Free Republic

As the US completes its final withdrawal from Iraq, American special forces troops have been diverted to positions in Jordan opposite a Syrian tank concentration building up across the kingdom’s northern border, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources report. As of last Thursday, as of last Thursday Dec. 8, military convoys, air transports and helicopters have been lifting US troops across the border from Iraq. They have been deployed in position to ward off a possible Syrian invasion in the light of President Bashar Assad’s warning that he would set the entire Middle East on fire if the pressure on his...

Seven decades after Pearl Harbor and one decade after 9/11 we Americans dare not remain willfully oblivious to the threat of the Black Swan. Our grand American experiment is more vulnerable now that it was in 1941 and it is certainly more precariously balanced than it was in 2011. These conundrums are what Donald Rumsfeld might describe as the "known unknowns" but by definition a Black Swan event is as surprising as it is earth shattering. So all of these threats which beset us are by definition not Black Swan events. They are known risks. There are many more risks...

Remember the recent reaction of the US to Iran's plot to assassinate a foreign national on our soil? Our representatives pounded their chests declaring that Iran would pay for this illegal and outrageous activity. In the heat of the revelations which centered on the arrests by the Justice Department there was some talk of perhaps putting a credible military option in the mix of policies aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear program. To no ones surprise, our military option has not materialized and it seems that all the bluster about increasing economic sanctions (Does anyone believe sanctions will stop the nuclear...