Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing Three explosions have hit Iranian targets in the last few days. A medical site in Tehran, the Natanz centrifuge site, and Ahvaz in the Arab Khuzestan province. Such attacks have been going on for well over a decade. The Mujahedin-e Khalq and the Arab Struggle Movement for Read More …
Brian M Downing Historical analogies The shift from youthful idealism to terror is clear in several countries. Russian youth went to the countryside to learn from simple people and bring reform. It didn’t work well at all and as tsarist repression continued, they became nihilistic and violent. Nechaev and Zasulich Read More …
Brian M Downing Iranian reformers over the years have repeatedly mounted courageous demonstrations against the mullahs and generals who’ve been in charge since 1979. Determined young people, mainly urban-dwellers, took to the streets after the fraudulent 2009 election, after price hikes, and other tines as well. They’ve been shot down Read More …
Brian M Downing Relations between the US and Iran have been varying degrees of bad since the revolution and embassy seizure of 1979. The JCPOA of 2015 opened the door to better relations. The Obama administration and Rouhani government were amenable but the mullahs and generals, who oversee Rouhani, were Read More …
Brian M Downing The most recent act of terrorism stemming from Saudi Arabia took place last week when a Saudi trainee killed three American military personnel in Florida. Over the years Saudis have propagated an anti-Western ideology across the Islamic world, bombed our embassies, attacked our naval vessel, executed Read More …
Brian M Downing In recent years American policies in the Middle East have met with mixed success. Key allies are reasonably secure and arms sales are on the rise. However, intermittent efforts to liberalize the region have brought more chaos than democracy, in large part because most Arab rulers oppose Read More …
Brian M Downing The US and Pakistan have been uneasy partners ever since the latter came into existence in 1947 and the Cold War began. Since then, Pakistan had several descents into military rule, started wars with India (and lost every time), produced nuclear weapons in violation of the NPT, Read More …
Brian M Downing The Muslim Brotherhood began in 1920s Egypt and over the years has spread throughout the Islamic world. In places it operates as an underground network, elsewhere as an open part of government. Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States have formed an Entente which opposes terrorism and Read More …
Brian M Downing Few people had heard of the Tuareg before the wars in Libya and Mali. The Kurds were better known but the fighting in Iraq and Syria brought them to prominence. The Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic people, will make themselves better known in coming decades. Chinese policies and Read More …
Brian M Downing The new administration has taken several bold steps regarding the Middle East. The executive order on immigration from seven Muslim countries caused an uproar, though that’s far less important than its imprecision and questionable constitutionality. The plan to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Read More …