Trumpism and Why America Needs a Marshall Plan

By Sheldon Greaves When the forces of Germany surrendered to the Allies in May of 1945, the fighting stopped but the war, technically, did not end right away. There were additional edicts and order, the Potsdam Agreement the following August … Continue reading

National Security and the North Korean Crisis

  Several friends and associates have contacted me in recent days, asking about the emerging crisis with North Korea, and the implications for national security. I thought I’d pass along some of the things that I’ve told them, plus a … Continue reading

Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny”

By Sheldon I just finished reading On Tyranny. Twenty Lessons From the Twentieth Century by Yale historian Timothy Snyder. It is a very important book that everyone who harbors anxiety about the future of the United States should read, and read … Continue reading

Why Accepting Refugees is Crucial to National Security

By Sheldon When Trump released his ill-conceived and poorly-executed immigration order that stopped the flow of refugees from seven Muslim countries, he justified the action based on “national security,” claiming that it would keep out the “bad people” who were … Continue reading

Would You Recognize the End of the World If You Saw It?

There is an enduring appeal about the end of the world, especially if we can watch it happening to someone else. Movies that dwell on an apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic theme are even more the rage than usual, but in the … Continue reading

A Preface to Pope Francis’ Encyclical on Climate Change

Sheldon Greaves On Thursday, 18 June Pope Francis I will release the encyclical Laudato Si (“Praised be”), the much-anticipated statement on climate change, and the role of humans with respect to the earth. This is as much a scientific and … Continue reading

The Christmas Truce of 1914

By Sheldon Greaves Many years ago PBS ran a wonderful Christmas special called “Simple Gifts” featuring a series of animated short segments based on several Christmas stories. They were all thoughtful, sometimes provocative, and emotionally rich. One of the segments … Continue reading

The Takedown of Sony Entertainment and it’s Implications

On November 24th, Sony Pictures Entertainment had their cybernetic head handed to them by a shadowy group known only as “Guardians of Peace.” This past year has seen numerous attacks on various major companies, with embarrassing data breaches resulting in … Continue reading

What is the NSA Collecting? An Exercise in Open-Source Intelligence Analysis

The recent revelations of NSA warrantless data collection is of interest mostly because one has to wonder why so many people seem surprised about this. It wasn’t a matter of reading tea leaves or anything, it was right out there … Continue reading

Saudi Arabia’s Prevarications and Peak Oil

According to a 2007 diplomatic cable, Dr. Sadad al-Husseini, who is the former Executive Vice President for Saudi Arabia has overstated the size of their reserves by about 40% or 300 billion barrels. Dr. al-Husseini also believes that as a result Saudi Arabia will have trouble meeting its production goals and cannot therefore help keep oil prices in check.

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