The CIA has recently released two Hollywood-style recruitment videos aimed at attracting Chinese officials and dissidents to spy for the United States. These slickly produced clips, filmed in Mandarin with Chinese subtitles, are part of a broader effort to ramp up intelligence gathering on China, which the U.S. views as a top strategic rival and…
Traditional Turkish coffee brewing. Pexels photo by Ahmed. Turkish coffee is more than just a beverage—it’s a centuries-old tradition deeply embedded in Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Mediterranean cultures. Known for its strong, unfiltered nature and rich foam, Turkish coffee is prepared using finely ground coffee beans and brewed in a special pot called a cezve…
I can’t really say clips are a better holster attachment option than loops, but there are a lot of options out there when it comes to different styles of clips. The fact that they can allow you to wear a holster and tuck your shirt in and they also can work without a belt do…
Bronze bust of the author Ian Fleming by the British sculptor Anthony Smith. Commissioned by the Fleming family to commemorate the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth in 2008. Photo credit: Fortheloveofknowledge / CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED. Cropped. Ian Fleming was more than just a novelist—he was a man whose philosophy of life shaped one of…
Colonel Edward Lansdale (second from left) with C.I.A. Director Allen Dulles and United States Air Force Chief of Staff General Nathan F. Twining and C.I.A. Deputy Director Lieutenant General Charles P. Cabell at The Pentagon in 1955. U.S. Air Force Archive. During the Hukbalahap Rebellion in the 1950s, the CIA employed psychological warfare to weaken…
By Michael Kurcina Mike credits his early military training as the one thing that kept him disciplined through the many years. He currently provides his expertise as an adviser for an agency within the DoD. Michael Kurcina subscribes to the Spotter Up way of life. “I will either find a way or I will make…
Viet Cong soldier stands beneath carrying his AK-47 rifle. He was participating in the exchange of POWs by the Four Power Joint Military Commission. Photo by SSgt. Herman Kokojan – Defense Visual Information Center. During the Vietnam War, the United States employed various forms of unconventional warfare to undermine enemy operations. Among these clandestine tactics, one of the…
He came home with powder still in his pores,the scent of cordite sunk deep in his marrow.Eyes scorched hollow by muzzle-flash nights,where blood ran quicker than thoughtand names were lost before they were spoken.His sleep is a thicket of cries cut short,a language of bone and grit,spoken once and never forgotten. Now the world wants…
This is a common scam that can turn your vacation into a nightmare. Imagine you’re enjoying a beautiful day at the beach and decide to rent a jet-ski at what seems like a reasonable price. The friendly vendor offers to hold your passport as a security deposit, and you agree. After half an hour of…
I still recall my Western Civilization teacher Mr. Archer discussing this concept when I was in the 10th grade. My father discussed it with me, about an the 1963 South Vietnamese coup d’état of President Ngô Đình Diệm and the Personalist Labor Revolutionary Party of South Vietnam. They were deposed by a group of CIA-backed…