17th Century Spain and The Allure of Idealized History in Grand Strategy Many readers may be familiar with Paul Kennedy’s classic The Rise and Fall of Great Powers. It is often recommended to those who have an interest in grand strategy. However, readers might be less familiar with a collection of essays edited by Kennedy, Grand…
Espionage Files: The Return of Wetwork
Putin’s Kremlin Employs assassination abroad as State Policy in a manner not seen in Moscow since Stalin By John R. Schindler This week’s announcement by a British court that Russian spies murdered Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006, made global headlines. Particularly because the massive report, based on a multi-year investigation, concluded that the…
Military Defense News: US Army to Retire OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Scout Helicopter by 2017
With tensions at a recent high, the U.S. Army is sending the last of its OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters to the Korean Peninsula for one more mission. After decades of service in war zones including Afghanistan and Iraq, the venerable copters should leave service by 2017. On March 19, the Army announced that 400…
ERMAHGERD! Phone Gun!
I was ROLMAO as I read this….still am actually. Great Concept, but No thanks. -SF All the usual suspects are having a hissy fit because a company called Ideal Conceal has created a two-shot derringer that looks an awful lot like a smart phone. Oh noes!!! A concealed carry gun is coming out this year…
Security News: Dozens of New Car Models Can be Unlocked and Started with a Cheap Radio Amp
A group of German researchers from ADAC have published their work on extending last year’s amplification attack that let thieves steal Priuses with a $17 gadget that detected your key’s unlock signal and amplified it so it would reach the car. The researchers have shown that at least 24 different car models from 19 manufacturers…
Espionage & Cold War Files: Cuba and Operation Northwoods
I have been reading and studying about Espionage and the History of the CIA, KGB, MI6, Mossad, etc. for some time, and although most things I come across really don’t surprise me, this one did. Truth is certainly stranger than Fiction. -SF Did You Know That the US Once Planned to Attack Itself — and…
Military Weapons From the Past: Historical Weapons Found in Libya War Zone
Armament Research Services (ARES) has a database of Conflict Material (CONMAT), logging arms and munitions documented within the illicit sphere in conflict and post-conflict zones. I have been working on co-athoring a report with N.R. Jenzen-Jones covering Libyan arms trading conducted via social media platforms between November 2014 and November 2015 for Small Arms Survey. One of the…
Military Weapons From the Past: Integrally Suppressed HK MP5 Sub-Machine Gun
If any of you grew up in the 80’s like me, most all of the military action flicks you watched had this gun in it. Remember Die Hard? Then when you grew up you thought “Why would anybody stake their lives on a glorified 9mm pistol?!” I still feel the same way about small caliber sub-machine…
Spy Movies Worth a Damn: Deutschland 83
This is a not a movie but a 8 part mini-series that appeared on Sundance Channel last year. It is about a East German kid whose mother needs a organ transplant that is only available in the West and the East German Stasi blackmail him into spying for them and the KGB in order to…
Espionage Files: Pentagon To Open Major Intel Center in Britain
The Pentagon will announce a major new £200m intelligence centre in Britain this week, which would act as the headquarters for all US military data in Europe and Africa, according to US media reports. Known as the Joint Intelligence Analysis Centre, the facility will be located at the RAF Croughton, a US Air Force base…