Communism cracked open

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Boots on the ground, from the ground up

Building an army under fire

Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Maintaining a competent military organization is a challenge for wealthy nations, even in times of relative peace. Bureaucrats and politicians hijack budgets as politically connected officers wrangle promotions at the expense of creative, forward-thinking war-fighters. War reveals the organizational corruption, stagnation and decay, and this institutional decline exacts a stiff price in soldiers' sweat and blood.

Fill in the blanks later

What kind of achievement merits an award?

Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

Action in the world ought to trump worlds evoked by words, especially when awarding a global prize allegedly recognizing sustained, courageous effort on behalf of peace in our world's deeply conflicted corners.

Sudan's simmering struggle

Stage is set for more carnage in East Africa

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009

Sudan's genocidal Darfur war still attracts international attention, and though large battles pitting national government troops against Darfur rebels are less frequent there, violent anarchy still afflicts that sad region.

Indefensible defense

Sphere of influence vs. sphere of security

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009

When it came to acting on behalf of peace in the 21st century, the Obama administration weighed "sphere of influence" against "sphere of security" and came down solidly on the side of the Russian czars.

Don't damage the first line of defense

Morale matters -- especially in a time of war

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009

Morale even matters in an "overseas contingency operation," the hazy bureaucratic phrase the Obama administration sought to substitute for "The Global War on Terror." The GWOT is a poor name in my opinion (terror is a tactic), but at least it sketched the wicked problem al Qaeda's Sept. 11, 2001, attack posed -- a war fought on a global scale, where transportation, weapons and communications technologies had shrunk the planet. Sept. 11 demonstrated that the distance between "over there" (overseas) and "over here" could be easily bridged by a terrorist organization.

Two Septembers: 1939 and 2001

What they tell us

Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009

Unleashed in the early hours of Sept. 1, 1939, Germany's "lightning war" -- the blitzkrieg -- quickly pierced Poland's border forces and sliced through the Danzig Corridor. As the German Luftwaffe hammered Poland's air force, panzer divisions smashed Poland's army, leaving its units scattered and surrounded.

The Hitler-Stalin pact

Accord paved way for war 70 years ago

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009

"Communazi" became magazine shorthand for their collaboration, dark slang connecting the two totalitarian ideologies of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany after they ratified the Hitler-Stalin pact.

Calderon courts reform

Keys are collaring corruption, fostering trade

Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009

Credit Mexico's president, Felipe Calderon, with vision and guts. In the midst of the Cartel War's vicious bloodletting, Mr. Calderon continues to pursue his "systemic revolution" on multiple fronts, and he's doing so with an enviable cool and steadiness.

BAY: Japan rewrites script

Pyongyang feels heat from Rising Sun

Saturday, April 4, 2009

When it comes to international provocations, North Korea's experienced extortionists have an outline that guides their bellicose dramas. The starving Stalinists' latest armed tantrum fits the general theatrical scheme of past confrontations - up to an uncomfortable point.