A pattern has developed that few who frequent here would dispute. Aside from deadly jabs, what else can readers see on the near or far horizen?
Category: war
May 30 2023
Memorial Day 2023
For many years, I was reflexively patriotic in the naïve sense. I would immediately jump down the collar of anyone who chose to denigrate these United States or its military involvements. I had my reasons, of course; don’t we all? But many of them don’t look so good to me these days. Today …
May 22 2023
George Orwell Was A Prophet
…though I doubt that he wanted to be: Joe Biden’s government is now planning for the Ukraine conflict to last years – “perhaps decades” – with no clear victor, according to insider claims. POLITICO – a German-owned outlet the “intelligence community” often uses to plant information – spoke to a number of …
Mar 19 2023
Allegiances And Alliances
It takes a bit of investigation to puzzle it out, but the facts are there for anyone who makes the effort. The United States has only one set of treaty obligations at this time: those that arise from the North Atlantic Charter, which created NATO. There was once a comparable SEATO, which created an …
Mar 17 2023
Right But Ignored
I was once given a gift subscription to a weekly periodical – one that arrived on pulp paper rather than as an email – that aggregated the writings of prominent conservative opinion writers. That started arriving in my mailbox in early 1990, if my memory is accurate. Among other things, it provided my introduction …
Feb 21 2023
That Look Of Indifference
You’ll find it on many a face in our political Establishment. To what are they indifferent? Why, to you, of course: How many Americans support this war for democracy? This war for democracy that Americans for some reason can’t vote on? Why don’t we have a national referendum on all this as long …
Oct 04 2022
Targets
When the lead is flying, the number-one priority is not to be a target. But sometimes there’s no way to avoid it. I have a difficult topic to address today for two reasons. The first is the terror inherent in the subject: a potential nuclear war. The second is that the indicators suggest …
Mar 02 2022
Were He Not a Ruthless Killer, This Might Garner Some Sympathy
Some background first. On FB, Wretchard introduced an Elon Musk tweet to the video below with the comment: Some ideologies see ‘no people’ as the most humanitarian outcome. Naturally such a line caught my attention. Then this was how Musk introduced the video: Pretty good summary, although national pride is underweighted relative to economics. Latter …
Feb 26 2022
“National Commitment”
Hold onto this snippet for later in the essay: During repeated visits after 1909, the two commandants became fast friends even to the extent of [British General Henry] Wilson being admitted into the French family circle and invited to the wedding of [French General Ferdinand] Foch’s daughter. With his friend “Henri,” Foch spent …
Aug 31 2021
Afghanistan: A Retrospective
We were so sure of ourselves. What I originally thought would be a straight-up “justice / vengeance” mission for the 9/11 atrocities: Invade in force; Locate, close with, and destroy the al Qaeda / Taliban forces; Go home; …turned into yet another exercise in “nation building.” Whose idea was it? Unknown. But …
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