Author’s Note: My Muse and I were reading several accounts of life in the trenches around Avdiivka – could have been the Somme or Verdun a little more than a hundred years ago… – Arrias Very Wrong The trenches are long and dark and dank, Always hot or always cold, The men climb out and […]

In an interesting development the Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Army (the Ukrainian equivalent to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) released an essay last week, just as an interview was published in The Economist. In the essay and interview it was reported that Gen Zaluzhnyi said the war was “at a […]

Author’s Note: A less passionate issue from my Muse… – Arrias Blue Circle The world is just a blue circle, Just dark blue water is what you see, Even from 30,000 feet, All there is, is sea. The ship is fixed, it doesn’t move, The ocean just flows past, But we seem to remain in […]

Author’s Note: My Muse has a burr under her saddle about things… – Arrias What Makes Sense? It doesn’t make much sense to me All that is going on, Terrorists conduct a raid On a warm, clear dawn. Raping, burning, killing, Civilians, all unarmed. More than a thousand so they say, Hundreds more badly harmed. […]

In virtually any situation, from sports to geo-politics, you can usually parse things down to one major actor and a whole bunch of reactors. There may also be spectators, but usually they’re reacting as well. For the US, as the world’s preeminent great power, maintaining some level of stability requires that we stay in front […]

Author’s Note: I know this is impossible, but it really needs to be said… While the Israelis pursue their plan to sweep through Gaza, the question that bugs me is this: what is the long term solution to the Gaza Strip? As I see it, there are four major paths forward for Gaza – in […]

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Just needed to say this… – ARRIAS A good man passed away the other day… I’ll call him Mr. Smith. He deserves, as much as is possible, given his career, a note on his passing. You don’t know him, and in all likelihood you never will. He worked for one of those organizations […]

When a Captain or Colonel is promoted to admiral or general, he is sent through a program called “Capstone,” which is basically a 6 week program to make sure all new admirals and generals understand how the services integrate in support of national strategy. A friend of mine told me that when he went through […]

Cruising in an Auburn roadster, Sliding down a twisting country lane, Speckled sunlight through the elms, In the distance lumbers a huge coal train. With a sultry blonde by my side, We drive beside a lazy river, A stand of towering cottonwoods, In the breeze their leaves gently shiver. She’s wears a broad straw hat […]

There’s a minor cottage industry that has sprung up in the last 12 months in which various foreign policy mavens play Nostradamus and forecast “How the War in Ukraine will end,” some with a good deal of detail, some with a very broad hand waving at a map of the world. Of course, using the […]