Demonstrating Capacity and Drawing Red Lines — The world is digital. Everything is wired and connected. From the personal to the professional to the political, every element of modern society runs through the internet. There are innumerable benefits to this interconnectivity. And innumerable risks. Those risks have come into sharp relief over the last decade with the…

And Now I Read Much Better Content — Day after day after day my Medium daily digest and homepage were inundated by articles and essays by the same group of “top writers” on Medium. I don’t intend to name any of these individuals, but anyone who has been on this platform long enough will know who many of…

Another Invasion Stalled After Poor Planning — Warning: this article contains graphic images In 2019, I wrote an essay analyzing the Winter War, the Soviet Union’s bloody but ultimately successful invasion of Finland during the winter of 1939–40. …

Can you please just all have the same opinion on everything? It makes it much easier to stereotype you and to claim to speak on your behalf. — Dear BIPOC, what gives? According to the 2021 census estimates, you represent 40% of the population, about 132 million people. Can’t you find some common ground? Why is it so hard for you to cast aside any semblance of individuality and embrace groupthink? You now have this absolutely nifty and…

We Can’t Force People to do What’s Best for Themselves, but We Can Force Them to Face the Consequences of Their Actions — The emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020 has unleashed innumerable tragedies, among them: too many needless deaths, too much lost learning time for students, too much economic upheaval and suffering for people across the world. The initial American response, one of denial, lies, and the promotion of false cures was…

The Tragedy of the Warsaw Uprising — In the summer of 1944, the Red Army was relentlessly pushing west, driving the Germans out of Russia and back into eastern Europe. As the Soviets approached Poland, the London-based Polish-government-in-exile faced a difficult military-political situation. How could they time their own uprising against their German occupiers in a manner…

Leaning into Labels Obscures our Shared Humanity — Anyone remotely in touch with the American socio-political zeitgeist knows that identity has become the singular lens through which many people view themselves, each other, and the world. In the current moment, nothing is more important than — perhaps nothing matters but — a person’s identity. To an extent, this…

I knew a boy His name was Roy He grew up down The street We’d run and play We’d hang all day With his family I’d often eat We’d go wild or study Become smarter or muddy As we neared The inevitable end Tall and strong Like a Springsteen song We grew…