Monthly Archives: February 2012

Joseph Heller in Afghanistan

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Matt

You don’t need to be an expert on counterinsurgency to conclude that burning Korans is probably not the most efficacious method of winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan population.   And the fact that US soldiers have done this … Continue reading →

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Syria and the pith helmeted bombardiers

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Matt

On 2 September 1898 a British expeditionary force in Sudan defeated the armies of the Caliph Abdullah al-Tashi,  the successor to the ‘Mahdi’ Muhammad Ahmad, who had overwhelmed the British garrison at Khartoum thirteen years before.   Armed with artillery, Maxim … Continue reading →

Posted in Middle East, Militarism | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The return of the ‘Loony Left’

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Matt

You know a government is in trouble when it starts playing the reds under the bed card to distract attention from its own failings.   But there is a real element of absurdity as well as desperation in last week’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Age of austerity, UK politics | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Beauty and the beast: Miss Bala and Mexico’s drug war

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Matt

I’ve just watched Mexican director Gerardo Naranjo’s superb thriller Miss Bala: the bullet queen (2011).   It’s the searing and utterly tragic tale of Laura Guerrero, a young woman from a poor family in Baja California, who enters a beauty … Continue reading →

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