Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing January has been the month of pardons. Joe Biden ended his term with a slew of pardons and Donald Trump began his rule with a volley of his own. My source inside the White House says that the president may pardon John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Read More …
Brian M Downing President Trump arrived in Hanoi this morning to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. However, before the meeting the president surprised reporters with an unexpected announcement. The Vietnamese officials were all the more surprised. “I’m using this occasion to announce an executive order bestowing the Read More …
In 1970, way back in the 20th-century, I applied for a part-time position at the White Oak Sears. I filled out a form and was asked to come back the following Saturday morning. So I did. Might have even put on a tie. Young Brian was directed to a room Read More …
Brian M Downing Sunday marks the centenary of France’s surrender to Germany, ending the Great War (1914-1918). Though the guns fell silent, the effects of the war continued to reverberate across the continent for decades. Historians will debate many aspects of the Great War but they can agree that the Read More …
Brian M Downing It’s been some time since Luca Brasi disappeared under uncertain circumstances while meeting with the Tattaglias. The redoubtable Brasi was often on the outs with the Corleone family but reports indicate that shortly after a rapprochement at a family wedding, the Don sent him to meet with Read More …
Brian M Downing If you’re looking for insight on Terry Jones and his mission of burning the Koran and getting the Islamic world to despise us even more than it already does, I recommend HL Mencken. The caustic essayist of the early twentieth century was a great writer and a Read More …
Brian M Downing I used to have fairly interesting dreams, the details of which I shall omit just now. Suffice it to say that advancing years and predilection with foreign policy have taken a toll. My reveries were usually graced with young women such as the one I chatted with Read More …
My father returned from service in World War Two aboard a troopship that left the Philippines, passed through the Panama Canal, and eventually pulled into Brooklyn Navy Yard. It was a few weeks late for the boisterous crowds and tugboat horns that greeted troopships in the immediate aftermath of VJ Read More …
I remember MAD Magazine more and more fondly these days. It wasn’t just a funny magazine for kids. It tried to teach us something about modern America and to instill critical ways of thinking about the not-so brave new world we were growing up in. If cultivated, those ways of Read More …
Brian M Downing In recent days we have learned of the secretive National Security Agency’s engagement in data-mining the Verizon system. Yesterday we learned that NSA was doing the same in a few other cyberplaces, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. I can only wish Read More …