*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on February 26, 2022. Images from the actual print story, as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here. How far will Vladimir Putin go with his “special military operation” in Ukraine? What’s his plan past taking…
*Note: This essay was published in the Sydney Morning Herald print edition on April 25, 2020. An image of the column is included below (“On the grim arithmetic of war, Gallipoli cannot be dismissed as a colossal waste”), as well as the text of the essay. On this solemn day, when Australians pause to reflect on…
*On Monday night, February 17, 2020, I spoke at a gathering of business, public, and non-profit leaders in Wellington, New Zealand. It was called the “Strategy Forge,” and I was honored to be the first to speak in the series. The host – a design firm called We Create Futures – maintains a website dedicated…
*Note: This essay was originally published on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s commentary and analysis site – The Strategist. When New Zealanders vote this September, they should consider closing a self-inflicted wound—decades of disarmament and dangerous strategic apathy. In 1949, a distinguished New Zealand soldier, Major General Sir Howard Kippenberger, warned: It may be a…
*Note: This essay was published in the Wall Street Journal print edition on October 29, 2019. Images from the actual print story, as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here. For the first time in more than a decade, the Army missed its recruiting target last year. Given that the…
*Note: This essay was published in the Colorado Springs Gazette print edition on October 2, 2019. An image of the column is included below, as well as the text of the essay. Hate is coming to town. Local law enforcement has received notification that the infamous Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is planning three protests at places of…
*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on August 2, 2019. Images from the actual print story, as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here (and a PDF version as well). Tulsi Gabbard highlights a problem that is not unique to her. She has two…
*Note: This essay was originally published on the Modern War Institute’s Commentary & Analysis site. A wartime military hospital in a combat zone is without morphine—a tragedy-in-waiting. Patients flow in, and with no other acceptable choice, the hospital’s leader, a colonel, tells his doctors to give placebo painkillers to incoming patients. “Here’s the formula,” he…
*Note: This essay was published in the Los Angeles Times print edition on June 2, 2019. Images from the actual print story, as well as text can be found below; it can also be found online here (and a PDF version as well). Some photos must be taken, some images must be seen. These thoughts must have…
It was a lot of fun to hit BookCon 2019 on Saturday, June 1, with my co-editor Max Brooks – talking modern strategy, pop culture, and the end of Game of Thrones. Video of the event available here, or by clicking the image above. (Note: Sorry for the darkness of the stage – not sure…