Travis Walker

Former @82ndABNDiv and Texas politico following national security, conflict, history and sports. RT=interesting

[Crisis Group @CrisisGroup]

“The drone war I witnessed is no longer a footnote in Colombia’s conflict. It is a preview of where conflict is heading.”

We investigate the rapid spread of drones in Colombia’s conflicts and why the emerging threat will be a critical challenge for the new government.

[Mina Al-Lami @Minalami]

🧵A few takeaways from my fuller BBC Monitoring analysis on JNIM’s evolving relationship with the al-Qaeda brand 👇
Is JNIM in the Sahel moving away from the global al-Qaeda brand?
https://t.co/fKiN203tSR

[Comfort Ero @EroComfort]

🔥With wars raging in Somalia, Sudan & Yemen, not to mention those beyond, a major new conflict in Ethiopia is a nightmare scenario. The humanitarian consequences are potentially horrific and there’s a non-trivial risk that other countries get dragged in.

https://t.co/VZVSV1BoDv

[Michael C. Horowitz @mchorowitz]

It's a new era of war and the US has to adapt - the rest of the world is....

[War on the Rocks @WarOnTheRocks]

South Korea’s counter-drone drills this year focused on large one-way attack drones. North Korean commandos learned to fight with something smaller, cheaper, and harder to spot. https://t.co/wluvAttNTq

[Paul Poast @ProfPaulPoast]

Why is Japan a critical US ally? One short answer: island chains!

🧵

[Travis Walker @Travis_Walker1]

A conflict that began with tanks and then artillery is now pivoting around a new generation of drones focused on military, industrial, economic and civilian targets https://t.co/xw1vw3msuZ

[Travis Walker @Travis_Walker1]

https://t.co/jAVDe2uZRR

[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty @RFERL]

RFE/RL takes apart a Russian Geran-4 drone to uncover what makes the jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) faster, harder to intercept, and capable of operating deep inside Ukraine -- from its turbojet engine and advanced camera to foreign-made communications and navigation components. @cxemu @radiosvoboda

[College GameDay @CollegeGameDay]

Will the real UT please stand up? 👀

@ESPNMcGee takes a look at the age-old question ahead of the Texas-Tennessee matchup 🔥

[Trip Gabriel @tripgabriel]

The NYT confirms Haaretz's report that Benjamin Netanyahu was secretly warned before Oct. 7, 2023 by the Emirati president that Hamas planned a major attack, per 2 sources

The warning was not shared with Israeli security chiefs, per 5 ex-officials

https://t.co/BCnwcyzg8C

[ACLED @ACLEDINFO]

There are two things to keep an eye on in #Ethiopia.

First, the TPLF is now allied with Eritrea, raising concerns over access to arms. Second, the Red Sea sits in the background of what is happening, with Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia all part of a wider contest over control in the area.

[Farzin Nadimi, PhD فرزین ندیمی @FarzinNadimi]

The Houthis can absolutely not hold on to the narrow, naked Bab el-Mandab coast and the islands with an exposed left (eastern) flank, and that's exactly why they are moving heaven (or hell) and earth to take Kahboub and the Wazi’iyah–Kadha line from the government forces. If they cannot secure their flank, and the coalition has so far prevented them from doing that, the Hoots will have to pack up and roll back to north.

Now the question is, why the Hoots embarked on their costly coastal and island sprint early in Sep, knowing it wouldn't add much to their anti-access/area denial capability. They already controlled the shipping lanes going to and coming from BaM from the comfort of Hudaydah and their weapons can easily reach BaM from the north.

The answer is to appease their friends in Tehran and Bandar Abbas, to complete the IRGC's Hormuz effort, to drive the oil prices up, and to eventually set up a toll booth at Perim island.

[Isaac Chotiner @IChotiner]

New Interview: I talked to the analyst Jaser AbuMousa about what life is like in Gaza today, and the devastation of his own family. https://t.co/oItXMmqppY

[africanews @africanews]

Renewed fighting in northern Ethiopia could spread beyond Tigray and destabilize the wider Horn of Africa, an International Crisis Group analyst warned https://t.co/dK4McEjwBa

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

Heavy fighting has returned to Tigray and the prospects for de-escalation are slim. Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, has two big advantages over the rebel groups https://t.co/cHHzHszf01

[Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom]

The Iran war looks like a quagmire in the short term, but our cover story this week @TheEconomist asks whether it will ultimately be the start of a real American retrenchment from the Middle East.

The past 35 years have seen America embark on one martial folly after another in the region. Some succeeded at regime change but left chaos in their wake. Others failed outright. None produced an outcome beneficial to American interests.

It is not leaving altogether, of course. But its allies have lost faith, its voters are exhausted and its strategists need to deal with crises elsewhere. Will it step back from its role as the Middle East's hegemon? And who will fill the vacuum?

[Critical Threats @criticalthreats]

NEW I Yemeni government-aligned forces repelled a Houthi advance on September 23 that sought to sever the primary ground line of communication (GLOC) that connects Taiz City and Aden City. Houthi control over the Taiz-Aden GLOC would effectively represent an encirclement of Yemeni government-aligned forces in Taiz City, as the Hijat al Abd road is the only effective main supply route (MSR) that connects Taiz City to the rest of Yemeni government-controlled territory. (1/5)

[Ahmed Nagi @AhmedNagiYE]

A very good piece on the battle of Mokha by @mohammedalqadhi, highlighting how the Houthis prepared for the offensive while divisions and weak coordination undermined government forces, leading to the rapid collapse of the western coast https://t.co/n2DNjxhhlu

[NBA @NBA]

The NBA family mourns the passing of Naismith Hall of Famer Bob Pettit, a two-time NBA MVP and a member of all four NBA Anniversary Teams.  He raised the bar for excellence as the league’s first MVP, first 20,000-point scorer and first four-time All-Star Game MVP.  His iconic 50-point performance in Game 6 of the 1958 NBA Finals clinched the championship for the St. Louis Hawks.  Beyond those accomplishments, Bob helped transform the power forward position.  Our thoughts are with Bob’s family and friends and the entire Hawks organization.