Journal: Our Road to Oceania By Victor Davis Hanson

In George Orwell’s allegorical novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” the picture of “Big Brother” appears constantly in the adoring media. Perceived enemies are everywhere – supposedly plotting to undo the benevolent egalitarianism of Big Brother. Citizens assemble each morning to scream hatred for two minutes at pictures of the supposed public traitor Emmanuel Goldstein. The “Ministry of …

Journal: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’s Preemptive Damage Control [Manipulation of Anticipated Negative Information]

By Robert Haddick August 2009 After appointing Gen. Stanley McChrystal the new commander in Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates gave him two months to write an analysis of the situation there in yet another review of U.S. strategy. But after rumors leaked out that McChrystal would ask for another increase in U.S. troops, it appears …

Journal: Marcus Aurelius Flags Force Protection Blinders

Protection Rackets By Christopher Dickey | Newsweek Web Exclusive Jul 31, 2009 In Afghanistan, Americans should deploy Pvt. Social Worker and Maj. Sociologist. PBI:  The conclusion first: “You have to learn to discriminate if you’re going to win,” said Villalobos. “And in Afghanistan, that’s the problem. You don’t know how to do that. You don’t speak …