Poverty, oppression, persecution and war are persistent evils. Refugees fleeing these terrible afflictions are — usually — a persistent trickling crisis. As long as they trickle, refugees attract, at best, fleeting attention in the world beyond those dedicated to aiding refugees and displaced persons (DPs). In this century, the persistent refugee-DP crisis becomes “unprecedented” when […]

Terrorists rely on concealment in order to launch surprise attacks. Last week’s attempted attack on a high-speed train traveling from Holland to Paris via Belgium involved successful concealment, up to a point. At that point, the passengers surprised the terrorist. Islamist terrorist Ayoub El Khazzani managed to evade security agency surveillance in at least five […]

Russian dictator and shameless propagandist Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of escalating warfare in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. “I hope there won’t be full-scale direct clashes,” Putin said while visiting the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula. Putin delivered his accusation in what I call his “Vlad, Ace of Spies and KGB Colonel” mode. This patterned shtick is […]

An Iranian nuclear arms deal? Arms controllers hailed the post-World War 1 Washington Naval Arms Treaty as the diplomatic instrument to prevent another peace-destroying naval arms race. Yet it came to pass that war erupted, with the warships of signatories Britain, France and the U.S. battling treaty partners Italy and Japan. Counting battleships is several […]