National Defense

October 6th, 2017 the Wall Street Journal reports that Russian hackers hacked into the U.S. National Security Agency’s (NSA) hacking system…in 2015! The evidence just keeps piling up.

The Russians for the last hundred years have had big advantages when it comes to mathematics training. Science and mathematics have always been the most prestigious fields, more so than medicine and law, and much more so than business and political science. Given the importance in the Soviet Union placed on nuclear weapons and space exploration, science and math again was emphasized. Government support of students (education was free) and teachers helped the mathematical cream rise to the top. Admissions to the best universities were based on merit.

When invited to a weapons research facility during my 1989 visit to Moscow I was astonished to see in use all the personal computer brands […]

Now that ISIS in Iraq is apparently defeated, the country will begin to reorganize itself. Let’s hope it’s a peaceful process. At least it is starting with a vote on next Monday, September 25^th – the Kurds in the north are voting on a referendum on independence.

Twelve years ago during a debate with then Congressman Christopher Cox (R) I suggested a plan for reorganizing the area which took into account cultural differences and ignored political boundaries. Too bad the Republicans in power ignored the idea at the time. My advice is still pertinent. Please see a version of the OPED I wrote at the time, published in the October 21, 2005 edition of the Orange County Register.

Exiting Iraq

The primary lesson in international relations of the last fifty years is that culture trumps politics.  When the British gave […]

A Nobel Prize is at his fingertips. All President Trump has to do is withdraw our 28,500 troops from South Korea. As we are headed to war there otherwise, this single action will save 28,500 American lives and perhaps millions of Koreans’ as well. Estimates are that the North Koreans would fire 5,200 artillery rounds in the first ten minutes of the war. Withdrawing our troops now will make more than 60,000 American mothers, spouses, and children immediately happy to have their GI sons and daughters back from the brink of war.

Is this capitulation to the North Koreans? No, President Truman acceded to the draw more than sixty years ago. What about the brand new $11 billion military base we just built for South Korea? That was Obama’s bad decision. Perhaps a “great negotiator” like Donald Trump can recoup some […]