This Week in War. A Friday round-up of what happened and what’s been written in the world of war and military/security affairs this week. It’s a mix of news reports, policy briefs, blog posts and longform journalism. Subscribe here to receive this round-up by email.
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Nine have been killed and 70 injured this week during student protests in southern Ethiopia.
EU peacekeepers undertook their first operation in the Central African Republic, taking over security of the main airport on Wednesday.
Doctors Without Borders suspended its activities in a CAR town after a hospital attack.
An Egyptian court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood leader and 682 supporters to death.
Sen. Leahy (D-Vt.) is blocking aid to Egypt over justice system abuses.
Bashar Al-Assad has declared his candidacy for the June 3 presidential elections in Syria.
Syria missed the revised deadline for chemical weapons export or destruction.
Foreign Policy reports on the high-tech efforts to send weapons to Syrian rebels, but keep them in check.
The PLO has voted to continue its bid for statehood and sign onto 63 UN conventions.
Mahmoud Abbas issued a formal statement declaring the Holocaust “the most heinous crime to have occurred against humanity in the modern era.”
Palestinian leadership has agreed to return to the negotiation table on the preconditions of another prisoner release and a settlement freeze.
Netanyahu considers unilateral moves.
Saudi Arabia has purchased its first drone fleet.
The US and Gulf states plan a missile defense system with Iran in mind.
Ukrainian forces are reportedly conducting an operation today on Slavyansk, held by Russian separatists. It seems that two Ukrainian helicopters have been shot down and their pilots killed.
BuzzFeed reporter Mike Giglio and his translator Elena Glazunova appear to have been seized by Russian separatists at a checkpoint near Konstantinovka this morning.
"…we have to begin to view Russia no longer as a partner but as more of an adversary…" says Alexander Vershbow, deputy secretary-general of NATO.
Ukraine detained a Russian military attaché on suspicion of spying and declared him persona non grata.
The US claims to have recorded proof of Russian espionage in Ukraine.
Turkish protesters clashed with riot police during May Day protests.
A State Dept report says there was a 40% spike in terrorist attacks globally between 2012 and 2013, as well as a surge in activity and aggression from Al-Qaeda affiliates in various regions.
Iraqis went to the polls to vote for a new parliament on Wednesday, the first nationwide elections since America’s departure.
The Afghan election is set for a run-off between Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani.
The Afghan Taliban military chief, Mullah Zakir, is stepping down.
President Karzai has accused the US and UK of continuing to run illegal detention facilities in Afghanistan.
Afghan troops and Western air support rebuffed a 300-strong militant attack by the Haqqani Network, et al. at the Pakistani border.
A British helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing 5 NATO troops.
Since the CIA’s use of the vaccination program in the intelligence-gathering for the bin Laden raid, health workers in Pakistan have been much more involved in the country’s combat with the Taliban.
Sinn Féin’s president, Gerry Adams, has overnighted at an Antrim police station, being questioned in connection with the 1972 Provisional IRA abduction and murder of Jean McConville.
The British government has refused to order a probe into the 1971 killings of 10 Catholics (including a priest) in Belfast by British police.
Former Venezuelan intelligence chief Eliecer Otaiza was shot dead outside Caracas on Saturday.
The US and the Philippines signed a 10 year defense pact.
Officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency say that agency head LTG Michael Flynn will leave his post this summer under pressure from DNI Clapper.
The Senate confirmed Robert Work as the next deputy Secretary of Defense.
Military sexual assault reports to the Pentagon rose by 50% the past year, attributed to a reform push to increase willingness to report the crimes.
Photo: Baghdad, Iraq. An explosion from a car bomb attack on a Shi’ite political rally. Thaier Al-Sudani/Reuters.
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