. military on the continent.

Did the Syrian Revolution Have Popular Support?

by William Van Wagenen | Aug 3, 2022

In the mainstream view, the armed groups fighting the Syrian government since 2011, collectively known as the Free Syrian Army (FSA), were part of a Syrian revolution that represented the Syrian people. At the same time, the Syrian government, or Assad regime, allegedly represented only a small number of loyalists, in particular from President Assad’s minority Alawite community. Such a view undergirded demands by Western and Gulf-funded think tank scholars, who claimed that the Syrian people wished for FSA groups to be armed, and even for Western military intervention on behalf of the FSA, whose fighters they sympathetically described as rebels.

Did the Syrian Revolution Have Popular Support?