Writing about films is not something I often do, but as an old Cold Warrior who has covered intelligence matters for decades, the subject matter of the thrilling book “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” is right up my dark alley. John Le Carré’s Cold War espionage trilogy, which also includes, “The […]

Syria’s murky, multi-level conflict continues to grow worse. So does public confusion here in the west as the US, British and some European media keep depicting Syria’s civil war as a simple passion play pitting the evil Asad regime in Damascus against mostly unarmed democratic protestors. We saw this same […]

March 17, 2012 News of the massacre by an American soldier of 16 Afghan civilians, mostly women and children, made me reflect on the 14 wars and colonial conflicts I’ve covered. Horrible but not surprising. It illustrates what I call the Iron Laws of Colonial Warfare: *Pick a good pretext […]