The US war in Afghanistan is now entering its sixteenth year. Countless lives and tax dollars have been spent fighting it. Yet, despite administrative changes at the federal level and fresh vows to bring an end to the war, the US is still embroiled in a painfully long struggle with no exit strategy in sight. […]
Tag: al-Qaeda
“Buyer’s Remorse”: Will Congress Regret Overriding President Obama’s Veto on Saudi Arabia Bill?
On Wednesday, Congress overrode President Obama’s veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JUSTA), the first veto override of Obama’s presidency. The vote in the Senate was 97-1 in favor (with only retiring Minority Leader Harry Reid voting against it) and 348-77 in favor in the House, well surpassing the ⅔ votes needed. […]
Yemen on the Brink of Civil War
Yemen is on the brink of civil war, after the Houthis, a well-organized group of Shia rebels, put current interim President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi under house arrest, leading to his resignation. Hadi fled the capital city Sana’a in late January and settled in his hometown of Aden, where he claimed the legitimate government resided. He […]
Continued Persecution of Christians
“Continued Persecution of Christians” was originally published in the Davis Political Review on April 6, 2015. On April 2, students at Garissa University College in Kenya started their day as usual; waking up, going to class, and attending religious services, completely unaware of the tragedy that would soon unravel. Early in the morning, masked gunmen stormed […]
Sectarian Strife in Yemen
February 10th, the U.S. Department of State announced a formal withdrawal from its embassy in Sana’a, Yemen, in response to mounting Houthi power in the capital. This departure marks a new political direction for Yemen, from the American-backed government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi to a new regime dominated by the Houthis, a Shiite […]
A Failed State No More: Somalia’s Waning War
Sleek Boeing 737-800s operated by Turkish Airlines fly into Mogadishu’s gleaming new international airport as patients flock to the recently refurbished Erdoan hospital, the best-equipped medical center in East Africa. Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda affiliate that has terrorized Somalia for eight years, is in tatters and on the run from a legitimate federal government that is […]
Paris, Baga, and Peshawar
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] World leaders gather at the unity rally in Paris, France on January 11th to show solidarity for survivors of the Charlie Hebdo attacks. On January 9th, African militant group Boko Haram carried out a violent attack in the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga, killing an estimated 2,000 people and causing the mass flight of […]
Underestimation Nation
On October 15th Fox News presented a poll that found 58% of Americans felt “things in the world are ‘going to hell in a handbasket.” [1] These findings tell us two things. First, we should probably question the quality of Fox News polls when a question legitimately uses the term “Hell in a handbasket” to […]
The Most Dangerous Game: U.S. Military Engagement in Yemen
As the U.S. prepares to withdraw its military presence from Afghanistan in 2014, the intelligence community has begun shifting the majority of its attention from the Af-Pak region, the mountainous area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the tiny country of Yemen. Faced with a plethora of domestic problems – such as a fragmented government that […]