David Francis
Monday, January 4, 2016 - 08:31
On Tuesday, Army Col. Steve Warren, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman in Baghdad, said the Iraqi army used a floating bridge given to them by the United States to cross a branch of the Euphrates River, allowing them to make their push into the Ramadi city center
Thursday, May 7, 2015 - 06:33
Secretary of State John Kerry met on Wednesday with Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, a man who stands accused of committing a broad array of human rights violations but whose nation houses hundreds of American drones and other aircraft. David Francis reflects on the complicated relationship between the two states.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015 - 07:25
In January, General John F. Campbell, the top American military commander in Afghanistan, abruptly classified a number of key data points connected to the capabilities of the Afghan army that had been public for years. He might have had good reason to hide the numbers: now that the data has been released, it’s clear the Afghan army is far weaker than originally thought.
Friday, February 27, 2015 - 06:48
Members of the Obama administration were on Capitol Hill this week to push for a new authorization to use military force against the Islamic State, but hours of confusing and often conflicting testimony about the dangers posed by the group and the status of the U.S.-led campaign wound up muddying the waters and making it even more difficult for the White House to win over skeptical lawmakers.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015 - 09:09
Current events in Yemen will influence the future of hundreds of millions of dollars of American aid to a country on the frontline of a fight against the world’s most dangerous branch of al Qaeda.
Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 06:43
President Barack Obama has yet to decide whether he will sign legislation passed by Congress last week that would allow him to provide weapons to Ukraine’s ramshackle military and increase the penalties on Russia’s energy sector, setting up a confrontation with the GOP-held Congress in the new year.
Tuesday, December 9, 2014 - 06:36
The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Monday refused to rule out sending weapons to the Ukrainian army, but insisted that the crisis in Ukraine would be solved with diplomacy, not armies.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - 07:16
American soldiers from the Army's 1st Cavalry Division will rotate to locations throughout Poland and the Baltics until at least the end of 2015 to reassure U.S. allies on edge because of recent Russian incursions into Ukraine, according to the top commander of the U.S. Army in Europe.
Friday, November 7, 2014 - 06:47
Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, France's $1.6 billion deal to sell two Mistral-class warships to Russia has been a source of deep divisions within Europe.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 - 06:20
As talks involving Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko, get underway in Belarus, evidence mounted that Russia is escalating its incursion of Ukrainian territory by sending troops and a column of tanks into eastern Ukraine.
NATO was quick to condemn Russia's actions Monday, Aug. 25, yet similar previous condemnations have done nothing to deter Putin. But the alliance does have options beyond harsh words to deter Russia's insurgency in a key European neighbor.