Iran State TV station FARS announced Saturday morning that four American dual-nationality prisoners were released from Iranian custody in a “prisoner swap” with the United States.
South Korea’s Chosen has a piece on the growing competition between the United States and China in the Pacific and the role played by aircraft carriers. Beyond the military balance, there is interesting symbolism here. Joining the US Pacific Fleet
On Sunday thousands of Israel haters gathered in Istanbul to welcome the Turkish-Hamas terror ship Mavi Marmara to the harbor. Festooned with Palestinian flags, the crowd chanted “Death to Israel,” “Down with Israel” and “Allah akbar” with Hizbullah-like enthusiasm. The
No More Thrill of Victory or Agony of Defeat? A buddy of mine who likes to get me fired up sent me an email this weekend that seemed clearly intent on doing just that. He is the father of two
The debate for 2011 is what will happen with crude oil, heating, oil, gasoline, and natural gas prices? Will they increase or decrease? Google “Crude Oil and Natural Gas Spot Prices NYMEX” and you will get a mass of detail
2011 – 2050 trends for the New Year affecting two competitors in a dangerous world: Saudi Arabia and China. Good news if we take charge of the situation; not so much if we wait, deer-in-the-headlights, in the mode of the
On Tuesday night, I had an opportunity to address the O’Reilly Factor‘s audience on a matter of immense importance: the threat posed to America by not only the violent form of jihad but by its stealthy counterpart – what its
January 1, 2011 opens President Obama’s campaign for re-election. Everything he does will be calculated to further the objective of re-election. Accordingly, his goal will be to minimize exposure to negative review and to maximize opportunity to capitalize on any
President Obama has bypassed the US Senate and appointed an Ambassador to Syria. Why bypass the Senate? Because numerous senators objected to the appointment on the grounds that sending an Ambassador simply rewards Syria’s bad behavior. In addition to sponsoring
China’s thirst for energy and quest for influence has penetrated Latin America over the last decade at a formidable pace. Largely unnoticed by U.S. media, the resulting economic and military relationships with sworn enemies such as Cuba and Venezuela’s Hugo
According to various media reports, the intention of the would-be Copenhagen Motoon mujahideen was to stage a Mumbai-style attack. They planned storm the Jyllands-Posten building and kill as many people as possible before the police took them out. The latest
US Defense Secretary Gates will be in China in less than two weeks (January 9). A nice greeting from the Chinese Defense Minister, Liang Ganglie, as reported by the UK’s Telegraph: “In the coming five years, our military will push
For a superb look at what is going on in Mexico, read this article (PDF) in the current issue of Orbis published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute. Written by David Danelo, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate who served for
Note: On January 9, 2011, Sudan’s Southern population of nearly 16 million – mostly Christians and animists, or practitioners of native religions – will vote on whether to become an independent nation. In a prior interview with Big Peace, Simon
I end the year with a question and one last outrage. The U.N. believes about 1 million Afghans between the ages of 15 and 64 – roughly 8 percent of the population — are addicted to drugs. The publication Development
Less than a week after another Border Patrol agent was killed by Mexican bandits, Congress forwarded to the White House a bill that, within two years of its enactment, will result in Customs and Border Patrol heading down the same
Team B II member Frank Gaffney appeared on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News to discuss the recent college campus tour by the Ground Zero Imam, Faisal Abdul Rauf. He links Rauf with the Muslim Brotherhood’s attempts at “Civilizational Jihad”
That is the conclusion of Oxford linguist Nicholas Ostler. (He studied Latin and Sanskrit so what does he know?!) The author of a recent book on the rise and fall of languages throughout history, Ostler concludes that the popularity of
I’d like to share some thoughts sent to me by my friend, Chad Garland, President of the Illini Veterans Student Organization. Chad writes: A few weeks ago, Sandra Korn wrote a piece in the Harvard Crimson critical of Harvard President
A new letter is circulating in Israel signed by 27 prominent Rabbis’ wives. Those behind it insist that it isn’t about racism but about protecting the Jewish faith. Really? Doesn’t sound like that when you read the letter. An Israeli
Around here, we appreciate the efforts of volunteers, from the USO to Soldier’s Angels and beyond. Here’s the story of another angel, in a different war, in an America most of us never knew, and those who did know it
Every Friday thousands of Muslims shut down Paris streets and close down businesses. [youtube e1Btc9qMALg nolink]
The UK’s Daily Mail reported this last July. Someone just passed it along. Don’t know how I missed it: “A brave British soldier who was shot in the face by the Taliban spat out the bullet – then walked nearly
The US Senate gave its assent to ratification of the new START treaty but added significant new policy requirements that may require the US to actually improve its nuclear arsenal and modernize its nuclear enterprise even as we reduce our
There have been some arguments recently about the relative security in parts of Afghanistan. The Obama administration has made claims of military success since beginning the mini-Surge, but internal UN maps showing a decrease in the security status came out
In 2005, the Department of Defense announced the Future Combat System program. (See “Army’s ‘Future Combat System’ calls for autonomous robot soldiers by 2014.”) The plan was that a network of intelligent battlefield robots, including aircraft, ground vehicles, and units
