Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing The US has retaliated against IRGC personnel and proxies after three GI deaths on a small remote base near the Jordanian-Syrian border. Retaliatory trikes have gone on for several days now and aim at getting Iran to back down. There’s little sign of it. Where is this Read More …
Brian M Downing American troops in Syria and Iraq have come under fire since the Hamas war began. Over the weekend an Iranian drone struck an outpost in Jordan near its borders with Syria and Iraq. The Houthis continue to attack Western shipping in the Red Sea. It’s all part Read More …
Director: Martin Scorsese Stars: Leonard DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone 8/10 This long-awaited film is based on a string of murders that took place in the Osage tribal lands in Oklahoma back in the 1920s. The victims were Osages who’d benefited from revenue when oil is discovered. Many became Read More …
Brian M Downing The IDF is pressing ahead in Gaza. Thousands of residents have been killed and about 1.5 million have been driven from their homes and pushed south toward the Egyptian border. The Netanyahu government plans to expel them altogether and wants Arab states to take them in. In the Read More …
9/10 Director: Elem Klimov Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Ro0SZf438 Entire film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjIiApN6cfg&t=3s Though made almost forty years ago, Come and See offers insight as to how Russia wages war in Ukraine today, though of course sympathy for its cause isn’t likely to arise and isn’t hoped for here. This Read More …
Brian M Downing The Houthis began as a movement opposed to rising Saudi-Wahhabi influence in Yemen. They are Shia but their identity and cause are tied more to regional differences than to sectarian doctrines. The north has been fighting the Sunni south for a decade. After many offensives and counteroffensives, Read More …
Director: Sam Esmail Stars: Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, Kevin Bacon 7/10 A couple (Roberts and Hawke) and their two children rent an isolated estate on Long Island. They are self-absorbed, antagonistic toward one another, barely integrated into family life, and disinterested in the world outside them. Cell and Read More …
Reviewed by Brian M Downing Director: Peter Farrelly Starring: Zac Efron, Bill Murray, Russell Crowe 6/10 This comedy set in 1967-68 concerns Chickie Donohue who lives with the fierce Vietnam debate all around. He and most in his working-class neighborhood are traditional patriots who instinctively support the war and the Read More …
Brian M Downing The Hamas attack with its torture, rapes, and mutilations was appalling. A firm, violent response was understandable and in accordance with international law. However, the destruction Netanyahu has unleashed on Gaza and its 2.4 million people is disproportionate. Whole blocks and neighborhoods lie in ruins. Reliable sources Read More …
Brian M Downing Henry Kissinger died yesterday at the age of one hundred – fifty-four years after becoming Richard Nixon’s foreign policy architect. He directed policy at critical junctures of the Cold War and amid the Vietnam conflict, He remained a commentator on world affairs until only a few months Read More …