From President Harry Truman to President Trump’s second administration, the White House too often exaggerated or ignored the real degrees of danger posed by perceived major threats of the time. The former Soviet Union was a textbook case. After World War II, in which the Soviet Union had been critical to destroying Hitler and the […]
January and Not April May Be the Cruellest Month
In 1922, and with World War I tragically still fresh in too many minds, American-born British poet T. S. Eliot wrote in The Waste Land that “April is the cruellest month.” But today in America, January may prove to be the cruellest month. Why? January is the convergence of three highly disruptive and destructive forces. […]
What Happens When Taiwan and Ukraine Go Under?
Here is a post-Xmas bauble to consider for the New Year. Virtually all the debate and controversy over the future sovereignty and integrity of Taiwan and Ukraine have rested on preventing the worst from happening. The worst is that China will absorb Taiwan, and Ukraine will fall under the influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin. […]
Pearl Harbour Redux
This month marked the 84th anniversary of Japan’s “dastardly” attack on Pearl Harbour. Only a handful of survivors are left, and very few Americans were alive then. Hence, Pearl Harbour, like past wars and battles, is passing into the distant mists of time. What is interesting is that a surprising number of visitors to the […]
A Simple Answer to a Complicated Problem in Wrong
Not only Amercians have fallen prey to pursuing a seemingly simple answer to a complicated and complex problem and badly failed. Venezuela is the current poster child for this. In 1605, Guy Fawkes and others were arrested in the Gunpowder Plot to kill the Protestant King James I and blow up the House of Lords. […]
General Mahmud Ali Durrani: Rest in Peace
Hearing of the death of Lt. General Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan has lost a very great man. US General of the Army George C. Marshall’s greatest compliment was to call someone a “soldier, scholar and statesman.” MAD, as I called him, more than met those standards. He exceeded each while adding grace, dignity and integrity […]
The Ukraine war: whispers of Vietnam?
Perhaps historical amnesia is not such a bad thing despite George Santayana’s warning in his 1905 book The Life of Reason that those who “cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” One reason is that even with recollections of the past, we are often doomed to repeat the blunders and even catastrophic errors […]
Defence in Freefall
Make no mistake. The department is in free fall despite allocating nearly one trillion dollars for the Pentagon next year and the presence of a motivated military and civilian workforce. How can this be? After all, the US is supposed to have the most powerful military in the world armed with the best weapons. Suspend […]
Can Trump Torpedo the 22nd Amendment?
Whether by accident in peace or in war, no warship commanding officer wants to hear the alarm “torpedoes in the water!” The result can be catastrophic. The US public needs to hear a similar alarm. Several political torpedoes are in the water. Can any be averted or stopped before hitting the ship of state? The […]
No Shortages of Admiral Byngs
For whatever his strengths and weaknesses, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth may not be able to change the name of the Department of Defense to a more suitable anti-DEI title such as the Department of When Did We Win the Last War or the Department of Still Trying. But he may be more successful in […]