The Week of May 6, 2026
An aircraft of the Israeli Air Force during a training exercise. Photo credit to nagillum.
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1. Israel Reportedly Strikes Areas in Syria
According to reports released last week, there were two Israeli airstrikes (on consecutive days) on a Syrian military facility near Damascus. Though accounts initially differed, the consensus seems to be that the Israeli Air Force targeted and destroyed a cache of Fateh-110 missiles, known to be very technically advanced. The Israeli government has been characteristically silent on the matter, but most commentators speculate that Israel had some sort of intelligence indicating that the missiles were bound for Hezbollah. Supporters of the Assad regime claimed that the strike was intended to help the rebels, which the government considers terrorist groups. Yet these groups have remained essentially silent on the matter as well.
Talk of international intervention into the Syrian conflict has grown louder in the past several weeks as the atrocities have accumulated and Israel has mounted the two operations into Syrian sovereign air space. It is intriguing how the Western response has differed. While countries like France and the UK have called for increased involvement, it seems that they lack the ability to act independently. The US, which undoubtedly has the capacity to intervene in a more meaningful way is being--somewhat uncharacteristically--hesitant, with President Obama insisting that claims of chemical weapons use be thoroughly investigated and proven before any action is taken. For Israelis, whose political calculus inevitably includes a preoccupation with survival in a hostile region, it may be that sitting on the sidelines is no longer a viable option.
2. Sexual Assault Plagues US Armed Forces
Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, head of the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention post, was arrested in Arlington, Virginia on Sunday, May 5, for allegedly drunkenly grabbing the breasts and buttocks of a woman. The case will be tried on July 18 in Arlington County General District Court, after the Air Force was declined a request to move the case to military courts.
This incident comes two days after the Pentagon released a report stating the sexual assaults on women in the military was up 35 percent over the last two years. The report showed that more than 26,000 had experienced “unwanted sexual contact” in 2012. This is a jump from 19,300 in the 2010 report. When compared to the actual number of sexual assaults reported in 2012, 3,374, there is clear indication of hesitation in reporting incidents.
In a testimony to Congress in March, members of the military who were sexually assaulted expressed fear of retaliation or ostracism from their units when considering pressing charges. Their fears are unsurprising when “fewer than one in ten cases ended with a sex-assault conviction at court-martial.” In response, Congress is drafting bills that would move the decision to prosecute cases from being the responsibility of commanding officers to that of military lawyers.
Sexual assault in the military has grabbed the attention of the Commander in Chief as well. President Obama wants perpetrators of sexual assault, “Prosecuted, stripped of their positions, court-martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period. It is not acceptable.” Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, in response, ordered initiatives to create a climate where sexual assault is prevented and victims are treated accordingly; reducing the stigma attached to reporting sexual assault and enhancing education and training.
3. Malaysian Elections Returns Incumbents
On May 5th, the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition won the Malaysian elections, gaining 133 of 222 seats available in parliament. Barisan has never lost an election since Malaysia gained independence in 1957, and with 85 percent voter turnout, it seems as if their incumbency has been strongly backed in the polls. Yet Barisan won only 47 percent of the popular vote, and lost seats in the parliament; opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has refused to accept the results, claiming electoral fraud. Barisan is widely backed in the more rural areas of Malaysia where gerrymandering almost guarantees them electoral victories, whereas the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance), aim to get support from young urban voters. Barisan has been accused of using cash handouts and patronage to win votes in areas where they might not otherwise have won.
This week’s vote has left Malaysia divided on ethnic lines. The ethnic-Chinese minority (almost 25% of the population) almost entirely abandoned Barisan in favor of Pakatan Rakyat. Najib Razak, Malaysia’s reelected prime minister, has blamed Barisan’s losses on a “Chinese Tsunami,” promoting ethnically charged rhetoric in Malaysian media. Many fear that this tension might lead to ethnic conflict, such as the type that marred the new government in the 1960s.
For Mr. Najib, Barisan’s losses at the polls could mean the loss of his job. After Barisan lost seats in 2008, former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad stepped down amid pressure from his party. In an interview in 2012, he hinted that the same might happen to Najib if he failed to win back seats for his party.
4. Kurdish Peace Agreement Unsettles Iraq
Since 1978 the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) has carried out guerilla and terrorist attacks in southeastern Turkey in an attempt to carve out an independent state for the Kurds, an ethnic group that represents a minority in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and other states. The long war has killed over 40,000 people and is now a seemingly permanent fixture of the region. But on March 21st, a ceasefire was declared and PKK fighters have begun a withdrawal from Turkey. This follows peace talks that began in October 2012 and were, until recently, top secret.
The peace deal was brokered by the Turkish government and PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is held prisoner by the Turkish military. A previous peace attempt, shortly after Ocalan’s capture in 1999, fell through when the Turks arrested the Kurdish group of envoys. For these reasons the Kurds are wary of trusting the Turks and many see betrayal as inevitable. Nevertheless, Ocalan’s popularity and his leadership in the deal has allowed enough trust for the Kurds to negotiate. It remains unclear what the exact terms of the peace will be, though more autonomy for the Kurds in exchange for the end of the military campaign seems like a likely settlement.
Although peace will be an improvement to the lives of Turks and Kurds alike, Iraq is wary of the deal and has warned retreating but still armed PKK members against entering its territory. Iraq has a significant Kurdish population of its own and a history of related conflict in the northern oil-rich region where the minority live. The resolution of violence in Turkish Kurdistan, if it holds, will bring potentially tremendous changes in the status of Kurdish populations throughout the region.
5. 3D Printed Guns Draw Concern, Interest
The 3D printer has been widely hyped as the next big advance in manufacturing technology, offering the prospect of at-home mass production. The young industry is encountering some rough patches as it becomes caught up in the gun control debate. Cody Wilson, a libertarian law student at the University of Texas Austin, has designed and successfully operated an almost entirely 3D printed handgun. Wilson is an emphatic advocate of the Second Amendment and believes that all people in the world should have access to weapons. He has posted the schematics for the handgun on the internet where they are now apparently impossible to take down. According to the website of his non-profit organization, Defense Distributed, the file has already been downloaded 100,000 times world-wide. The only non-3D printed component is a simple nail which acts as a firing pin. The finished firearm, named the Liberator by Wilson, took just four hours to create. A British 3D printing specialist, Jonathan Rowley, has advised people to take caution with these weapons, as the plastic from which they are constructed may not be able to withstand the exertion of multiple shots. This concern was shared by the gun’s creator; Wilson used a 20 foot string to pull the trigger initially.
The prospect of handguns that are undetectable by metal detectors may be a very scary one and has prompted many Congressmen and women to advocate laws banning such printings. Further, the thought of quality firearms constructed at home could make gun control laws or bans completely irrelevant. Reliable and untraceable homemade firearms are the sort of technological advance that is outside the current legal framework and it may be some time before this issue is addressed. While 3D printing may now be cost-prohibitive to most people, in the coming years these costs will likely come down and there is a very real chance that a 3D printer will become a common-household item. Hopefully this advancement will not result in neighborhood arms races.
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0. Mark Sanford Wins in North Carolina, Perhaps Unsurprisingly
While Tuesday’s special election for South Carolina’s 1st congressional election is important, the press seemed to latch onto this election more than others due to the candidates: Stephen Colbert's sister running for the Democrats and Mark Sanford for the Republicans. Sanford was Governor of South Carolina until he left office for a week to visit his Argentine mistress without telling anyone, and when discovered he was forced to resign. For a while, it seemed as if his infidelity - in addition to his ex-wife accusing him of stalking her - would ruin his campaign for Congressman, especially since the national GOP refused to support him. Then he won by a nine-point margin.
Yet one could have predicted this result, without reference to any campaign drama, by a single number: The Cook Partisan Voting Index, which describes how Republicans win by 11 more points in the 1st congressional district than nation-wide. Sanford ended up associating the Democrat with the Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership; even if the Democrat had won, she would have been smothered in the 2014 midterms by the same tactic and national GOP attention. The PVI is one statistic among a sea of polls and ratings in the political landscape, and we have seen elections can be predicted by data but not by gut feelings. With congressional districts maximally gerrymandered due to number crunched voter data, it is unsurprising that Sanford won since numbers, not character, generally drive political victory.