COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating The Tim Walz military service brouhaha is an object lesson in two long-established axioms: You can’t plump your record, and you can’t piss off your unit. Veterans are calling out Walz, number two on the ticket with presidential candidate Kamala Harris, for touting an inaccurate military …
Read More »Putin and the Assassin: The Calculated Gamble of Hostage-Taking Still Works
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz KeatingWhen Vladimir Putin embraced assassin Vadim Krasikov at the airport in Moscow on August 1, the Russian president looked jubilant. He had reason to celebrate. Putin’s operator, the convicted killer, was home. So, too, were the other nine Russians who were released as part of a complex …
Read More »Extortion 17: Raise a Glass to Those Lost, and Continue Looking for Answers
by Susan Katz Keating Thirteen years ago today was a horrific event in the annals of Naval Special Warfare. On Aug 6, 2011, a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, call sign Extortion 17, was shot down in Afghanistan. In the process, 30 American military servicemen and a U.S. military working dog were …
Read More »A Jeep, a Soldier, Some Booze, and One Very Rough Night in Camp
by James Woods Editor’s note: Reader James Woods sent this story about his father in law, who had an interesting time one night after dark during WWII. My father in law was assigned to the HQ company of an engineer unit as a driver during WWII. The unit was going …
Read More »In Prisoner Swap, Moscow Recoups Street Creds Within Its Ranks of Expeditionary Hitmen and Arms Dealers
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating The United States and other Western countries are suitably popping the Champagne corks over today’s historic prisoner swap with Russia. But what is the Kremlin celebrating, as its human take includes a convicted hitman, an arms dealer, and a money launderer? Street creds at home. Affirmation …
Read More »Where There’s Fire, There’s Smoke: Tanks and Their Guns
Think of them as rolling fortresses, bristling with firepower and advanced systems. Tanks are built to take a beating and dish out some of their own. Here’s a look at what happens when the M1 guns go off: In the wilds of Georgia, where there’s fire, there’s smoke.
Read More »Dear Journalists: Don’t Lose Sight of Fundamental Questions Regarding Hamas
COMMENTARY by Susan Katz Keating As Tehran vows revenge on Israel for taking out a Hamas leader on Iranian soil, it’s important not to lose sight of the fundamental questions regarding Hamas. My fellow journalists especially need to hold the terror group accountable. Both truth and morality demand it. When covering …
Read More »A Contractor Goes Back to the Fray: ‘I Went to Touch the Elephant’
by Babatim I couldn’t take being out of the game anymore, so off I went to touch the elephant. I had just cracked open the first beer of the afternoon when I heard the rockets coming in. Wise now to the ways of war I stayed in my lawn …
Read More »Russian Wagner Fighters Captured, Traded for Ransom by Rebels in Mali
by Gatimu Juma Video on secure messaging channels depicts men sitting on the ground while blindfolded, wounded, and writhing in pain. Following intense combat that left dozens of fighters dead or badly maimed, rebel commanders in Mali have ransomed off some of their captives from the Wagner Group and Malian …
Read More »The Soviets Used a Thermonuclear Bomb to Extinguish a Hellish Fire That Raged for Years
After the Soviets discovered huge reserves of natural gas in Uzbekistan, this part of the USSR became the main gas producing region in the country. But things went wrong, and one of its key gas fields turned into a man-made disaster of unimaginable magnitude. Hellish fire The unprecedented emergency at …
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