Eighteen years before the King of France attacked and destroyed the Templar Order, King Denis of Portugal signed the Concordat of Fourty Articles with Pope Clement V swearing to protect the Roman Catholic Church's interests in Portugal. So while the French King was trying to destroy the Church's power in France, the Portuguese King was committing its loyalty to the Church. Importantly, in 1317, ten years after the Templars were arrested in France, King Denis started the formation of the Portuguese Navy. Two years later he created the "Order of Christ", which was formed from surviving Templars ..read more

In 1099, Christian armies of western Europe, captured the Holy Land (Israel) from the Muslims. European pilgrims began visiting Israel, and especially Jerusalem, shortly thereafter. In 1113 the Knights Hospitaller was founded as a Catholic military order. Its full name was Knights of the Order of the Hospital of Saint John in Jerusalem. In 1113 the Knights of Malta, known as the Knights Hospitaller, established a hospital in Jerusalem to care for pilgrims. In that same year Pope Paschal II officially recognized the monastic community as a lay religious order. In 1118 French knight Hugues de Pa ..read more

Solomon's Gold: 1400 years before the Romans buried the Temple relics and Jesus on Oak Island, on the other side of the world, King Solomon was beginning his rule of Israel. Solomon, being the son of King David, was instructed on the value of diplomacy and treaties between nations by his father. King David was a warrior, but he developed strong regional friendships as well, such as Hiram, King of Tyre (ancient city in Lebanon). It's interesting that such a friendship would be possible considering Hiram worshipped Baal, which the Jews were instructed by the Lord in the Old Testament was evil a ..read more

I began my research into the Oak Island mystery with an open mind, and trying to incorporate all the historically known facts into a comprehensive solution to the mystery: who started it; what did they hide; why did they hide it; and how to retrieve it. For the most part, my focus at the beginning was where is it and how do you access it. That mushroomed into a journey going back 2000 years, and I've decided that covering it in a series of blogs doesn't do the real story justice.  Let's just say it started with the Romans going into Viking long-discovered territory, and burying the Ark of ..read more

  Lessons of war: every war is different, yet the basics remain the same - isolate and destroy. There is a hard way and their is an easier way to defeat your opponent. There is the art of war, and their is the wall of reality. The Ukrainians have shown more creativity and initiative in the art of war - likely through the eyes of their backers. The Russians started the war with a lot of imagination and initiative, but hit the wall of reality that splitting your forces is the best way to have them devoured - the wall of reality. They were forced to recoil, and the Ukrainians simply fol ..read more

 It's been just over a year since Russia launched its "Special Military Operation" against Ukraine, and what a year it has been. Many mistakes have been made by both sides, and if NATO had not intervened to supply Ukraine with weapons, and just as importantly money, this war would have been over in three months at the most. In particular, shoulder fired anti tank weapons paralyzed the Russian advance, which due to the time of year, was reduced to funneling along road ways which became killing zones. The Russians, having lost the initiative of a quick lightening attack, became overstretche ..read more

David Robinson (Dave), my big brother. For most of my life I did not know Dave existed. You see Dave was a war child. My father served in the Canadian Forces during WWII, and he met Dave's Mom there early in the war. My Dad was underaged ( a lot more than they knew) so he had to have his commanding officer's permission to marry Dave's Mom, which was finally granted. Dave was born thereafter. I didn't know about Dave's Mom until after Dad had died, but I did recall the story my Dad used to tell of being in a field with a girl friend when the sky darkened with German bombers flying low ov ..read more

It's fashionable, even expected, to pour scorn on the current President of the United States - Donald Trump. Of course, he brings It upon himself with his unmatched egotistical meanderings. That being said, there is a definite method behind his madness that eludes most political commentators. What Trump is very deliberately doing, albeit from many different directions, is attacking China's attempt to replace the United States as the preeminent economy with the world's new reserve currency. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, China has taken a different tact in its march to world supremacy - th ..read more

  Nine months into the war between Russia and Ukraine, and to say it has been topsy turvy would be an understatement. Russia began the attack on Ukraine with a five-pronged assault, which was clearly aimed at forcing the Ukrainian government into a quick capitulation on Russian terms. However, Russia picked the wrong time of the year to go on the offensive which, when combined with western anti-armor missiles and satellite intelligence proved to be the impediments to Russia's victory. Russia's war on Ukraine has been akin to "what not to do" when invading a foreign country. A very cru ..read more

 The Russian invasion of Ukraine has three primary goals: geo-strategic; strategic; and tactical. The geo-strategic goal is decouple Russia from the Western economy and integrate heavily with China and other Eurasia leaning nations. The invasion of Ukraine resulted in massive sanctions as promised by Western powers, and as a result Russian President Putin was able to get his population on board with decoupling. Putin's moves to bolster the Ruble by requiring for purchases of oil and gas is a good example of this. On the geo-strategic front it is clear that Russia has won the war. The p ..read more