Category: Expert Analysis

After thoroughly enjoying SOFREP writer Alex Hollings’ ongoing series “Old Man Fitness” he made me realize that there may be interest among SOFREP readers in having a workout space like the one Alex and I use in our garages. My home gym is a special place for me, and has been for many years. It […]

After every mass shooting come the calls for new laws. Let us consider one of the thousands of existing laws: The Lautenberg Amendment to the Gun Control Act of 1968, which took effect in 1996, makes it a felony for those convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence to ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms […]

A lot of Green Beret training involves making decisions with limited information. Special Forces operations succeed or fail on the decisiveness of the men executing the plan. If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your […]

In all of mankind’s history, fitness as an intentional endeavor is a fairly recent development.  For thousands of years, fitness was both the means and the byproduct of the never-ending struggle to survive.  Humans relied on a combination of our athleticism and superior wit to keep us safe from the predators we had yet to […]

Schwerin, Germany—A Syrian teen has been arrested for planning a terrorist attack. On Tuesday, German police arrested 19-year-old Yamen A. for “planning an Islamist-motivated attack with high explosives.” From the emerging reports, the suspect had been quite close to launching a strike with chemicals. He hasn’t been linked to any terrorist organization so far. “[We] […]

Read part one of this series here.  Part two. T. S. Eliot has often been criticized for his poetry’s inaccessibility to the average person, and “The Waste Land” is no exception.  It’s easy to read and think, “this guy is really just showing off how smart he is”–his Latin inserts, obscure Shakespeare and ancient Greek […]

On October 23, 2017, former White House Advisor on U.S. Middle East Policy under President George W. Bush, Elliott Abrams, spoke at Georgetown University about American foreign policy in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring.  The speech centered around Abrams’ new book, “Realism and Democracy: American Foreign Policy after the Arab […]

I’ve done a fair amount of traveling over the years. I’ve stood next to pyramids on two continents, wandered around the Coliseum and the Acropolis, gone white water rafting in Alaska and relaxed at a wine tasting in Malta.  Que Johnny Cash singing, “I’ve been everywhere,” because, although there’s still plenty of world left to […]

Iceland—In yet another European election Icelanders flocked to the polls to decide their nation’s future. Could the result spell trouble for NATO and U.S. interests in the Arctic? First some background. In the Second World War, the Allies had a strategically vital base in the small island nation. The Allied supply convoys from North America […]

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy released reports detailing the events that led to two tragic collisions between U.S. Navy ships and commercial vessels that occurred earlier this year.  These separate incidents, one involving the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and another involving the USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), both shared a single culprit, according to […]

Brussels—Former Catalan leadership flees to Belgium. Sacked Catalan President Carles Puigdemont and five members of his former cabinet are in the Belgian capital. “We came to avoid a confrontation that may possibly have occurred if we stayed in Barcelona,” said Puigdemont in a press conference. But he clarified that he wouldn’t be seeking political asylum […]

It’s not often that you hear your greatest ally bashing your money choices. But that’s exactly what British Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials heard from US military officers. “As the UK continues to diminish and as the Royal Marines, in particular, take a hit, I think that our view of what we will be able […]