Pakistan: Pariah, prevaricator or pragmatic problem? on January 20, 2018The Trump administration has cut-off all aid to Pakistan on the grounds that Pakistan could no longer be trusted in the fight against the Taliban and the home-based Haqqani network. The next step could well be revoking Pakistan’s status as a “major, non-NATO ally.” In any event, Pakistan reacted predictably, vociferously rejecting the president’s accusations. […]
America’s hollow military on January 4, 20182018 could be a very worrisome year. Rumours of war permeate from the Pentagon over North Korea and Kim Jung Un’s nuclear ambitions. Relations with Russia and China are dismal and could worsen. While the Islamic State (IS) has been driven from its caliphates in Syria and Iraq, the danger is far from over and […]
Suppose Hillary won on December 28, 2017As 2017 draws to a close, how different might the last year have been if Hillary Rodham Clinton had been elected 45th president of the United States? Clearly, where one stands on the political scale defines this hypothetical answer. Yet, the tragedy is that the highly polarised, divisive and pernicious condition of American politics today […]
A happy Christmas? on December 25, 2017Tis the time of year for good cheer. Or so the slogan goes. The real question is whether this is truly a happy Christmas and for whom. In the United States, the vital signs seem to be positive. The economy is growing although slowly. Unemployment is at a low four percent and the stock markets […]
A Christmas carol on December 22, 2017HO, HO, HO. Christmas and New Years are upon us. In the Dickensian spirit, how might the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future haunt us as they did poor old Ebenezer Scrooge? And who might play the role of Tiny Tim whose own future was very much in doubt? Today’s Christmas Past […]
A taxing mess on December 7, 2017NATO Headquarters, Brussels, Belgium: NATO’s foreign ministers assembled here for a major meeting. But poor Rex Tillerson. His counterparts were well aware of his perhaps temporary reprieve from looming professional death by a thousand cuts — or in this case through stories planted by unnamed White House sources declaring that it is time for this […]
Principle, expediency and hypocrisy: American values? on December 3, 2017During their first year at the Naval Academy, midshipmen must memorise material contained in ‘Reef Points.’ Reef Points is a manual for reinforcing naval values with fact and some history including quotations from naval heroes such as John Paul Jones’ ‘We have just begun to fight’ and Commodore Lawrence’s ‘Don’t give up the ship.’ Perhaps […]
Putin’s playbook for disrupting the West on November 23, 2017Make no mistake Comrade: what better credentials exist for someone wishing to manipulate the West than those of a former intelligence specialist and Judo expert? While Comrade Vladimir Putin may categorically deny Russian involvement in Western elections and politics, the evidence to the contrary seems overwhelming. And if British Prime Minister Theresa May is correct, […]
Why we lose on November 16, 2017Veterans Day, Washington, DC: Veterans Day is perhaps a most appropriate time to consider the wars and battles in which Americans gave their lives and shed their blood. Sadly, since the end of World War II, despite the heroism and commitment of our fighting men and women and despite the belief that the United States […]
Twittering away democracy on November 11, 2017The combination of the metastasization of political correctness and 140 character tweets are fast becoming unwitting threats to society. To quote Lenin, the combination has become the equivalent of a “useful idiot.” The term political correctness is decades old. The original intent was to expand inclusiveness for minorities based on race, gender, sexuality or other […]