US Army (Iranian born) American Soldier (Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col.)
 Just back from the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism's (ICT's) 19th Annual International Conference and World Summit on Counter-Terrorism from September 9-12, 2019, held in Herzliya, Israel, hosted by the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC).
Topics:
Israel, Anti-semitism & the Middle East
The conference is the largest and one of the most influential events in the field of counter-terrorism today. Over 1,400 top decision-makers, defense, intelligence, and police officials, prominent academic scholars and security industry leaders from over 65 countries took part in the summit.
The theme of this years conference was "Understand the present, prepare for the future".
The conference major focus points included the current security and terrorism challenges to the Middle East, theaters of global jihad, dilemmas in hostage negotiations, Hezbullah, tech - terrorism and counter-terrorism, homegrown terrorism in the West, countering radicalization - technology and policy, journalist dilemmas in war zones covering terrorism, NATO's contribution to peace and security, current security challenges to the Jewish communities, non-violent Islamism in the West, Cyber-Terrorism, ISIS, immigration, integration and the potential counter-terrorism challenge, terrorism in Africa and the growing battlefield of global jihad, counter-terrorism and policing - sharing best practices, terrorism as a tool for exporting Irans Revolution and its global reach, influence operations any Psy-Ops: The War Between Wars, white supremacists and right-wing terrorism, the return of foreign fighters: Are we Prepared for the Challenge, and Protecting Soft Targets - Prevention, Preparedness & Recovery.
Other Topic - Middle East Military Strategies
Iran | Russia | China | Afghanistan | N Korea
Regional Threats: Israel... and America's Arab allies unite against Tehran.
Lt Colonel (R) Sargis Sangari was born and raised in Rezaiyeh (Urmia), Iran. He immigrated to the United States in 1980 at age ten after the Iranian Revolution.
OP ED by LTC Sangari as seen in The Daily Herald
In my July 4 op-ed for the Daily Herald, I introduced the concept of "backyard wars" as limited but violent expressions of ongoing rivalries between great powers. I observed that "often, and increasingly in the present era, these conflicts are fought through proxies armed and otherwise supported by rival great powers."
Currently, what amounts to a cold war between the U.S. and China is fast heating up and approaching the stage where it too will find expression in regional backyard wars. This situation is extremely worrisome, not only because of the terrible suffering backyard wars inflict on the peoples who fight them and nations where they are fought, but also for what they portend. The problem with backyard wars is that they often don't stay confined to their back yards: there is a tendency for them to escalate, especially when the stakes for the great powers involved are high. And the stakes for the U.S. and China are very high indeed, being nothing less than global dominance.
Prior OP ED:
The inability by policymakers to understand this is why sometimes great powers stumbled across the global stage as they try to operationalize their foreign policy within their backyard state. Example: Both South America and Central America are backyard regions to the U.S., but their governing ideologies are different from those in the U.S., given that they are, broadly speaking, socialist in their cast.
Case in point: U.S. in rushing toward regime change in Venezuela failed to consider the depth of the sociological friction point interdependency of Venezuela to Cuba, Russia, Iran, China and others. (Full Article here.)
About Lt. Col. Sargis Sangari:
 Lt. Col. Sargis Sangari is a retired US Army Colonel who saw extensive combat in the Middle East as a Special Operations Forces soldier and who, after retirement, continues to advise the fledgling Assyrian Christian Army in Iraq known as Dwekh Nawsha with his military expertise.
Area of Expertise:
Military strategy, Middle East Foreign Policy, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, N & S Korea, Saudi Arabia, Assyrian persecution.
- US Army Lt. Col. (ret.) Sargis Sangari with six years of combat deployment in the Mid East
- CEO of The Near East Center for Strategic Engagement LLC
- Founder of the United Assyrian Appeal
- Diplomatic status in Kuwait as Director of Host Nation Affairs
- Trains Special Operations Forces
- Conducts training for EOD, CIED and SWAT
- Awarded Combat Action Badge
- Conducted 670 Key Leader & Tribal Leader Insurgency Operations
- Author of 3 Major Policy Papers on Special Operation Forces - used as guidelines in Civil Engagement in Iraq
- Conducted over 7000 Humanitarian Missions
- Sangari Planned, Researched and Executed the reception & integration of U.S Military personnel for U.S. Army laying the ground work for operations in Afghanistan.
- Analysis and Designs for training affecting all civil affairs.
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