Author: thaobh.leo@gmail.com

In the afternoon of Aug. 24, 1814, First Lady Dolley Madison wrote in her journal: “We have had a battle…near Bladensburg, and I am still here within sound of the cannon!”Within a few hours, that cannonade would come steadily closer until the British 3rd Brigade marched into Washington, D.C., virtually uncontested and proceeded to burn the city’s public buildings, including the Capitol, the chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Treasury Department and the War Office.Adm. George Cockburn himself helped his men loot the White House — who purportedly sat down and helped themselves to President James Madison’s…

Japan’s development of advanced missiles like the Type 12 anti-ship missile could be of keen interest to regional militaries. (JSDF)On 21 April, Tokyo announced it was changing rules governing the export of defence items. Under this new policy, Japanese sales of military products and developments will find increased domestic acceptance. This opens the way for exports of items such as warships, missiles and other weapons and equipment.Previous rules severely restricted or prohibited the export of most military equipment and technologies manufactured and developed in Japan. For decades, this prohibition on overseas arms sales was a key piece of Japan’s post-World…

The House on Monday passed, 346-10, a bipartisan bill that would make several reforms to an IRS whistleblower program that has recovered billions from noncompliant taxpayers. “This is real money returned to the Treasury that would otherwise have been lost,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., the measure’s sponsor, during floor remarks. “In many cases, these are complex, high-dollar schemes that would not have been identified without insider information, proving that whistleblowers play an essential role in upholding the integrity of our tax code.” The IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act (H.R. 7959) would:  Modify the standard for reviewing whistleblower award determinations in the…

Editor’s Note: this article is being republished with the permission of the Irregular Warfare Initiative as part of a republishing arrangement between IWI and SWJ. The original article was published on April 17, 2026 and is available here.  The U.S. is losing the war on sentiment in the Global South, where the world’s most economically vulnerable countries rely on larger powers for economic support and security. Russia and China have capitalized on this dynamic by seizing the economic initiative in this region, often at the expense of the U.S. To close the gap, the U.S. needs to refine its understanding of economic warfare.…

New Zealand Defence Force The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has concluded a series of maritime patrols over international waters in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, monitoring North Korean evasion of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions. 28 April, 2026 Patrols conducted by a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-8A Poseidon aircraft observed a possible ship-to-ship transfer of illicit goods, reported 35 vessels of interest and broadcast eight deterrence messages. The NZDF has been contributing to international efforts to detect sanctions evasions by North Korea – including with maritime patrols by air and sea – since 2018. New…

The year of 2026 has been treating strategy gamers unsually well. It’s one of the densest in History for high-quality releas. In this first half of the year we already received MENACE, one of the best turn-based strategy game of the last 5 years; Slay the Spire 2, which became the Task Force Admiral, which is probably the best naval wargame in history. We can still expect Star Wars: Zero Company coming later this year, Dawn of War 4 being just a couple of months away, and -of course- Heroes of Might & Magic making a comeback with Olden Era.…

Alex Chizov battles Gadzhi Rabadanov at PFL Sioux Falls on May 2nd in the co-main event. The number two is a bit of a common element here as Alex Chizov faces the number two ranked lightweight in the PFL ranks in Rabadanov. When asked to give context as to what this fight represents to him, as it is seemingly his biggest career challenge to date, Alex Chizov said [via Bowks Talking Bouts], “Yeah, listen, I’m from Latvia. It’s a small, small country in Europe. 99% of people in the world don’t even know it exists. So for me, when I…

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao made his first public remarks Tuesday as the civilian head of the Navy since the Pentagon announced Wednesday that John Phelan would be leaving the role he’d held for just about 13 months.Cao, a retired Navy explosive ordnance disposal officer and two-time candidate for Virginia congressional seats, appeared at the Modern Day Marine conference in Washington, D.C., in a time slot that Phelan had agreed to fill before his ouster.“My life changed a little bit the last six days. We’ve all had a change of command, right? You know, some with the band, some without…

By Alex Raufoglu 07:17 28.4.2026 US President Donald Trump has expressed significant dissatisfaction with the latest proposal from Tehran, primarily because the offer fails to tackle the complexities of Iran’s nuclear program, a senior US official confirmed to RFE/RL on April 27. The administration’s stance remains firm that any diplomatic breakthrough must include rigorous oversight and limitations on nuclear enrichment, according to the official. Earlier that day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump had discussed a new Iranian proposal to resolve the two-month-old war, now under a cease-fire, with his top security aides. While there was no…

Bottom lines up front WASHINGTON—On April 14, Israel and Lebanon held their highest-level talks in four decades and agreed to a temporary cease-fire (initially until April 26 and now extended for three weeks) to allow time for negotiations to run their course. The talks came only after US President Donald Trump pressured Israel to temporarily suspend attacks on Lebanon, in light of assertions by Iranian officials and Pakistani mediators that a cease-fire was necessary to continue US–Iran negotiations. Throughout the US–Iran conflict, Lebanon has repeatedly flashed in and out of the limelight as part of that broader puzzle.  Trump now…