For several years now many states and organizations in the Middle East and elsewhere have become involved in the situation in Syria. Though there are many players and overlapping interests, there is little evidence that they have established a common goal or common objectives, nor that common practical plans have been made to achieve them….
Category: Studies in Warfare
World War I History: Six Facts About the Forgotten battle that Ended the Great War
“Conventional wisdom holds that World War One ended in the west with the collapse of the Hindenburg Line; in reality it was a comparatively small clash in one of the war’s forgotten fronts that precipitated the downfall of the Central Powers.” WHEN GERMANY signed the Armistice on Nov. 11, 1918, the Central Powers were still in a…
Brush-Up on Your History: Unhinged! 10 of History’s “Craziest” Military Commanders
“Consider some of these ‘mad’ commanders from the pages of military history.” GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON ONCE DESCRIBED HIMSELF AS the best “ass-kicker in the United States Army.” It’s a claim that’s not without merit. In just nine short months beginning in July of 1944, the flamboyant four-star led his Third Army half way across…
Espionage Files: Richard Sakakida Spied on the Imperial Japanese Right Under Their Noses
The Nisei war hero endured torture and near-starvation, yet passed valuable intelligence to the U.S. Army It was 1942, not long after the fall of the American stronghold of Corregidor that guarded Manila Bay in The Philippines. U.S. Army Sgt. Richard Sakakida was in the hands of the dreaded Kempeitai, the Imperial Japanese military…
Cyber-Warfare: Nitro-Zeus
A new documentary on “Stuxnet”, the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program, reveals it was just a small part of a much bigger cyber operation against the nation’s military and civilian infrastructure under the code name “NITRO ZEUS” The United States hacked into critical civilian and military infrastructure in Iran to allow its operatives…
Matthew Bracken Talks SHTF and Dirty Civil War
MATTHEW BRACKEN is a former Navy SEAL (BUD/S Class 105), a Constitutionalist, and a self-described “freedomista”. This interview was first published in the Fall 2014 issue of Forward Observer. You might think that the most courageous thing Matt Bracken’s ever done is taking a SEAL team to Beirut, Lebanon in 1983, the same year of…
The Bad-Ass Files: Donald Blackburn, Unconventional Warrior
“With a regiment of nearly 5,000 guerrillas at his back, Blackburn began a campaign that systematically destroyed the Japanese 14th Army within the Cagayan Valley.” THE FIRES ON Bataan burned with a primitive fury on the evening of April 9, 1942, illuminating the white flags of surrender against the nighttime sky. Woefully outnumbered, outgunned, and…
How Was Gun Control Imposed on an Unwilling World?
Disarmists use the bandwagon fallacy, (argumentum ad populum) to promote citizen disarmament. In essence, the non-argument makes the claim; everyone else disarms their population – so we should do the same. This is a logical fallacy. Perhaps you remember a parent telling you “if everyone is jumping off a bridge, it does not mean…
World War II History: Planting Dragon’s Teeth in the Enemy’s Garden, The Jedburghs
The SOE and OSS Operations during World War II have been a fascination of mine since I was a boy. In fact I am currently working on a trilogy of fictional short stories based on their amazing operations. The Jedburghs are an integral part of this history.-SF …
America was Founded on Secrets and Lies
Espionage, kidnapping, and the dark art of Spycraft is as American as George Washington. With all due respect to early-American hagiographer Parson Weems, George Washington knew how to tell a lie. In fact, he told a lot of them. Moreover, talent for deception was shared by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, all of whom, to…