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This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.
This round-up will be on hiatus next Friday, but will return!
- Dexter Filkins’ longform inside look into the White House’s ongoing debate over what to do about Syria.
- Robert Ford, the US Ambassador to Syria, slipped secretly into northern Syria on Thursday in order to speak with opposition leaders.
- Syrian internet experienced a 19-hour blackout, but has been restored.
- Turkey is testing Syrians who seek medical care across the border for the effects of chemical weapons use.
- PKK rebels have begun to leave Turkey following a truce.
- Four Filipino UN peacekeepers were seized in the Golan Heights.
- Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi reshuffled his cabinet, increasing the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.
- A new hearing was held on Benghazi attacks.
- Kenya has asked the ICC to halt the court proceedings against President Uhuru Kenyatta.
- A UN peacekeeper was killed in eastern Congo.
- Nigeria’s hunt for Islamists is highly costly to civilians, whose bodies are pouring into Nigeria’s morgues.
- The US expanded its Iran sanctions again.
- Iran unveiled a new drone.
- Karzai has said that the US military is allowed to continue to keep bases in Afghanistan after the end of the combat mission.
- In the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress, direct accusations of cyberattacks were made against China.
- Thousands protested in Moscow against politically-motivated prosecutions.
- Northern Ireland’s leaders make plans for the peace walls to come down by 2023.
- The upkeep for Guantánamo Bay comes in at $900,000 an inmate.
- Military photos from inside the prison’s hunger strike.
- The chief of the Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kusinski, was arrested for… sexual assault.
- A new report on sexual assault in the military shows a 6% increase in reported sexual assaults in 2012 and Pentagon estimates say that 26,000 women were sexually assaulted (up from estimates of 19,000 in 2011).
- 17 nuclear missile launch officers at Minot Air Force Base have been removed from duty.
- The question of where deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev would be buried has been answered. He is apparently buried at a mystery location outside of Massachusetts.
- On the relationship between Russia and the FBI.
- The FBI is pushing for more eavesdropping and spying power, specifically more power to monitor online communication, a wish that seems likely to be granted.
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Photo: Relatives of Iraqi Shi’ite fighter Diaa Mutashar al-Issawi mourn him Monday in Basra. Nabil Al-Jurani/AP.
