Dr. Don Snider, a former professor of mine at West Point, gave a riveting lecture to the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia on 2 April 2011. To be honest, I got a little carried away with the notes I took – I’m not sure if I’ve ever transcribed so much. But this was great…
DetailsAuthor Sebastian Junger gave an interview to NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross on 18 April 2013 about Junger’s new film Which Way is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Times of Tim Heatherington. Heatherington, a British photographer, became very close to Junger while they collaborated on the documentary film Restrepo, which Junger turned into…
Details[Note: see video link here.] It was a privilege to listen to someone I worked for (albeit very low on that totem pole) – Major General H.R. McMaster – speak to CSIS on 20 March 2013 about his thoughts on the future of American ground forces. The selection you see that follows is typed out…
DetailsThe excellent radio program on BBC4, In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg, covered Clausewitz’s On War on 12 May 2012. I almost can’t say enough about the value of this 43 minute recording, but here are a couple snippets that might give away the quality of the scholarship:
***Another post over at the Lowy Interpreter on the Iraq War: I think Rodger Shanahan is taking the Interpreter’s distinguished readers on a bit of a wild-goose chase with the Iraq War violence figures. They’re important, but frankly there will never be a solid set of numbers on which we can objectively agree are correct. This…
Details**All: I posted a contribution to the Lowy Interpreter discussion on the Iraq War – below gets you started, and the last sentence will link you to the rest if you’re interested. All best, Matt Just thought I would attempt a small contribution to your ongoing debate on the Iraq War. I served there twice…
DetailsThough you can find them in iTunes as well (just search for “Reith lectures” and you’ll find this series of five in the archive), the BBC keeps the set on it’s website. You can even download the transcript if you’d prefer. Although I don’t necessarily ascribe to all that he has to say in his…
DetailsBrigadier Mark Holmes, Australian Army If anyone cared to ask me about my maiden research voyage on behalf the West Point Network Science Center, I think my response would primarily revolve around the words “flight” and “interview,” as that’s about all I remember from the two weeks! Flight-wise, the numbers are astounding, even to me:…
DetailsEdward Luttwak, March 6, 2013 on “Conversations with History” – always quotable – below are some particularly good selections (accuracy is only as good as the speed I was able to copy down what he said): On Chinese strategic culture ~ “The Chinese culture has no strategic logic at all, but it owns a strategic…
DetailsThis past September, my younger brother Kevin gave a modified, generic greeting card to my wife Rachel and I, that, in conclusion, read: “you saved my life.” I hugged him and reminded him of how far he had come through his hard work. Then, when Rachel and I went up to bed, in the quiet…
Details