When I was stationed aboard the USS Iowa (BB-61) for pre-commissioning of the battleship in the 1980s, the Ticonderoga class Aegis cruisers were the pride of the US Navy. I remember seeing several docked across the quay in Pascagoula Mississipi, and how fast, sleek, and intimidating they looked. Almost forty years on, and these greyhounds […]
Joe Biden’s most recent 90 minutes call with China’s Xi has created the impression of a US attempt to reset its ties with China. The White House readout says that a “broad, strategic discussion” has taken place resulting in a mutual agreement to engage “openly and straightforwardly” on areas where their interests converge as well […]
Something strange has happened to America. Millions of Americans are demonstrating symptoms of what are generally referred to as pathological disorders, generally personality disorders, of the kind normally attributed to abandonment by parents or sexual abuse as children. You see it every day, not just in violence against nurses or school officials but in the […]
There’s a blazing truth staring Russia in the face. It’s a truth 193 other countries have been forced to face too. Americans, by and large, do not give a damn what wars we are in, or if we win or lose. The plight of other nations, or even our next door neighbors’ catastrophes, are too […]
United States president Joseph Biden made a speech on 31 August addressing the United States fiasco in Afghanistan. He took the opportunity in that speech to touch upon future United States policies in the multiple United States bases scattered around the world. These bases are estimated to number nearly 800 and are spread around more […]
We all remember 9/11 as we remember so many other days, the Challenger disaster, the Kennedy murders or, for me, the fall of Saigon. For me, 9/11 began a new journey. I had some years ago tried to move my own career from defense and intelligence endeavors to the sane and rational, real work with […]
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has bravely stated that “it is possible” the United States will seek to coordinate with the Taliban (banned in Russia) “counterterrorist strikes against DAESH (a terrorist group banned in Russia) fighters or others.” First of all, Al-Qaeda (banned in territory of the Russian Federation), […]
Today, after the disgraceful withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, not only in the US but all over the world, there is an active discussion of the numerous lapses in Washington’s actions and US policy in general, turning to the search for the culprits in everything. Thus, British MPs demonstrated a fit of anger over […]
Now the story in Afghanistan is shifting away from the actual Taliban takeover, and the Kabul Airport blast, towards the evacuation and fallout. Or rather, it is shifting to the screams of Western governments and NGOs that “We have another flood of refugees coming, Oh No, what can we do?” These are the same Western […]
The chaos we have seen in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover and the American rush to evacuate its diplomatic staff and other personnel signifies the US failure at multiple levels. On the one hand, the Taliban takeover within days of the US withdrawal was/is an intelligence failure. In May, a US intelligence report had predicted […]
