by G. Murphy Donovan We like to think of military officers as political eunuchs, but that fairy tale, like free lunch, is a smug myth. No American government institutions, including the military services, thrive or survive in Washington without vigorous internal and external political engagement.  Outspoken ...Read More...

“It is the wise man who knows where courage ends and stupidity begins.” – Jerome Cady by G. Murphy Donovan  Kurdish fighters weeping Gun slinger is one of those good news/bad news metaphors. President Donald Trump might be the poster child for that kind of ambivalence. First, there’s good ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan “The lady doth protest, too much, methinks.” - WS Surely the Super Bowl game itself wasn’t a fail; if you like defense and fourth quarter suspense.      What’s not to like about the New England Patriots, America’s team it seems. Tom Brady and Jules Edelman, just as ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan “There are some assholes in the world that just need to be shot.” – James Mattis Foreign policy in the Trump era is a tug-of-war, a test of wills between national pragmatists and global utopians. Binary equations might be simplistic, but if it has done nothing else, the ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan If I want to, I can take Kiev in two weeks.” - Vladimir Putin After WWII, Soviet Communists played an outsized role in American Intelligence operations, threat analysis, and defense budgets. If America didn’t have the Soviets or Russians as straw men, we probably wouldn’t ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan Celebrity is the knife that cuts two ways; fame on the left, shame on the right. David Hogg is learning that lesson today. Alas, Mister Hogg is a child trying to navigate puberty on national television. He casts himself as a victim, a “survivor,” a spokesman, if not a ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan “There are three “musts” that hold us back: I must do well. You must treat me well. And the world must be easy.”  -  Albert Ellis Branding is everything if you are in the “activist” business. More than a few bizarre brands are trending these days. Black Lives Matter ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan Tone is always set at the top. The early years of the 21st Century may come to be known as the era of invective. One candidate in the 2016 presidential election maligned voters as a “basket of deplorables.” That slur may have prompted enough indignation to give Donald ...Read More...

Together Again by G. Murphy Donovan Say what you will about Donald Trump, but beyond ego, bluster, and stable manners; you will often find the courage of truth, a kind of candor too painful to ignore. The recent “official” recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a dramatic example ...Read More...

And other prophylactics by G. Murphy Donovan “Those capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it.” - Spooner Mendacity is the currency of modern American politics. Truth, it seems, is now a function of what an advocate is willing to sell and gulls are willing to buy. Words like ...Read More...

Iconoclasm on the Left by G. Murphy Donovan Washington, DC, 2017 Inauguration Day riots A few years after the Martin Luther King riots of 1968, I was driving through Harlem in upper Manhattan. At several traffic lights I was greeted by a corner chorus of “right on man, Chocolate City.” ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan In April, I wrote a piece for the Small Wars Journal, “Why We Lose,” that recommended some new initiatives that might change the vectors of foreign policy under the Trump administration. The principal recommendation for NATO reform was to expel Turkey, recognize Kurdistan, ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan “Our values (sic) will prevail, never giving in to terror,” - Theresa May The fight against Islamic terror has two faces today, public relations and strategic hokum. The recent meeting of the ministers of the Global Coalition on the Defeat of ISIS in Washington illustrates ...Read More...

by G. Murphy Donovan Barack Obama era national security acolytes, now serving under Donald Trump, are not doing much to help with or clarify American foreign policy or national security futures. The Ummah provides the best example. Just days after the Trump inauguration, the newly minted ...Read More...

Business as Usual? by G. Murphy Donovan Donald Trump has only been in office for a couple of months. Any performance evaluation to date is probably premature. Nonetheless, early on, there are some good and bad omens. The good news is domestic. President Trump seems to be focused on health ...Read More...