Marc | May 21, 2010
At ~ 3:30 am (May 18th), the RBC branch at Bank and First in Ottawa was firebombed and, later that day, a group calling itself FFFC Ottawa posted a video of the attack and claimed responsibility. The chief of Ottawa Police Services, Vern White, told CBC that he is “extremely confident” that they will shortly [...]
Marc | April 22, 2010
According to a recent press release, the Canadian Minister for Public Safety will be re-introducing the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act that died when the government was prorogued last December. According to the minister, “This government is responding to calls from victims who seek justice, and demonstrating leadership in the global fight against terrorism,” [...]
Marc | January 12, 2010
CBC just carried a story that Sarah Palin will be joining Fox News as a commentator. I think that her comment that It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news. just about says it all. Needless to say, I will continue my personal classification of Fox News as [...]
Marc | November 13, 2009
One of the things that is often forgotten these days is why people fight – not nations, not governments; people. All to often, especially during long conflicts with not actual “fighting” in a homeland, we forget and dismiss the conflicts and blame those who go to do the fighting as being “war mongers” and “myrmidons” [...]
Marc | September 18, 2009
My friends Adam Elkus and Mark Safranski just released what is one of the more insightful, and scathing, critiques of US “Grand Strategy”. The short article is entitled Theory, Policy, and Strategy: A Conceptual Muddle (abstract | PDF) and focuses on one simple observation: grand strategy for the US is now being driven by operational [...]
Marc | August 17, 2009
I probably will not have a chance to blog this week since I will be off at the TRADOC Senior Leaders Conference and blogging from there. The posts will be going up over at the Small Wars Journal and SWJ and TRADOC are both hoping for a lively exchange of ideas and questions from the [...]
Marc | August 15, 2009
Yesterday, Friday August 14th, was to have seen a talk given by Lynddie England at the Library of Congress on her new biography Tortured: Lynndie England, Abu Ghraib and the Photographs That Shocked the World. The talk, however, sparked a very strong reaction from Morris Davis, a veteran and employee of the Library of Congress [...]
Marc | July 10, 2009
Q: Since when are university regents “administrative officials performing functions analogous to those of judges and prosecutors” (quoted here)? A: Since July 7th, 2009.
Marc | February 10, 2009
Tom Ricks has a series of posts on the Battle of Wanat last summer over at Foreign Policy that is well worth reading for a number of reasons. First of all, Tom has done some excellent research and, unlike many, offers questions rather than answers (although he has a few of those). Second, his research, [...]
Marc | January 9, 2009
One of the more interesting activities that humans come up with is games (loosely construed). Back in the day, aka before the Methodist onslaught destroyed play as a serious activity in the 17th century, games and play acted as educational and/training events for people. We can see this in activities as varied as cossak (or [...]
Marc on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1Marc on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1
In Harmonium » Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 3 on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 2
MM on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 1
Backwards Observer on Ethics, honour and the dangers of over-ritualization, part 2