Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Interpreter, which is published by the Lowy Institute for International Policy, an independent, nonpartisan think tank based in Sydney. War on the Rocks is proud to be publishing articles from The Interpreter weekly. Fromelles, fought one hundred years ago this week, is now one of the most famous battles in which…
Author: The Tactical Hermit
Armed Texan and Part-Time Bard.
Examining Terrorist Tactics: The Jihadist Comms Toolkit
A new report documents how extremist groups’ use of secure digital tools software has evolved. “I don’t think that there are too many [makers of encrypted communication tools who] can say that bad guys don’t use their stuff, accurately,” NSA deputy director Richard Ledgett said during the recent Defense One Tech Summit, describing ISIS’ use…
Espionage Files: How Putin Weaponized Wiki-Leaks
Evidence suggests that a Russian intelligence group was the source of the most recent Wikileaks intel dump, which was aimed to influence the U.S. election. Close your eyes and imagine that a hacking group backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin broke into the email system of a major U.S. political party. The group stole thousands…
Ancient History: 16,700 Year Old Tools Found in Texas
Archaeologists in Texas have found a set of 16,700-year-old tools which are among the oldest discovered in the West. Until now, it was believed that the culture that represented the continent’s first inhabitants was the Clovis culture. However, the discovery of the ancient tools now challenges that theory, providing evidence that human occupation precedes the…
Cold War “What If” History: The World War III Naval Battle of A U.S. Iowa Class Battleship vs Russia’s Battelcruiser
It’s 1988. World War Three has begun, with the armies of the Soviet Union and the rest of the Warsaw Pact pouring over the Inter-German Border. Their destination: the Rhine River and beyond, dealing NATO a knockout blow that will end the war. Meanwhile at sea, an equally titanic battle is about to take…
Modern Warfare: Ukrainian Border Guards in Donbas Suffer Retina Burns From Laser Weapons
Three Ukrainian border guards at the Marinka checkpoint have suffered retina burns of varying severity while conducting terrain surveillance using optical equipment. The Ukrainian State Border Service suspects that prohibited special purpose laser weapons were used against them. “The nature of the burns and preliminary medical diagnosis leads to the conclusion that it’s possible that the enemy used high-power light…
Military History: The Spanish Civil War – A World War II Trial Run
It was the BIGGEST Proxy War of it’s Time. A Mediterranean nation beset by military coup and civil war. A savage struggle marked by atrocities and fanaticism. Proxy war waged by outside nations pumping in men, weapons and money. Today’s Syria or Turkey? No, it’s sunny Spain, now a peaceful member of the European Union,…
Psy-Ops Military History Files: The True Story of ‘Commando Buzz’
On Dec. 24, 1970, an odd airplane touched down at an air base in Thailand. Though it might not have looked like it, this was a top secret U.S. Air Force propaganda plane and the crew had just flown the last of a series of classified missions over neighboring Cambodia. The Pentagon sent the…
Security News: Private Security Companies Flourish South of the Border
This article originally appeared at InSight Crime. The growing number of private security firms in Guatemala speaks to the state’s inability to provide protection for its citizens, but this booming industry is vulnerable to criminal co-option and could generate security concerns of its own. Guatemala now has over 200 private security firms and 150,000 security…
World War I History: The Best Sniper of the Great War – Francis Pegahmagabow
I, for one, and am pleased to see the steady expansion of The Great War’s video library. It goes to show the power of Patreon campaigns and crowd-sourcing to back up and support great content creators who might otherwise not being able to afford producing. As a result of this, The Great War has been…