Washington Just Signed Off on This Year’s Biggest Arms Deal
America just approved an $11-billion arms sale to Qatar. U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Qatar Minister of State for Defense Affairs Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah signed the agreement at the Pentagon on July 11. It’s the largest arms sale of 2014 so far—by a wide margin.... Read more
‘Valiant Hearts’ Is a Fantastic World War I Story
A German immigrant, a French grandfather, an American widower, a Belgian nurse and a dog. These are the heroes of Ubisoft’s Valiant Hearts: The Great War—an excellent video game that gives World War I the digital treatment it deserves. So many war-themed video games are power fantasies—little more than... Read more
When You Mess With Civilian Airliners, You Mess With the World
On July 17, someone shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. Ukraine blames Russia. Russia blames Ukraine. No one is sure yet exactly what happened. But the available facts point to pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine as being responsible. It’s the latest tragedy in... Read more
Ukraine Is Crowdfunding Its Army
Everyday Ukrainians recently donated $35,000 via a crowdfunding Website to buy a small reconnaissance drone for Kiev’s impoverished military. This isn’t the first time the Ukrainian public has rooted around in the proverbial sofa cushions to buy weapons and supplies for the troops fighting Russian-backed separatists in restive eastern... Read more
Want to Listen to Spy Broadcasts? Here’s How
Hidden among the squelch and whine of the little used shortwave radio band, mysterious stations broadcast unbreakable code. Yosemite Sam threatens to blow the listener to smithereens before switching to a different frequency. An upbeat woman delivers nonsensical strings of numbers in Mandarin. A repeating broadcast of a nursery... Read more
‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Is the Summer’s Best War Film
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes includes a scene in which an ape rides a horse through flames while wielding dual machine guns. Nothing says summer blockbuster like impossible action—and Dawn brims with it. But this is more than just a popcorn-munching box-office distraction. The sequel to 2011’s... Read more
What Causes Terrorism? China Says Blame the Internet
On June 24, the state-owned network China Central Television aired a documentary about the Internet and terrorism. The film runs a spare 24 minutes and details the effects of foreign-produced “audio and video” on young radicals inside its borders. With very few caveats—all delivered by an American pundit—the documentary... Read more
‘Korengal’ Tells Soldiers’ Stories—Even the Unpleasant Parts
Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington’s 2010 documentary Restrepo follows a platoon from the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade as it deploys in Afghanistan’s remote Korengal Valley in 2007 and 2008. Restrepo is intense and honest—and the best entry in the overpopulated genre of gritty War on Terror documentaries. Now... Read more
Ukraine Is Winning the Information War—But Here’s the Bad News
Ukraine has a propaganda problem. Nearly every day, dozens of Russian news outlets spin a story about the rise of fascism in the embattled country, despite the collapse of the far right at the ballot box. “Ukraine needs to do direct marketing to convince the world we’re not—as the... Read more
Movies Are Boring—’Grave of the Fireflies’
Directed by Isao Takahata, 1988 anime classic Grave of the Fireflies. It’s the story of Seita and Setsuko, young Japanese siblings struggling to survive during the final months of World War II. Grave of the Fireflies is from Studio Ghibli, which was also responsible for the classics Spirited Away,... Read more

Matthew Gault

Contributing Editor

Kevin Knodell

Contributing Editor