The full arsenal of a military commander who served Ivan the Terrible has been uncovered in Russia, the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences has announced. Found during a survey for a highway expansion outside Zvenigorod, an ancient town 18 miles west of Moscow, the cache consists of helmets stored in leather…
Category: Warfare
Navy SEAL Sniper Instructor Describes America’s Best Marksman Ever
In this excerpt from The Red Circle: My Life In The Navy SEAL Sniper Corps And How I Trained America’s Deadliest Marksmen, former Navy SEAL sniper instructor Brandon Webb, describes the deadliest sniper in US military history. Everything I’d experienced in the navy up to this point, from those early days as an aircrew search-and-rescue…
10 Conflicts to Watch in 2016
Pulling together a list of the wars most in need of international attention and support in 2016 is challenging for all the wrong reasons. For 20 years after the end of the Cold War, deadly conflict was in decline. Fewer wars were killing fewer people the world over. Five years ago, however, that positive…
WW2 History: The Most Amazing Lie in History
How a chicken farmer, a pair of princesses, and 27 imaginary spies helped the Allies win World War II This story originally appeared in the September 2014 issue of Mental Floss Magazine. In the weeks leading up to D-day, Allied commanders had their best game faces on. “This operation is not being planned with any…
Ankara’s Hidden Hand: Turkish Covert Ops Then and Now
To put it mildly, Turkey has been substantially involved in Syria since the eruption of the Arab Spring in 2011. After Turkish F-16s recently downed a Su-24 Russian tactical bomber over the region where Turkmen anti-Assad groups are based, Turkish President Erdogan tacitly confirmed Turkey’s covert support for Syrian rebels fighting against Damascus, stating that “anyone…
21st Century Seapower
When the Tamil Sea Tigers, the ferocious naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was destroyed in the Sri Lankan government’s full-throttled spring 2009 offensive that put an end to the country’s decades-long civil war, few were sorry to see its demise. For while the group was a capable adversary of Sri…
Iran Fires Rockets Close to U.S. Aircraft Carrier
Iran fires rockets close to US aircraft carrier; Navy complains that it was “unsafe” and “unprofessional” “Unsafe” and “unprofessional.” Yes, so was the German invasion of Poland. “Firing weapons so close to passing coalition ships and commercial traffic within an internationally recognized maritime traffic lane is unsafe, unprofessional, and inconsistent with international maritime law,” Navy…
Coolest Military Tech for 2016
America’s troops have cool gear coming their way in 2016. Here’s a look at some of it: 1. The first Ford-Class supercarrier will take to the seas Photo: US Navy Mass Communication Specialist Second Class Aidan P. Campbell The PCU Ford will join the fleet in 2016. It will be the largest and most expensive warship to ever…
NO! You can’t have my Civil Rights, I am Using Them Right Now!
“The ‘looters’ credo’ has brought you to regard your proudest achievements as a hallmark of shame, your prosperity as guilt, your greatest men, the industrialists, as blackguards, and your magnificent factories as the product and property of muscular labor, the labor of whip-driven slaves, like the pyramids of Egypt. The rotter, who simpers that he…
Mosul: Turkey’s Fulda Gap
With all the hoopla lately between Russia and Turkey, this is an interesting article to consider. As I have been studying the history of the Middle East this year, I have added The Fall of the Ottomans to my 2016 reading list. -SF “Our national borders pass through Antioch and span east-ward, containing Mosul,…