Sudan and South Sudan continued inching closer to all-out war on Thursday, as the longtime rivals traded accusations designed to paint each other as the aggressor. South Sudan said its northern neighbor had bombed a village in the oil-rich Unity state along the two nations’ contested border. In response, Khartoum accused South Sudan of beating captured soldiers.

Can anything stop the sister nations from renewing a civil war that killed two million people over two decades? There are some suggestions:

The world should pay Sudan for peace, says Mark Tran at The Guardian. The South’s secession was a bitter pill for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to swallow: South Sudan got two-thirds of Sudanese oil reserves, and “the loss of oil revenues has left Khartoum with a financial black hole of about $7 billion.” That’s why diplomats are floating a “grand plan” to make up for the shortfall through a mix of belt-tightening in Khartoum, cash from China and Gulf states, and higher fees for transferring oil from landlocked South Sudan to Sudan’s port. Really, the world ought to just pay off Sudan, he concludes: “$7 billion to buy peace looks like a bargain.”

3 ways to defuse the deadly Sudan conflict

Taliban insurgents launched coordinated assaults on several Afghan cities on Sunday, including the capital, Kabul, where high profile targets such as the NATO headquarters and the British and German embassies are located.

We have done what we came for. Osama bin Laden is as dead as Lord Kitchener; the al Qaeda network, at least in Afghanistan, is in a shambles. We do not have the power to enforce a stable government on a country that so manifestly resists the notion, especially when it comes from foreigners. What in hell are we doing over there anymore?

— Charles P. Pierce at Esquire

4 lessons from the Taliban’s spring offensive

Sneak peek at the cover of the new issue: The face of war

Robert Bales served in Iraq three times for a total of 37 months between 2003 and 2010, and deployed for Afghanistan in December 2011, beginning his fourth tour of duty. His commanding officers and fellow soldiers in Iraq describe him as a steady, unflappable, exemplary soldier. “He’s one of the best guys I ever worked with,” Army Capt. Chris Alexander tells the AP. “He is not some psychopath. He’s an outstanding soldier.” According to an Army statement, Bales had been cited several times for superior performance on tough missions, earning six Army Commendation Medals, three Good Conduct Medals, and two Meritorious Unit commendations. 

What we know so far about Robert Bales, the alleged murderer of 16 unarmed Afghan villagers

“No one was really prepared for the number of seriously wounded survivors,” says Dr. Ronald Glasser, the author of a book on battlefield medicine. Wounded veterans have swamped the VA system, leading to a backlog of almost 900,000 disability claims. Vets complain of a burdensome bureaucracy, lost paperwork, redundant medical exams, and inconsistent diagnoses. “You fight for your country, then come home and have to fight against your own country for the benefits you were promised,” said Clay Hunt, a Marine sniper who was shot in the wrist in Iraq, and had to wait 10 months for disability checks. Depressed, divorced, and haunted by the loss of several close friends in battle, Hunt killed himself last March.

Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are returning home with unprecedented physical and mental wounds, and many aren’t getting the care they need.

U.S. soldiers march past the historical Roman Colosseum and follow their retreating enemy in Rome, Italy, on June 5, 1944.

(via minusmanhattan)

America’s deadliest day in Afghanistan: 4 lessons
Thirty American servicemen, including 22 members of the elite Navy SEAL Team 6, were killed on Saturday, when their Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down in mountainous eastern Afghanistan. (Seven Afghan commandos and an interpreter were also killed.) It was the largest loss of American life in a single incident since the war began nearly 10 years ago. The SEAL-led team’s mission: To aid a group of Army Rangers who’d become locked in a fierce firefight while chasing a Taliban leader suspected of orchestrating a string of bombings. What does this tragedy mean for the war effort? Here, four takes.

Photo: CC BY: The White House