When the Soviet Union lost the Cold War and the Berlin Wall came down, it was a momentous time. We expected peace in our time. Without two superpowers deterred by mutually assured destruction (MAD) the threat of a nuclear holocaust
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The affluent peoples of the world have all the bread they need, but have lost the appetite for life. Americans are ill-quipped to emphasize with the existential fears of other nations. America is the great exception to the demographic collapse
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While the delicate flowers of the feminist movement recoil at the horror of being called names or having to pay for their own birth control, there is a real war against women. But it isn’t here. from the Al Arabiya News, Nearly
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Ever since the assassination of Bin Laden I have been pondering the war on terror. Some would say I was late to the game. I was glad to see Bin Laden killed, but I stilled questioned the method. We invaded
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I just finished reading Dance of the Furies- Europe and the Outbreak of World War I by Michael Neiberg. It is an excellent companion to another book he wrote about WWI: Fighting the Great War. Michael is a history professor
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Though the intelligence failures surrounding Iraq are now well known, recent history is abundant with examples of flawed intelligence that have affected key national security decisions and contingency planning. They include, for example: the poor quality of the intelligence gathered
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Gideon Rose, editor of Foreign Affairs, has written a book focusing on the conclusion and post military developments of America’s wars from WWI though the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. If How Wars End has a common theme is
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The Syrian dictatorship possessed in the extreme two qualities particularly dangerous in a military adversary- ruthlessness and patience. Like all dictatorships, the regime had the advantage of not needing to cater to its domestic opinion. It could do whatever it
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Earlier in the war we had received several reports of supposed sightings of both Mullah Omar and bin Laden, which all proved to be false. At one point I watched a Predator video feed of a tall, lanky man wearing
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Alan Gross was sentenced to 15 years in a Cuban jail for the crime of trying to bring internet access to the Cuban people. The Wall Street Journal reported, “A 61-year-old contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development, Mr. Gross has
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When I learned, for example, that the Pentagon had been spending $225 million every year to maintain our forces in Iceland, I sent a memo to Powell recommending that we make a change. I pointed out that our aircraft originally
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I have admired Rumsfeld. He seemed intelligently clear in his press briefings and was able to use humor appropriately. Yet many in the military were scathingly critical of him and pushed for his resignation. He was deemed to squelch criticism
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As we try to predict what the outcome will be in Egypt we tend to compare it to the last similar conflict, which many think is Iran. But the mistake in Iran began in 1953 when Mohammad Mosaddegh, a democratically
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The following is an excerpt from a sermon given by Rabbi Shalom Lewis in Atlanta: Not all Germans were Nazis – most were decent, most were revolted by the Third Reich, most were good citizens hoisting a beer, earning a
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The increase in crime in Mexico, especially kidnapping, will have a very chilling effect on the relocation of America manufacturing and other businesses across the border. American executives and managers are just not willing to take the risks to visit
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We mortals pride ourselves as rational beings, but we act emotionally. We get attached to previous positions, and will discount or filter evidence rather than change our minds. We read the news for confirmation rather than information. We are so
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We tend to look at our economy as a diversion from the norm after a record financial set back. But the economy we are in may well be closer to the norm. The former economy was distorted by government policies
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“Once cherished, history is currently viewed as onerous- unless employed for social engineering. The results are political leaders who cannot weigh the consequences of their actions; journalists who confuse the exciting with the significant; military officers who view their profession
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“The citizens of the United States do not stand apart from history. We are in it and of it. Many of our ancestors came here hoping to escape it, but history is a pack of bloodhounds. Desperate to put those
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tips to Bruce Tuchman “Israel (its medical technology) has saved more Muslim and Arab lives than all the Arab and Muslim nations combined.” a hell of a speech
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