By CONRAD BLACK, Special to the Sun | October 18, 2019
https://www.nysun.com/foreign/trump-big-move-on-turkey-may-gain-us-goals/90872/
By Victor Davis Hanson via National Review
It is incumbent on the Trump administration in general and on Secretary Pompeo in particular to find ways to prevent mass Turkish attacks on the Kurds, while not inserting American ground troops into a cauldron of fire between Turks and Kurds.
Clifford D. May — The Washington Times
Whatever might be said about Donald Trump, I always figured him for a savvy New Yorker who knew a good deal when he saw one. A prime example was in Syria where the commander in chief, despite understandable misgivings about foreign entanglements, had deployed a small contingent of highly skilled troops to accomplish a mission vital to America’s national security. In military jargon, President Trump was employing “economy of force.” In the context... Read More
DanielPipes.org
October 15, 2019
http://www.danielpipes.org/19075/erdogan-invaded-what-next-in-syria
Danielle Pletka | AEIdeas
America's actions in Syria reflect a failure of leadership. We must persuade our leadership, our policymakers, and the public that it is always cheaper to try to solve problems overseas before they become wars, but we haven’t done so.
U.S. Announces Full Withdrawal From Northern Syria As Turkish Forces Advance
By Amberin Zaman & Jack Detsch, Al-Monitor: "A top U.S. official announced Sunday that the United States would be pulling out all of its forces from northeastern Syria, leaving its Syrian Kurdish allies exposed to Turkey’s ongoing military offensive as it entered its fifth day — a move that will likely go down as a further betrayal of the Kurdish people by the United States."
By Daniel S. Morgan, The Hill: "American foreign policy is increasingly falling into disarray and incoherence."
Will New Doctrine Fix Mission Command?
By Doug Orsi & Bobby Mundell, War Room: "But is updating the doctrine sufficient to answer its critics? Persistent execution challenges may go beyond what any doctrine can address."
An Assessment of the 2040 Security Environment Absent Great Power Competition
By Mike Sweeney, Divergent Options: "America is likely to be ill-prepared for the security threats circa 2040. The tasks the U.S. military may be asked to perform in the face of global political instability, mass migration, and environmental degradation are likely to be both unconventional and unwanted."
A Better Idea Can Win the Next Big War for the Ground Services
By Robert Scales, War on the Rocks: "Buried in the rush to embrace multi-domain operations is an all-but-forgotten future-gazing effort the Army began soon after Desert Storm."