A Daughter Seeks the Truth About Her Father, Espionage, and Oil
Reading Time: 6 minutes Charlotte Dennett’s latest book explores America’s early intelligence forays into the Middle East.
Is the Cold War in the Persian Gulf About to Turn Hot?
Reading Time: 2 minutes The hidden cyber war between the US and Iran saw the world’s first known cyber weapon tested a decade ago. Now that conflict, which has so far been fought with hidden means, is on the brink of explosion.
Syria 101 — The Basics on the Superpower Flashpoint
Reading Time: 15 minutes Independent longtime Middle East journalist and former ABC News foreign correspondent Charles Glass provides a blunt primer on the current state of play in Syria and the broader Middle East.
RadioWhoWhatWhy: Fanning the Flames of Syria
Reading Time: < 1 minute Just how bad is the situation in Syria? Four million Syrians have fled the country in the past four years as its cities smolder and civil war rages on. Strategic dysfunction on the part of the international community, led by the US, continued airstrikes, and growing violence perpetrated by the Islamic State are definitely part of the story that led to Syria’s descent into chaos. RadioWhoWhatWhy’s Jeff Schechtman sits down with Charles Glass, author of Syria Burning, to learn the rest of it.
Book Excerpt: “Syria Burning”
Reading Time: 15 minutes If you want to know the who, what, why of how things got so bad in the Syria (and, in some ways, the rest of the Middle East)—read this excerpt from Syria Burning by Charles Glass, a book so beautifully written you will hardly know you are reading. It is more like seeing.
Published by OR Books, New York and London, 2015.
RadioWhoWhatWhy: The Future of Outsourced Warfare
Reading Time: < 1 minute Blackwater may have become a symbol of all that can go wrong when government contractors outnumber trained military personnel, but what really happened in the killing fields of Iraq and Afghanistan? WhoWhatWhy’s Jeff Schechtman sits down with Blackwater founder Erik Prince to discuss the history and future of “outsourced” warfare.
Drone Deaths, Obama, and a Better Use for these Craft
Reading Time: < 1 minute Earlier this year, two innocent hostages—one American, one Italian—were killed by a US-led unmanned drone strike meant to target al-Qaeda. By some estimates, the drone strikes that President Obama has authorized have murdered more innocent people than the 9/11 attacks. As war rages on across the Middle East and the US continues to fire unmanned strikes that are killing civilians, it’s worth looking back and discovering how this technology came to be… and how it could be put to positive uses instead. See this documentary.
Does Jade Helm Violate Posse Comitatus?
Reading Time: 13 minutes The multi-state military drill known as Jade Helm has provoked a fierce debate. Is it much ado about nothing—or, as some claim, an effort to desensitize the public toward martial law? WhoWhatWhy takes a look.
Explainer: How Poor Timing Buries Important News
Reading Time: 4 minutes What a difference it makes…when news breaks. A look at the consequences of poor timing, in stories about Israel/Gaza and gun violence.
TVWho: Russ Baker on RT, with Syria Update
Reading Time: < 1 minute WhoWhatWhy Editor Russ Baker interviewed by RT on recent developments in the Western war with Syria you won’t hear about while all eyes are on the constructed “news” of the political conventions.