This blog attempts to grasp the context of the current Israeli/Hamas conflict by offering a synopsis of the background history of a poorly understood region of the world. The overview renders some basic knowledge of the very complex mixture of vastly different cultures living there in seemingly never-ending tension. Hopefully, some familiarity may promote a […]
Threats
As I watch the news, there is a constant parade of threats to our country- Some real, some imagined, or hyped, but others represent truly existential dangers to the homeland. And some are threats that I have dramatized in my novels over the past ten years. Maybe coincidence, maybe prescience. Published in the mystery, thriller, […]
THE TALIBAN – Who are they?
Know thy enemy, know thy self… Sun Tzu- The Art of War. There’s a good argument that we did not fully understand the enemy or ourselves. Or, take Tzu’s advice seriously. History repeated itself in late August, 2021 with the fall of Kabul. Many Americans have a notion that Afghanistan is a nation somewhere in […]
America’s Longest War Over – Really?
This post was originally written in early September 2021, but I am now just getting a chance to post it. Newspapers’ headlines triumph fully paraded that announcement in large, bold letters last week at the top of the front page. However, our enemy, radical Islamic terrorism, has a vote in that boastful declaration. The war […]
Kabul 2021 -A Saigon 1975 Redux?
Any surviving Vietnam veteran must be experiencing flashbacks of the hurried rooftop evacuations in Saigon as the North Vietnamese stormed that capitol city in 1975. Having served as USAF flight surgeon flying air evac’s in South Vietnam in the mid ‘60’s, I quickly saw the parallel, the significance of failed policy and strategic planning for […]
ZACHOR- Coincidence or prescience in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?
The recent Hamas’ barrage of rockets attacking Israel from Gaza has ignited a conflict reminiscent of the July/August war that occurred in 2014. That’s actually how that seven-week war started. The rocket attacks ignited a massive Israel Defense Forces (IDF) response resulting in collateral and more deaths. Seven years have passed with sporadic hostile incidents, […]