Category: Expert Analysis

On August 21st, 2017, in the early morning hours of local Japanese Standard Time, the Arleigh-Burke class destroyer USS John McCain collided with the Alnic MC, a huge 30,000 ton tanker, off the coast of Singapore.  This latest mishap was an embarrassing continuation of a series of at-sea collisions between commercial shipping vessels and U.S. […]

Barcelona—Everyone saw it coming. Failing to respond to Madrid’s ultimatum, Catalonia is set to lose its autonomy. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will meet his cabinet on Saturday to decide which measures of Article 155 will be enforced.  Rajoy is attending an EU meeting in Brussels, and that’s why the cabinet won’t meet today. But, […]

Fighting between the Karen people and the Burmese (Myanmar) government dates back to World War II.  I went for a trip into the jungles of Burma to meet with the Karen people back in 2015, and it was quite the profound experience. The conflict between the Burmese and its surrounding ethnic minorities has been described […]

If there’s one magic rule you’re not allowed to violate and still maintain your gym-guy credibility, it’s the “form rule.”  It’s imperative that you use excellent form in each of your lifts to maximize results, prevent injury, and keep the folks around you from looking at you with a silent side eye glance that is […]

London—The United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is set to lose some of its organic aviation capability. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced that the 657 Squadron of the Army Air Corps (AAC) will be disbanded in 2018.  Under this development, the SAS, SBS, and their support elements will be down a flight of […]

Over the past few days, the city of Kirkuk once again has become the center of an age-old conflict between Arabs and Kurds; but is everything as it seems? For the most part you’re going to hear about intense fighting, Peshmerga retreating and Iraqi-backed militia invaders; but the truth is so much more and quite […]

Barcelona—Catalonia’s moment of truth nears. Tomorrow ends the second deadline that the Spanish government has given to Catalan President Carles Puigdemont to clarify last Tuesday’s independence declaration. In the October 1st referendum, 90% of participants voted for independence.  But the turnout was just 43%.   Then, on October 10th, Puigdemont declared independence in front of a packed […]

Rank has its privileges. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl entered a courtroom in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 16 October 2017 to plead guilty to desertion and misbehavior before the enemy for leaving his post in Afghanistan eight years ago on 30 June 2009 when he was a 23-year-old Private First Class. Today, General John Nicholson commands […]

With every leap in civilization there comes along with it a new brand of criminal.  People adopt new technology to improve their lives, but with new tech comes new vulnerabilities, and it’s up to the individual to keep themselves protected.  If you invent guns, you are eventually going to need to invent body armor too. […]

Vienna—The ballots have been sealed. The conservative ÖVP won the Austrian legislative election with 32%.  The socialist SPÖ, with 26.9% and right-wing FPÖ, with 26%, contest for second place.  Final results will be announced on Thursday. But it matters not since the ÖVP and FPÖ will be most likely forming a right-leaning coalition with Sebastian […]

One of my favorite aspects of Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down was the departure from unrealistically long machine gun bursts and grenades erupting into ridiculous fireballs, and a distinct lack of overly-dramatic crying and shaking of fists to the sky.  It has a visceral, primal tone to it as the quiet protagonists are firing single […]

The commander of the 1st Marine Division, Maj. Gen. Eric Smith is apparently cracking down on hazing. “I’m not here to inflict group punishment, but my assessment is that I’ve just been flipped the bird by lots of lance corporals, so I am headed their way to demonstrate this is an unwise [course of action],” […]