Author’s Note: Spectacular thunder and lightning storm, started right around sunset, so I could see the trees in this sort of fog, and then it got really dark, really quick. 15 minutes into it came a tornado warning. Spectacular lighting – some of it lasting 5 or 6 seconds it seemed, lighting up the back […]

A Federation starship is sneaking around the Romulan Neutral Zone, playing cat and mouse with a Romulan ship. The Federation captain is very aggressive and there is nearly an incident, but he reports that he got away without being detected. Several weeks later, in a bar in a neutral space port on a rock circling […]

Independence is lovely idea. But it’s tough to achieve. And sometimes no one wants to pay for it. The nations of Europe insist that they are, in fact independent. Yet, with a large chunk of their oil and gas coming from Russia, several European countries have recently found that they didn’t want to really pay […]

Half her crew are fallen, Now forever below, asleep, A once great warship lies; In waters dark and deep. Badly burned and broken, No more to see the sun, No more port-calls, no more honors, Her days of glory done. No more shall she strike awe, No more will she terrify some foe, Now she’s […]

The war in Ukraine has settled into a disquieting monotony: for those who have been following the war closely, the last few weeks seem like “nothing new”: each day Russian forces continue to slowly move into the East, small unit actions continue along most of the fronts, the siege of Mariupol continues, and the Russians […]

Editor’s Note: I keep feeling like we are trapped in a high school “Modern European History” seminar when we covered the Great War and Depression in like, two or three class periods and everyone went “How could some conflict about an execution of some prince guy in a country none of has has heard of […]

Dark and thick they loom, Crowding o’er the trees, Branches shake and shiver In the gathering breeze. Spring rain, cold and hard, But the grass is turning green, Trees all covered in buds, Mother Nature’s spring routine. The first few large drops fall, A heavy, staccato beat, But then they come in a torrent, And […]

The phrase “Escalate to De-escalate” has been used to describe a Russian military doctrine of the select use of nuclear weapons to stop a war from proceeding any further. While some have countered that the phrase does not exist in Russian military doctrine, it is clear that the idea does. But what exactly does it […]

As we try to come to grips with the situation in Europe – a war in Ukraine, a great deal of pressure on the NATO alliance, the problem of Vladimir Putin – we need to take a look at history to provide us with some guidance. And, while comparing anyone to Hitler is often a […]

The road from the port dipped, As it ran beside the long pier, Dark and dirty and quiet, Efficient, unwelcoming, austere. He walked slowly down the road, Far away was a single streetlight, A pale yellow glow in the tropic heat, Just managed to hold back the night. The bougainvillea smelled like honeysuckle, Memories of […]