I’ve noticed on the news there seems to be a lot of Analysts now. They’re not called correspondents or reporters or journalists but Analysts. Especially when they’re talking about “Security”, “Politics”, or “Economics”. How many people watching the news actually know what that term means I wonder. How many people understand what it takes to actually do analysis?
A recent trip got me thinking about some of the similarities and differences we native English speaking cousins have. To paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, ‘It’s not just Britain and America divided by a common language.’
It takes a special sort of author to open their book with one of the main characters dead. It takes a really good author to have their books main protagonist be a jaded opium addict. It takes an exceptional author to do both. The Quiet American is a parable, asking us to make sure we don’t fight just for our own ends but to truly question the world around us and make sure we make the correct hard choices.
November marks the centenary of the end of the First World War. Living in the United Kingdom, as I do at the moment, this is a significant event. The Spy Net by Henry Landau, would seem to help fill the gap. One would expect to find the stories of daring patriots risking life and limb to provide information to the Triple Entente to stop the plans of the vile Huns.
Post Captain Jack Aubrey and Ships Surgeon, Warrant Officer and erstwhile Naval Intelligence Officer Dr. Stephen Maturin once again take sail in the Mediterranean in their ongoing quest to do all in their power to help overthrow the regime of the archfiend and scourge to Democratic freedom, the Emperor Napoleon. Having successfully foiled the French plans in the Ionian sea in the last novel, Aubrey and Maturin take some time to rest and refit themselves, their ship, and what remains of their crew on the island of Malta as they await the next assignment. Aubrey tries to revel in his recent victory but continues to be plagued by the money woes at home that drove him to sea again and his desire for a new frigate and a command against the Americans in the North Atlantic. Maturin has his hands full attempting to find the elusive and cleaver French spymaster Lesueur. What Maturin doesn’t yet realize is Lesueur has already found him and Lesueur's plan against the good doctor is already in motion.
By reading From Babel to Dragomans and taking time to understand some of the nuance, which, I admit, can be difficult at times due to Bernard Lewis’ prose its is possible to discover a better understanding - not a perfect understanding - of a culture, a conflict, and issues that have been and likely will continue to be primary in world relations for the foreseeable future.
79 years ago this month, Nazi troops faked an attack on a German Radio station. By the end of September 1939 the world was in the grips of a second world war.
I have my own YouTube channel now and have started adding reviews to the site. The first is a version of this review for Starship Troopers. Have a look below. I'd really appreciate it also if you took the time to like and subscribe if you enjoyed the video. https://youtu.be/-M8QKtO-iUo My rating: 4 of 5 …
Continue reading Soldier, Citizen; a Review of Starship Troopers
Epitaph For A Spy by Eric Ambler My rating: 4 of 5 stars I began my foray into the thriller genre back in the mid to late 1990’s. This trip began, like most people that began reading thrillers in the 90’s, with the venerable Tom Clancy and his seminal work Red Storm Rising. Oddly, one …
This is one of Arthur C. Clarke's books I never read as a child. I suspect the teenage me would have felt differently about this book then the adult me now does.
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