{"id":19247,"date":"2015-03-25T11:00:50","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T00:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=19247"},"modified":"2015-03-25T19:19:40","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T08:19:40","slug":"rapid-fire-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapid Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jamal<\/a><\/p>\n

This week in Rapid Fire we see the end of Australia\u2019s longest war, more on women in combat, arming Ukraine, Yemen\u2019s civil war, Iran\u2019s role in Iraq, the Tikrit offensive, Boko Haram, and children during wartime.<\/p>\n

Operation Slipper, Australia\u2019s longest war, officially came to an end over the weekend with welcome home parades being held in Canberra and the six state capitals (for images from the day, see this Defence interactive map<\/a>). Defence Minister Kevin Andrews acknowledged<\/a> the 263 Australians wounded\u00a0and 41 Australian Defence Force members killed during the campaign in Afghanistan that started in 2001.<\/p>\n

Debate about women\u2019s combat roles rages in the US. Katelyn van Dam, a Marine Corps attack helicopter pilot and combat veteran, gives her two cents (and some statistics) on arguments about physicality and the supposed increased incidence of physical injury over on War on the Rocks<\/em><\/a>, Teresa Fazio, another Marine Corps officer, also weighed in on the debate in the New York Times<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> reminiscing of her time in combat training and the surmountable experiences that gender integration brings.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/em>\u2019s interview with Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is worth reading for his response<\/a>\u00a0to the idea of sending lethal arms to Ukraine. He believes that a military victory against Russia is impossible and that the discussion is \u2018something for the American public opinion\u2019. Navalny also argues that the introduction of \u2018visas and financial restrictions for oligarchs would hit Putin\u2019s regime harder\u2019.<\/p>\n

Escalating violence in Yemen has led to an emergency UN Security Council meeting. Jamal Benomar, the US special envoy to Yemen, stressed during the meeting<\/a>, that the nation is being pushed \u2018to the edge of civil war\u2019\u2014a strange statement considering long-standing reporting on prolonged civil conflict in the country<\/a>. The meeting came a day after Houthi fighters seized the Yemeni city of Taiz,<\/a> the same day US Special Forces were officially pulled out<\/a> due to the deteriorating situation.<\/p>\n

The increasing presence of Iranian forces in Iraq continues to spark controversy in the US with former Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the UN Zalmay Khalilzad advocating for a tighter relationship with Iraq<\/a> to break Iran\u2019s \u2018stranglehold\u2019 over the nation. This an opinion<\/a> is shared by ASPI\u2019s visiting fellow Lieutenant Colonel Ken Gleiman<\/a>\u00a0from the United States Pacific Command and former commander of the Multi-National Force in Iraq General David Petraeus<\/a>. On War on the Rocks<\/em>, David Johnson a senior researcher from the RAND corporation<\/a> has questioned whether, without US combat assistance, Iraqi state forces are sufficient to defeat Islamic State, arguing that in order to realise the US\u2019 goals, it is imperative to have combat troops on the ground.<\/p>\n

Last week saw reports of a slowdown in the battle to retake Tikrit from Islamic State. Marwan Jbarra,\u00a0head of the tribal council in the province of Salah al-Din, of which Tikrit is the capital, has stressed that \u2018the battle did not stop in the way that we\u2019re hearing in [the] media<\/a>\u2019. Prime Minister Haider al-abadi also commented that the campaign was going \u2018according to schedule,\u2019 stating that any evidence of a slowdown was due to Iraqi forces wishing to avoid civilian casualties.<\/p>\n

Soldiers from Niger and Chad have liberated the Nigerian town of Damasak<\/a> from Boko Haram. The once populous city of 200,000 is now largely empty as an entirely foreign force holds the city. Officials from both Niger and Chad have noted<\/a> the absence of Nigerian soldiers, with Second Lieutenant Mohammed Hassan stating \u2018we asked them to come, to receive this town from us, but they have not come.\u2019 Writing on RealClearDefense<\/em>, CNA Corporation analysts Julia McQuaid and Patricio Asfura-Heim argue that it will take more than counterterrorism operations to defeat Boko Haram<\/a> \u2013 those efforts must be accompanied by political, economic and developmental reforms.<\/p>\n

In a new CNA Corporation report, released early March<\/a>,\u00a0McQuaid and Asfura-Heim recommend that US Special Forces could be the missing piece of the puzzle in combatting and eventually defeating Boko Haram. An article in Marine Corps Times<\/em><\/a> assesses these recommendations, noting that given Nigeria\u2019s reluctance to accept international assistance, other nations such as Chad or Niger may be more willing to accept it.<\/p>\n

And finally, the Huffington Post<\/em> released a photo essay<\/a> last week that gives a haunting juxtaposition of children at play during wartime.<\/p>\n

Sarah Hately is an intern at ASPI. Image courtesy of Flickr user Chatham House<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week in Rapid Fire we see the end of Australia\u2019s longest war, more on women in combat, arming Ukraine, Yemen\u2019s civil war, Iran\u2019s role in Iraq, the Tikrit offensive, Boko Haram, and children during …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":307,"featured_media":19248,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[247,895,538,1189,239,310],"class_list":["post-19247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-iran","tag-islamic-state","tag-nigeria","tag-operation-slipper","tag-warfare","tag-women-in-combat"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRapid Fire | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rapid Fire | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This week in Rapid Fire we see the end of Australia\u2019s longest war, more on women in combat, arming Ukraine, Yemen\u2019s civil war, Iran\u2019s role in Iraq, the Tikrit offensive, Boko Haram, and children during ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-25T00:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-25T08:19:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/8533154509_8c80dc2a8a_z.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"429\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Hately\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Hately\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/8533154509_8c80dc2a8a_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/8533154509_8c80dc2a8a_z.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":429,\"caption\":\"Jamal Benomar, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, UN Envoy to Yemen\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/\",\"name\":\"Rapid Fire | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-25T00:00:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-25T08:19:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7879897f6a3b2805e3067e559b1cbc4c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rapid Fire\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7879897f6a3b2805e3067e559b1cbc4c\",\"name\":\"Sarah Hately\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c256e91838fefdc781bcb7ae2b04d135?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c256e91838fefdc781bcb7ae2b04d135?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sarah Hately\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/sarah-hately\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rapid Fire | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rapid Fire | The Strategist","og_description":"This week in Rapid Fire we see the end of Australia\u2019s longest war, more on women in combat, arming Ukraine, Yemen\u2019s civil war, Iran\u2019s role in Iraq, the Tikrit offensive, Boko Haram, and children during ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2015-03-25T00:00:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-25T08:19:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":429,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/8533154509_8c80dc2a8a_z.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sarah Hately","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sarah Hately","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/8533154509_8c80dc2a8a_z.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/8533154509_8c80dc2a8a_z.jpg","width":640,"height":429,"caption":"Jamal Benomar, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General, UN Envoy to Yemen"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/","name":"Rapid Fire | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-03-25T00:00:50+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-25T08:19:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7879897f6a3b2805e3067e559b1cbc4c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/rapid-fire-6\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rapid Fire"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7879897f6a3b2805e3067e559b1cbc4c","name":"Sarah Hately","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c256e91838fefdc781bcb7ae2b04d135?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c256e91838fefdc781bcb7ae2b04d135?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sarah Hately"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/sarah-hately\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19247"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19281,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19247\/revisions\/19281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}