Category Archives: Military
South-Pacific Idyll with a War Ship
During my visit on Easter Island, the island was protected by the French frigate Prairial. This meant not only that drug smugglers stayed away for that week (the Prairial had just captured 680 kg of cocaine), but it also provided particularly idyllic views.
Random Thoughts (1)
Every day, my head, my notebooks and pieces of paper all over my apartment rapidly fill up with ideas about articles, comments on current affairs and links to other interesting stuff which I want to turn into stories. Some time. But … Continue reading
War and Peace
In his autobiography My Early Life, which concluded the time before World War I and was published before World War II, Winston Churchill takes this lesson from the Boer Wars: Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any war will be … Continue reading
The young Winston Churchill on War
In his autobiography My Early Life, the young Winston Churchill writes about his feelings towards war and conflict. He seems to regard it all as one great adventure. About his time at the Military College in Sandhurst: Here the study was of … Continue reading
Dear FARC, please don’t over-react!
In a few months, I might walk through the Colombian jungle. Besides snakes, alligators and mosquitoes, the other danger lurks from the rebel group FARC, who have a tendency to over-react when they encounter foreigners in territory that they control or fight … Continue reading
A romantic walk
Photographed at Kalemegdan fortress in Belgrade, Serbia in October 2014.
“Why We Lost” by Daniel Bolger
Maybe a book that promises “a general’s inside account of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and how it all went wrong” had to disappoint, but I didn’t expect it to disappoint so much. Lieutenant General Bolger sounds contrite in the introduction: … Continue reading
Belgrade and the signs of war
I have this talent to find traces of war wherever I go, but in Belgrade the task is made really easy. First of all, the city’s fortress in Kalemegdan Park houses a military museum. In addition to the permanent display of military hardware, … Continue reading
Peace in Colombia? Just in time!
In January or February 2016, I will be somewhere on the Amazon river, on a boat, sailing upstream, deeper into the jungle. I will be on the way to one of the many tributary rivers of the Amazon, and chance … Continue reading
The Happy Hermit 