Guy Taylor
Articles by Guy Taylor
Leopoldo Cintras Frias, Cuban military chief, visits Syria
The head of Cuba's armed forces recently traveled to Syria, according to a Miami-based research group that claims a cadre of defense officials from the communist island have been dispatched to join Russia's growing military operations in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Published October 14, 2015
Israeli-Palestinian violence escalates, approaches 2014 Gaza Strip war levels
With tensions and violence soaring to their highest points in nearly a year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel's security forces will "extract the full price" from Palestinians who have carried out attacks on innocent Israelis. Published October 13, 2015
Obama to host Park Geun-hye as South Korea’s growing ties to China threaten alliance
President Obama is expected to highlight this week's U.S. visit by South Korean President Park Geun-hye as an example of the rock-solid alliance between Washington and Seoul -- but a range of sticky issues will lurk in the backdrop behind Ms. Park's visit to the White House at week's end. Published October 12, 2015
Obama shifts Syria policy as Russia takes lead role
With President Obama's Syria policy under new scrutiny as Russia takes a lead role in the conflict, administration officials said Friday that they will now scrap the Pentagon's still-born program for training a "moderate" Syrian opposition rebel force -- an effort that has cost millions over the past year but produced only a handful of combat-ready fighters. Published October 9, 2015
Hussein Hamedani, Iranian general, killed by Islamic State in Syria
A top Iranian military commander was killed by Islamic State fighters on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Aleppo on Thursday night, Iranian media reported. Published October 9, 2015
Congress investigates U.S. intelligence failures on Russia aggression in Syria
Key lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees have begun probing whether the CIA and other U.S. spy agencies failed to clearly predict the scope of Russia's military incursion into Syria -- an intervention of fighter jets, ground troops and dozens of cruise missiles fired across some 930 miles from warships in the Caspian Sea. Published October 8, 2015
Obama faces bipartisan push to assist Iranian dissidents trapped in Iraq
Key lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed the Obama administration to do more to help relocate members of a controversial Iranian dissident group confined to a camp in Iraq, a group that the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee credits with providing "useful intelligence" on Tehran's secret nuclear activities. Published October 7, 2015
John McCain: U.S. must do more to protect Iranian dissident group
The head of the Senate Armed Services Committee says the U.S. is not doing enough to help relocate from Iraq members of controversial Iranian dissident group that has a record of providing Washington with "useful intelligence" on Iran's clandestine nuclear activities. Published October 7, 2015
Iraq a ‘client state’ of Iran, former Obama adviser says
President Obama's former national security adviser warned Wednesday that Iranian leaders have effectively turned Iraq into a "client state" and are bent on exploiting the regional war against the Sunni Muslim Islamic State group to promote their own brand of Shiite extremism throughout the Middle East. Published October 7, 2015
Iran an unlikely beneficiary of Russia’s military campaign in Syria
Russia's stepped-up military campaign in Syria is not only offering a lifeline to the embattled Assad regime, it is providing badly needed relief for Iranian proxies that will enable them to move more aggressively in the region's other conflicts -- in particular in Yemen, where a war between Tehran-backed rebels and Saudi Arabia has been raging for months. Published October 6, 2015
Sohail Aman denies China helped Pakistan acquire armed drones
Reports that China helped Pakistan's military acquire armed drones are wrong, according to the head of the Pakistani air force, who said engineers in his nation developed the technology on their own and Washington should increase coordination with Islamabad to target and eliminate al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Published October 5, 2015
Vladimir Putin keeps tumultuous world guessing
Moscow's bombings in Syria, coupled with Vladimir Putin's railing against the U.S. at the United Nations General Assembly last week, have thrust the Russian president into the global spotlight and rejuvenated debate over the extent to which he is an evil geopolitical genius, a strategically brilliant hustler -- or some combination of both. Published October 4, 2015
U.S. has obligation to support South Sudan, top diplomat says
NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: The struggling government of South Sudan says the U.S. must do more to support the democracy it helped create in the nation four years ago, asserting that the Obama administration and the international community are unfairly blaming the leadership in Juba for dragging its feet on a peace deal with rebels in the country's civil war. Published October 1, 2015
CIA goes live with new cyber directorate, massive internal reorganization
The CIA officially launched its new cyber-focused directorate Thursday, capping a massive internal reorganization that intelligence officials say will also include the agency's first ever creation of six regional command centers aimed at streamlining U.S. spying activities across the globe. Published October 1, 2015
Russia airstrikes in Syria alarm Obama critics
Russia followed its launch of airstrikes in Syria with a call Wednesday for the world to unite and form a coalition in the fight against terrorist groups, raising concerns that the Obama administration was caught flatfooted and prompting calls for President Obama to "wake up" and reassert American leadership in the Middle East. Published September 30, 2015
Hillary Clinton campaign supporters skip foundation’s Global Initiative summit
There was some overlap between the guest list at this week's annual Clinton Global Initiative summit in New York and the list of supporters for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. But the more telling development was how many no-shows there were -- as Mrs. Clinton's biggest backers apparently stayed away in an attempt to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Published September 30, 2015
John Kerry: U.S. open to Russia hitting Islamic State in Syria
Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday the Obama administration is "prepared to welcome" the Russian military's bombardment of al Qaeda and Islamic State targets in Syria, but will continue for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Published September 30, 2015
Obama admin sanctions ISIS facilitators, attempts to cut terror group’s funding
The Obama administration said Tuesday that it has identified 15 key Islamic State facilitators with a range of backgrounds -- from Yemen to the U.K., Indonesia, Bosnia, Pakistan, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia -- and will level sanctions against them with the goal of blocking their and the terrorist group's access to the international financial system. Published September 29, 2015
Vladimir Putin’s plans for Russian military in Syria has U.N., Obama on edge
Vladimir Putin's speech Monday is shaping up to be biggest of this year's U.N. General Assembly, as Obama administration officials brace for the Russian leader to lambaste their failed Syria policy and call on the world to get behind his plan for saving the war-torn Middle East from the clutches of the Islamic State. Published September 27, 2015
Philip Gordon, former top Obama adviser, slams White House Syria strategy
President Obama's former top adviser on Middle East policy says the time has come for the administration to rethink its demand that Syrian President Bashar Assad must step down -- a stipulation that has underpinned the White House's approach to Syria's war for the past four years. Published September 25, 2015