For the past year Dr. John Williams has been part of a select group providing comments , suggestions, and additions to a series of articles by Walter Posch, a colleague who works at the National Defense Institute in Vienna Austria. The articles focus on Middle Eastern issues, such as the politics and status of the Kurds in various countries, the changing fortunes of ISIS, the activities of Shiite militias in the region. One of the more recent ones discussed characteristics of military forces in the region, ranging from armed gangs up to government troops.