Commentary

When Star Wars debuted in 1977, it marked a major departure from the depiction of sci-fi robots. R2-D2 was a cylindrical, round-headed, three-legged “astromech” droid that communicated in whistles, although it understood human speech. As…

The United States Invaded Iraq 20 years ago under false pretenses. Historians and social scientists have spent two decades investigating what went wrong. George W. Bush and other senior officials in his administration claimed former Iraqi…

In describing the Wagner Private Military Company forces fighting in Ukraine, some Western commentators have used the term “mercenaries,” while others have preferred “penal battalions.” Neither term is particularly flattering. For…

In early April 2020, a Chinese Coast Guard vessel and a Vietnamese fishing boat collided near Woody Island in the South China Sea. The Chinese government claims this island as sovereign territory. Accounts of the incident differed at the…

NATO has taken a combined approach towards defending against drones. Now, it should show the same collaborative effort in deploying them. Enabling interoperable drone swarms across the alliance could yield immediate benefits for the…

In Greek mythology, the ship of Theseus slowly replaces individual pieces over time. Eventually, all of the pieces that comprise the ship are replaced, presenting a philosophical question: Is it still the same ship? One could argue the…

Defense strategists have long held that rigorous — if not ruthless — prioritization is the key to success. Frederick the Great captured this sentiment best when saying: “Little minds try to defend everything at once, but sensible people…

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s appointment of a new director for the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is the most recent in a series of actions taken to eradicate the country’s endemic corruption and move closer to the European…

No one knows precisely when the last naval sword was used in combat. After centuries of being considered standard military-issued weaponry, the sword’s utility waned in the gunpowder age. The enlisted cutlass disappeared entirely by the…

On Jan. 10, 1984, a guidance computer in a U.S. Minuteman-III missile suffered a glitch. As a result, operators in the nearby command center received a message that the missile, aimed at Russia, was entering its launch sequence all on its…