A history of terrorism requires a very specific definition to avoid a never-ending summary of every violent act ever recorded. The brief, objective definition proposed by Dr. Boaz Ganor, an Israeli political scientist and deputy dean of the Lauder School of Government and Diplomacy at the Interdiciplinary Center Herzliya, works well for this purpos

Diamond minds comes to us rarely, and to enjoy any quality lifestyles were a challenge during the lifetime of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Events that unfolded during these years created general boundaries for the modern world new and old. By then a fellow citizen of what would become Italy had opened up a new world, while Leonardo was some times

The timing could not have been worse or better depending on one's perspective despite the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party to pull out all the stops to make sure the upcoming Summer Olympics is a great show. Too bad. It's certainly hard to penalize the athletes that have worked so hard but the Olympic Committee knew when they picked C

On the evening Lyndon Johnson dropped out of the 1968 Presidential it was a celebration. We could not believe it. If there was any politician that I loathed it was LBJ. He had lied about Vietnam. He had kept us in that war at the expense of tens of thousands of lives on both sides. My blood boiled when I would see LBJ or McNamara on TV talking abou

No, I'm not talking about weight loss. The Battle of the Bulge, known to the Allied military forces as The Battle of Ardennes, was the bloodiest battle of World War II, and one of the most horrific encounters in the history of modern warfare. The German plan was for this battle, along with three others (known to the Germans as Bodenplatte, Grei

The Navy is a branch of the military that defends the United States by sea. In November of 1942 they were called upon to defend it from the Japanese. Since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941 the United States had suffered from a shortage of battleships. The battle of Guadalcanal is very important in history as it signified the end of the Pacific W

Sometimes the pen used to sign a document in DC has something to it. I'm not certain of the history of the pen used by Pelosi yesterday to sign the "Surrender to al Qaeda Bill", but I did catch an interesting fact about the pen Bush used to veto the bill. The pen was given to Bush by Robert Derga. Robert spoke to the President at the white house

Rivalries aside, most people agree the Marine Corp trains some of Uncle Sam's toughest warriors. Sadly, the Marines, like so many military organizations, have fallen prey to political correctness in modern times. In 2001, the Marines switched from their battle proven close combat methods in favor of a system that is designed to "subdue" rathe

In the closing months of World War II, the term "kamikaze" was anything but funny. Broadly defined, it represented the will of the samurai warrior to give up his life for his country and Emperor in waging an attack against the enemy of his country. The term "kamikaze" is of Japanese origin and literally means "divine wind." It came into being

During the days I travelled here and there as a systems consultant, one of my favorite cities to visit was Chicago. I always made time to see a performance of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, especially if Brahms was on the playbill. Being an irrepressible train watcher, I was in seventh heaven visiting the greatest rail center in the United State

Grandpa collected a series of 350 or so photos, reprints and postcards from World War I when he was an American soldier. For some reason he wanted to save all the pictures and they fill almost two albums. Maybe it was knowing that one day someone like me would look at the pictures and reflect on the true nature of war. Who knows. But whatever h

Recently web logs, or blogs, have exploded in popularity and have come to occupy an increasingly important place in American politics. Given the disparity in resources and organization against other actors, their influence presents a puzzle. How can a collection of decentralized, nonprofit, contrarian and discordant websites exercise any influence

"Rabbit season!" "Duck season!" That old cartoon argument immediately comes to mind when I see people arguing about which candidate is best, who should run, etc. So much of what is said in politics boils down to arguments that really aren't much better than the one between Bugs and Daffy. Lots of noise, little care for facts. Politics is often a

As Election Day approaches, one of the most publicized presidential races of the past several decades has captivated the minds of people around the world and set records for participation in the US democratic primary system. As the first woman to run as a mainstream candidate for president, New York Senator Hillary Clinton has quite a race in front

When you look into military history, some armies stand out well above the rest. The ancient of warriors of Rome are among those elite few that did everything right. They were organized, well equipped, well trained, and had the attitude that they deserved to win. Rome did not collapse because of its fighting men, but because of corruption and the