Category Archives: Military
The Smoking Snakes
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels. These days, eurocentric Europeans are celebrating the end of World War II, although in Asia, that show didn’t get cancelled until a few months later. The surviving US-American, British, French, Belgian, New Zealand, Australian, Indian, … Continue reading
Wait, when was World War II again?
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels. A strange questions, it seems, especially coming from someone studying history. But the more you travel in the post-Soviet world, i.e. in the countries that became independent after the end of the Soviet Union, the … Continue reading
In the Foreign Legion
Diesen spannenden Insider-Bericht gibt es auch auf Deutsch. A few years ago, the desire for education reared its nosy head again, remembered the high school from which I had graduated decades before, and was in deep and mournful regret that … Continue reading
Kyiv – Day 11/21 – Tanks
Should I be worried if there are suddenly tanks in front of the house? Links: More from Ukraine. More about war. Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Blogs.
Film review: “Donbass”
Truth is the first victim of war, one could sum up the film Donbass, which confused me more than it educated me. But it did so in a memorable, partly unsettling, partly amusing, way. In 13 episodes, Sergei Loznitsa portrays … Continue reading
Our Prisoner of War
Recently, I stayed with my father in Bavaria, where life is informal and one can put the feet on the table and smoke inside the house. We were both preoccupied with reading, my father with the newspaper and me with … Continue reading
Does the Federal Republic of Germany even exist? A discussion with a “Reichsbürger”.
Many years ago, someone walked into my law office, showed me a notice about some traffic fine and explained, confusing our respective roles in the attorney-client relationship, why he definitely wouldn’t need to pay the fine. According to him, the … Continue reading
Arms exports to Saudi Arabia
I used to be skeptical about arms exports to Saudi Arabia. But then I learned that the weapons are mostly used to celebrate weddings:
A Walk around Tbilisi
Zur deutschen Fassung dieses Artikels. Each year for my birthday, I like to explore a new country, preferably alone. In July 2017, I treated myself to a trip to the Caucasus (and ended up celebrating my 42nd birthday with the … Continue reading
“Fear” by Bob Woodward
I am generally not a big fan of reading books on contemporary subjects, because books get better with a few years of hindsight. But for Bob Woodward’s book about the Trump presidency, Fear, I made an exception. Of all the … Continue reading
