Editor’s Note: Arrias takes a last outing in bedraggled 2017. I join him in wishing you a happy and prosperous 2018! – Vic Under Qualified? I have some really smart friends who send me things to read. Last week one sent an article about the President’s plans for modernizing the nation’s transportation infrastructure – roads, […]

Everyone in the United Nations (UN) seemed very angry last week because the President announced that he’d move the US Embassy to Jerusalem – Israel’s capital. Since nations pretty much always put embassies in capitals, or at least that’s been the rule for the last 6,000 years, I frankly think this wailing, cursing and gnashing […]

Several days ago I read a comment that an entire generation of social programs were being destroyed by the Trump administration. It was suggested that President Trump plans to, through the vehicle of the next budget, reduce funding to a number of entitlement programs. The individual further commented that our defense spending was far too […]

At least our Ambassador will be, soon. Jerusalem sits at an historic crossroad: the northern terminus of an old caravan route that brought frankincense from the hills around modern day Aden, up to the major trade routes; if you then turn west, you entered Ancient Egypt, north led to Asia Minor, north-east and then east […]

Editor’s Note: Arrias continues some cogent analysis of developments in the North Korean weapons program. I too am alarmed. I have participated in the effort to cool the Pakistan-India nuclear confrontation. To say that the nuclear club of nations is a constant concern is a fact of life. The older members- the US, Russia, France, […]

We all like to think that we’re living in new times, thinking new thoughts, seeing things no one ever saw before. That is, at best, a dangerous naiveté, and leads to ignoring history; and the lessons of history are ignored with great peril. One of the more important lessons is that power corrupts. Give anyone […]

I had some correspondence with some friends over the past week wondering – particularly in light of apparent Chinese involvement – whether the US should do anything about the situation in Zimbabwe. You can probably be excused for not following the activity in Zimbabwe last week. The short version is that the Zimbabwean army forced […]

Saudi Arabia’s heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), sent an interesting signal last week: in a startling – but not unprecedented – action, MBS arrested 18 rich, powerful Saudis. Of course, this kind of activity isn’t unprecedented, kings and other absolute or near absolute rulers have been purging their courts for […]

Begin with two assumptions: 1) American society today is more liberal today than it was 75 years ago, and 2) that shift, which in some sense paralleled LBJ’s Great Society, stems from a deliberate effort to change society – ostensibly better. So, has society changed for the better? The thought occurred to me as I […]

(The lead ship of the Zumwalt class Guided missile destroyers, a death star that is light on the death part of the equation). Our pal Arrias stirred up some controversy in his essay “Lattes for Peace” over the weekend. The retired Naval community can actually say what they think, rather than cower at the feet […]