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Uprising’s guest expert Rahul Mahajan, a sociologist and news analyst and author of Full Spectrum Dominance: US Power in Iraq and Beyond, analyzes today’s news headlines:

As the US continued airstrikes in various parts of Syria over the weekend, a senior member of a Syrian Kurdish group has said that the bombing campaign is not actually helping. US strikes have apparently failed to thwart the advance of ISIS rebels from taking over the crucial city of Kobani near the Turkish border. And in yet another sign that the war effort is a confusing mess, Pentagon officials have admitted to the press that it has not yet decided which Syrian rebel group to officially back with US weapons and financing. Meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden has angered the US’s Arab allies with his recent comments that nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE indiscriminately poured weapons and training into the fight against Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, inadvertently helping ISIS to emerge strong. Click here for a Guardian newspaper article, and here for an RT.com article about the story.

Haiti’s brutal dictator and former President Baby Doc Duvalier has died of a heart attack. Duvalier, who’s father, Papa Doc, started a bloody era in Haiti, took over as “President for Life” at the age of 19 and oversaw a vicious crackdown on ordinary Haitians at the hands of the feared paramilitary, known as the Tonton Macoutes. After losing his position to Jean Bertrand Aristide, Duvalier re-emerged into Haitian politics after a US-backed coup against Aristide, and remained friendly with the current regime of President Michel Martelly. Despite numerous legal attempts to hold Baby Doc Duvalier accountable for atrocities under his rule, he, and some of his colleagues insisted he was not to blame. Click here for a New York Times article about the story.

And finally, in big news domestically, the US Supreme Court has decided not to rule on a series of gay marriage cases, leaving intact lower court rulings in a number of states. The decision to not decide surprised those closely watching the court, who had expected a ruling with national implications next June. In states where lower courts ruled in favor of gay marriage, nuptials can immediately proceed, taking the total number of states where marriage is now legal to 30. In the remaining states, individual court cases can proceed. But the result could be, in the words of one gay marriage advocate, “a patchwork of state-to-state discrimination.” Click here for a USA Today article about the story.