Showing 1 - 10 of 42
Isis thwarted
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 26/12/2019
» Until the 20th century, jihadists had no bones to pick with the US. Their ire was directed at the UK and France who coveted their lands, and the Jews trying to carve out their own. They got good press when T.E. Lawrence led the Arabs against the enemy Ottoman Turks. The silent film The Sheik romanticised them. The Riffs were favoured in their uprising against Spain. They didn't participate in the North African campaign in World War II.
Excellent research
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 07/10/2016
» Though over for three-score-and-10 years, with many of its combatants gone to the Happy Hunting Ground, the World War II is still being written about and regurgitated in film. Little wonder, as tens of millions of soldiers and civilians were killed in it, courtesy of the Fuhrer and General Tojo.
The kids aren't alright
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/11/2019
» Crime is not limited by gender or age. Men, women and children can all end up behind bars for committing criminal acts. Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Many jurists advocate that laws be reconsidered periodically to determine whether they are still applicable. Some turn into the Blue Laws of yore, still on the books but no longer enforced. Others get overturned.
Weapon of choice
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 25/04/2019
» In my army days, we were issued used M1 rifles. They were heavy and either had hair triggers or they had to be pulled way back before firing, by which time the target had moved.
The end is nigh
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 28/03/2019
» It has been determined that we've been around for 4.5 billion years, Earth the only habitable planet in the solar system.
A crisis of faith
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 21/04/2017
» While martyrdom indicates the intensity of belief in, not the truth of, a religion, religious wars have been bloody throughout human history. Though not regarded as a war of religion, six million Jews died in the Nazi Holocaust. Christianity in general, Catholics in particular, experienced persecution for centuries.
Choosing sides
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 08/12/2017
» Not long ago a historian calculated that throughout human history there has been a total of fewer than 25 years of peace. There were wars somewhere on the planet the rest of the time. The clear meaning is that homo sapiens are a violent, bloodthirsty lot.
Indian pirates
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 26/10/2017
» Pirates have been around as long as people travelled and traded by sea. A young Julius Caesar was among their prey two millennia ago. The fledgling US Navy pulverised those on the Barbary Coast two centuries ago. Still the pirates persevere -- from the Somali variety to those in the Pacific.
A new sleuth
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 15/09/2017
» Society is based on the deal that in return for protection and security, the authorities have permission to define our rights, inalienable and otherwise. Laws and regulations apply. Nothing is more disconcerting than when they overstep their limits.
Roman Britain
Life, Bernard Trink, Published on 10/03/2017
» Ancient Rome's legions -- approximately 5,500 men each -- were rightly famed for their fighting skills. Overlooked is that they were more than warriors. Incomparable engineers, they built fortresses that still stand, and constructed roads and aqueducts.