Tag: Africa

Stevenson’s army, March 15

– WaPo notes that Russia’s mercenary Wagner forces are now in 18 African countries.

– New Covid cases force multiple lockdowns in China.

– Politico reports DOD proposal to send more trainers to Ukraine was rejected in December.

– FT says Russia’s tactics in Ukraine look like Syria playbook.

– NYT says Russia is using missile with good decoys.

-GZero looks at Belarus role.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

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Stevenson’s army, March 4

Belarus stays out.

US & Russia establish military hotline.

-Russia has friends in Africa.

-WH wants$10 Billion in new Ukraine aid.

– NYT assesses Ukraine military so far.

– BBC tells who’s who in Putin’s inner circle.

– Lawfare lists pros and cons of foreign fighters.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

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Stevenson’s army, February 18

– Reuters has details on emerging Iran nuclear deal.

-WaPo has background on French withdrawals from Africa.

– GAO assesses DOD competition with China.

– Politico says Congress deferred to Biden on sanctions.

– CISA reports Russian hacking of defense contractors.

– UVA study finds more proof of Big Sort — people forming like-minded political communities.

– NYT reports pressure in Senate to shorten roll calls.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

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Stevenson’s army, February 12

– Both US & Russia are withdrawing personnel from their Kyiv embassies. Biden & Putin are supposed to talk today.  Politico says Biden told foreign leaders Feb 16 looks like invasion day.

– NYT says US disclosed possible Russian moves as part of info ops.

– Fred Kaplan sees some Russian military opposition to Putin.

-WSJ reports US moves to block Chinese base in Africa.

– In a Solomonic move, Biden splits frozen Afghan money, half to humanitarian relief, half to 9/11 victims’ families.

-I agree with Tim Noah’s article, Washington is not a swamp.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

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Stevenson’s army, February 10

– This time, WH has better plans to evacuate a threatened country.

– Africom head sees “hand of Russia” in African coups.

– WSJ reports debate over new Iran nuclear deal.

Thomas Edsall says academic studies link populist support to status anxiety and loss of jobs through trade.

A group of Senators want intelligence sharing with Ukraine. A friend with long experience in intelligence sees problems: But intelligence sharing with Ukraine is not an easy call. Judging from the unclassified literature, it seems likely that Ukrainian intelligence is penetrated by the Russians. So, how do you share, how much, when, and with whom? Here are my guesses: You share only at a very high level, and only with professionals. Probably only with the military. If we and they are lucky, we have already trained them to receive and use what we pass. You leave an air gap between the “western” intelligence and whatever else they have. If we and they are lucky, the “western” equipment is already installed and tested. But you don’t exercise the equipment in Ukraine until the war is real, so as to limit what the Russian penetrations can learn and what advantage the Russian forces can gain as a result. And if you’re really serious, some American “trainers” come with the equipment — and stay there. Not “boots on the ground,” maybe, but “operatives in the ops center.”  And if we and they are lucky, the operatives are neither killed nor captured. So, why the letter? To tell the bureaucrats that we have their back, both parties, if that last bit of luck does not come to pass. 

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

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Stevenson’s army, February 1

– Summits lead to deals. Qatar’s leader met with Biden and won “Major Non-NATO Ally status”  CNN has background.  Qatar promised help with the Taliban.

Archives confirmed what Politico and others reported previously: President Trump often shredded documents which by law should have been preserved; so they’ve been taped together.

– There’s also more evidence that Trump sought DOD or DHS to seize voting machines.

North Korea is bragging about its missile tests.

– NYT looks for patterns in recent African coups.

– [This came up in class Monday] FT analyzes German internal debates over Russia and Ukraine.

– Location matters.Both Boeing and Airbus promise to build new tankers in US.

My SAIS colleague Charlie Stevenson distributes this almost daily news digest of foreign/defense/national security policy to “Stevenson’s army” via Googlegroups. I republish here. To get Stevenson’s army by email, send a blank email (no subject or text in the body) to stevensons-army+subscribe@googlegroups.com. You’ll get an email confirming your join request. Click “Join This Group” and follow the instructions to join. Once you have joined, you can adjust your email delivery preferences (if you want every email or a digest of the emails).

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