Clifford Beal

Clifford Beal is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Exeter University and the former editor-in-chief of Jane’s Defence Weekly

Bring back shortwave!

Aeschylus is credited first for the time-worn aphorism that in war, truth is the first casualty. But in the next major conflict, truth could find itself joined by virtually all information.  As a society at war, we face becoming blind, deaf and dumb once the balloon goes up. Britain and most western countries have put

How the fight against terror in Afghanistan will change

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the West entered a new age: it was the era of the ‘shadow war’, in which American – and Western – might was ranged at preventing the export of terrorism from the Middle East. That was, of course, before the futile exercise of ‘nation building’ in Afghanistan and