Volume 02 Issue 03, Fall 2020

Features

Lassoing the Haboob
Maj Ryan CK Hess, USAF

To develop solutions to Mali’s terrorist crisis, it is first vital to understand its history and explain how a country that was once held up as an exemplar of democratic success in Africa could collapse with such rapidity. Additionally, the same factors that led to Mali’s current disaster precipitated the creation of the extremist group Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM). Therefore, it is similarly important to characterize and understand the group’s history, organization, methods, and narrative. Only once armed with that understanding can one begin to develop possible strategies for countering JNIM and ameliorating Mali’s troubled situation.

The Use of Helicopters against Guerrillas
Dr. Tal Tovy

This article examines the Israeli Air Force’s (IAF) use of helicopters in the war against terrorism to demonstrate the specificity of the IAF’s use of attack helicopters as compared with other armies fighting terror in the world today.

The Revolution in Drone Warfare
Ridvan Bari Urcosta

The beginning of 2020 nearly witnessed Russia and Turkey in direct kinetic war. Both countries came to this confrontation well-experienced in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles and electromagnetic spectrum warfare technologies, having demonstrated their proficiencies in actions taken against rebel factions in Syria—and in Ankara’s case against Kurdish groups in Turkey—but neither Russia nor Turkey, or other countries for that matter, had previous experience in employing these technologies in a direct clash against a peer competitor. Thus, the warfare between the two adversaries in Libya was truly a transformational confrontation that will definitely be added into military handbooks and manuals around the globe.

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It Is Time to Embrace the European Union’s Strategic Autonomy in Space
Col Christopher M. Martinez, USA

This article discusses why and how the United States should pivot from holding a long-standing skeptical view toward the European Union’s strategic autonomy initiatives in the space domain to embracing them.

Commentary

Islamic Radicalization in Belgium
Vinayak Dalmia

While the total number of Muslims in Belgium is estimated at less than a million, far less than countries like France and Germany, the country’s sparse population means Muslims comprise approximately 6 percent of the country’s inhabitants. A complicating factor is the preexisting divide in the country between the Dutch-speaking North (Flanders) and primarily French-speaking South (Wallonia). This article examines the ongoing issue of radicalization among Muslims in Belgium and how the preexisting divide within Belgian politics plays a role in addressing the issue.

Book Review

A Concise History of Sunnis & Shi’is
by John McHugo
Reviewed by Maj Michael Knapp, USAF