register<\/a><\/h3>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Buzz U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’ Dave Majumdar February 25, 2018 TweetShareShare The Pentagon is reiterating that a battle in Syria… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131481,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[43],"tags":[139,59],"class_list":["post-29856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-russia","tag-russia","tag-syria"],"yoast_head":"\nU.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: 'Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense' - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: 'Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense' - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Buzz U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’ Dave Majumdar February 25, 2018 TweetShareShare The Pentagon is reiterating that a battle in Syria… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-02T23:24:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/files\/styles\/main_image_on_posts\/public\/main_images\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Isenberg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Isenberg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Isenberg\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668\"},\"headline\":\"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-02T23:24:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":541,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nationalinterest.org\\\/files\\\/styles\\\/main_image_on_posts\\\/public\\\/main_images\\\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs\",\"keywords\":[\"Russia\",\"Syria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Russia\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/\",\"name\":\"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: 'Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense' - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nationalinterest.org\\\/files\\\/styles\\\/main_image_on_posts\\\/public\\\/main_images\\\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-02T23:24:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nationalinterest.org\\\/files\\\/styles\\\/main_image_on_posts\\\/public\\\/main_images\\\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/nationalinterest.org\\\/files\\\/styles\\\/main_image_on_posts\\\/public\\\/main_images\\\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/\",\"name\":\"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire\",\"description\":\"Unpacking the Private Military Complex\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668\",\"name\":\"David Isenberg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Isenberg\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iissonline.net\\\/2026\\\/author\\\/worden35\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: 'Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense' - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: 'Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense' - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","og_description":"The Buzz U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’ Dave Majumdar February 25, 2018 TweetShareShare The Pentagon is reiterating that a battle in Syria… You must be logged in to view this content. … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/","og_site_name":"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","article_published_time":"2018-03-02T23:24:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/files\/styles\/main_image_on_posts\/public\/main_images\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"David Isenberg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Isenberg","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/"},"author":{"name":"David Isenberg","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#\/schema\/person\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668"},"headline":"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’","datePublished":"2018-03-02T23:24:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/"},"wordCount":541,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/files\/styles\/main_image_on_posts\/public\/main_images\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs","keywords":["Russia","Syria"],"articleSection":["Russia"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/","url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/","name":"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: 'Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense' - Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/files\/styles\/main_image_on_posts\/public\/main_images\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs","datePublished":"2018-03-02T23:24:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#\/schema\/person\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/files\/styles\/main_image_on_posts\/public\/main_images\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs","contentUrl":"http:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/files\/styles\/main_image_on_posts\/public\/main_images\/gun_2.jpg?itok=0iBQbjKs"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/u-s-military-battle-with-possible-russian-mercenaries-our-strikes-were-done-out-of-self-defense\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"U.S. Military Battle with Possible Russian Mercenaries: ‘Our Strikes Were Done out of Self-Defense’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#website","url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/","name":"Isenberg Institute of Strategic Satire","description":"Unpacking the Private Military Complex","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/#\/schema\/person\/b60308e3aa40f89495fde6cf0bded668","name":"David Isenberg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a2e33ccc43220f0bd5c218a05e6495b12a424b99c963810cfe2108faf9f3755?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Isenberg"},"url":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/author\/worden35\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phczRl-7Ly","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131481"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29856\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iissonline.net\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}