Editor’s note: This article first appeared at the National Catholic Register. On Feb. 24, 2022, I was awakened by dinging text messages and phone calls from an old friend, an expert on Russia, the Cold War and communism. He doesn’t … Continue reading
Military & Foreign Policy
What Did Cause the Civil War?
Nikki Haley recently provoked a firestorm of controversy for failing to name slavery when asked by journalists what caused the Civil War. A chorus of critics, including President Joe Biden, censured her response. Biden declared, “Let me be clear for … Continue reading
Remembering the Boston Tea Party
In recent years, Americans have protested racism, police brutality, environmental devastation, gun control laws, abortion, and many other issues. Millions have fought to expand the rights of women, LGBTQIA individuals, blacks, and other minorities. Today many are remonstrating against antisemitism … Continue reading
This Sept. 11, Let’s Also Remember the Abraham Accords
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the National Catholic Register. For the last 22 years, Sept. 11 has become a somber day to memorialize the thousands of victims killed that day in 2001 by the homicidal bombers of Osama … Continue reading
Russia’s Perpetual Culture of Death
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at The American Spectator. “I feel only sympathy for the Russians. No people have suffered as much death.” That was the response of a colleague of mine, Jan, a Polish professor … Continue reading
Averting Nuclear Armageddon—in October 1962 and Today
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at National Catholic Register. It is ironic and scary that 60 years after the Cuban Missile Crisis that brought the world’s two superpowers to the brink of nuclear Armageddon, President Joe … Continue reading
On John Mearsheimer: Or, is the West really responsible for the Ukrainian crisis?
John Mearsheimer has unquestionably earned our attention on contemporary international relations and on the Ukrainian crisis. Mearsheimer is an academic who specializes in theories of international relations (IR). If you were an IR graduate student in the 1980s or 1990s … Continue reading
Ukraine’s Freedom Fighter
Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared at The American Spectator. “Two visions of the world remain locked in dispute,” said President Ronald Reagan in July 1983. “The first believes all men are created equal by a loving … Continue reading
The Manhattan Project — Developing the Atomic Bomb
On August 6, 1945 the Unites States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. These are the only two times a nuclear weapon has been used in war. This is … Continue reading
Russians Know Death Unlike Any Other People
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at The American Spectator. The number of Russian combat deaths in Ukraine is striking, perhaps already exceeding the total dead in 10 years of war in Afghanistan from 1979-89. A NATO official has estimated that 7,000-15,000 … Continue reading
Keeping Watch in Dr. Strangeloveland
“Heck, I reckon you wouldn’t even be human if you didn’t have some pretty strong personal feelings about nuclear combat.” Maj. King Kong, USAF Charges of treason leveled by politicians and journalists against Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of … Continue reading
Gaza: Total War Reality
The current fighting in Gaza rapidly approaches total war intensity. Strategy for Hamas has always involved the total war objective of annihilating Israel. For Israel, fighting Hamas and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and Syria, involves a long, protracted … Continue reading
From the Dawn of the American Twilight
Fifty years ago this spring, my wife and I, both Air Force intelligence officers, returned to Udorn Air Base, Thailand from an “in-country rest & recuperation” trip to Chaing Mai. That night I worked the mid-shift in the intel shop … Continue reading
George S. Patton and Christmas 1945
Editor’s note: This article first appeared at The American Spectator. “I’ll be home for Christmas, you can plan on me.” So crooned Bing Crosby in December 1943. The song was a lament for countless boys fighting abroad in World War … Continue reading
History and War: A Veterans Day Reflection
For 50 years, I have had one foot planted in Sparta and one in Athens: the military and the academy. The dichotomy is not simply between militarism and intellectualism. Athenians Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were soldiers as well as philosophers. … Continue reading
The Call to Sacrifice and Commitment: The Letters of a WWII Sailor
Since my dad’s passing, I have carried his dog tag on my key chain. I wanted a daily reminder of my dad and his sacrificial service to our nation in World War II. My dad was the classic WWII vet … Continue reading
Confessions of a Draft Dodger
“And we know that to them who love God all things work together for good to them that are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 Next month I turn 75. The ubiquitous “they” tell me I’m on a COVID-19 … Continue reading
Burying Memorial Day 2020
The streets were empty. No one marching. The bands weren’t playing. No music, no 21-gun salutes. Where were the old-timers hobbling along in their military uniforms? The flags flew at the courthouse and lined the streets, but the sidewalks weren’t … Continue reading
Disaster in the Desert: Forty Years after Operation EAGLE CLAW
On April 24, 1980, eight RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters took off from the USS Nimitz, an American aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. Thus began Operation EAGLE CLAW, which aimed to rescue the fifty-two American diplomats and expatriates held hostage … Continue reading
COVID 19: Yes, this is War
In mid-March, President Donald Trump declared himself a “wartime president.” While the usual legion of media critics bellyached, Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic has rallied the country to a semblance of togetherness not seen since the terrorist attacks of September … Continue reading