Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing Critical events related to Middle Eastern conflicts took place last week. Iran apparently fired missiles into the Golan Heights and Israel struck back on numerous Iranian positions in Syria. The US announced it’s leaving the JCPOA and new sanctions on the Islamic Republic are pending. Iran responded Read More …
Brian M Downing Only a few weeks ago leaders in Washington and Pyongyang were trading threats and even insults. Some people thought East Asia was approaching nuclear war. A false alarm of an incoming missile brought consternation in Hawaii. A year ago it would have brought nothing. Though a few Read More …
Brian M Downing The conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran did not begin by the happenstance of a border dispute or the sinking of a passenger liner. It came about by international diplomacy as surely as a multinational trade agreement. As murderous and chaotic as wars are, they have a Read More …
Brian M Downing Prime Minister Netanyahu repeatedly warns of Iranian dangers to his country and the region. He tried more than once to persuade the United States to destroy Iranian nuclear sites and mobilized his considerable resources to press the White House into action. Neither of the previous two presidents obliged. Read More …
Is conflict with Iran coming, again? Brian M Downing Throughout the campaign Donald Trump criticized his chief adversary for supporting the Iranian nuclear deal of 2015. The president-elect has backtracked on several matters, including prosecuting Hillary Clinton and building a physical wall along the Mexican border. Trump has not stepped Read More …
President Trump takes on the Middle East – Iran Brian M Downing No newly-elected president has caused more anxiety and speculation than Donald Trump. His hastily proposed polices and mercurial temperament worry foreign leaders and fellow Republicans alike. Many US foreign policy experts have publicly declared him unfit for the presidency. Read More …
Israel mobilized its considerable resources in an effort to block the nuclear deal with Iran in congress. Think tanks, lobbies, and the Religious Right denounced the agreement, repeatedly and vociferously, on television and talk shows and most importantly in the senate. Saudi Arabia made the same effort. Nonetheless, the Obama administration thwarted Read More …
The nuclear pact inked by the P5+1 and Iran, though not yet ratified, offers the opportunity for Iran to shed its parish-state label and reenter the world of nations. It has been largely excluded since the 1979 Revolution but especially so after opposition grew to its nuclear program in recent Read More …
The recent nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 brings hope for political reform in Iran. This is especially so among the middle classes of Tehran and other urban areas. The impending end to sanctions by much of the world, they believe, will bring greater prosperity and an easing of Read More …
While many parts of the world have called the Iranian nuclear deal a triumph of diplomacy, Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has branded it an “historic mistake, even though international inspection teams will monitor the number of centrifuges and see that Iran’s uranium is well below weapons grade. The Read More …