A girl leapt a few feet into the air and spread her arms. Not to fly, but to complete a balanced landing on a little juice box. It exploded, and the orange substance spread defeated onto the pavement of Derry, Northern Ireland. The teenager cried out in a cartoonish voice, right after a theatrical gasp:…
Killing Germs with Guns
A growing number of us, meaning us humans, will be pretty much stuck in their homes for a while. When I posted this, confirmed cases of the rather contagious and virulent Covid-19 respiratory disease has surpassed 188.000, its deaths 7.400. Policymakers and medical experts are trying hard to manage and fix this crisis. I admit…
A French Drummer at Valmy
With an image of a French drummer I sought to capture a description of the Battle of Valmy (1792) by historian David Bell, whose The First Total War is one of my favourite books. Although a military affair in practice, the engagement mostly had symbolic value and therefore political significance: “…what Brunswick [commanding the Prussians]…
Conflict is Buffering…
Coincidentally, I happened to be in Belgium visiting the old citadels of Namur and Liège when someone posed these questions to me: “What is the use of a buffer zone? And why do they still make sense given the existence of weapon systems with a long range, like ballistic missiles and jets?” Although now long…
Goats & Gods: A Trip through Israel & Palestine
Last January I went on a field trip with Radboud University to Israel and Palestine. We were about forty people, mostly students and some teachers, with the aim of witnessing the ongoing conflict. First we visited Tel Aviv and Jaffa, but we spent most of our one-week stay in Jerusalem. Especially interesting was the West…
Fighting Chaos
A friend of mine saw a couple of battle scenes from The Patriot (2000) and Barry Lyndon (1975). For the modern viewer these might indeed look somewhat absurd. He asked me: “why did those armies of the eighteenth century march on each other so slowly? And why did they stay together in tight lines?” It seemed…
Taal/Language
