Heading to Holland for the week. Taking some appropriate reading to dip into.

‘President Donald J. Trump told Congress and Americans the U.S. would pursue a Golden Dome, similar to Israel's Iron Dome air defense system, designed to protect against inbound missile attacks.’ search.app/jU2uKcn9azZjR6…

Visited Fortress Hohensalzburg. Despite colossal armaments, by the Napoleonic Wars cannon made them obsolete. It was surrendered to the French without a shot. A similar revolution in military affairs may soon render aircraft carriers the same fate vis-à-vis drone swarms.

Abroad in Austria. Picked up a Reclam edition of Faust for this Sunday’s seminar. Don’t know much German beyond GCSE level, but I thought it would be good to have an original alongside an English version for comparison. These Reclam editions are beautifully simple, and cheap!

Salzburg: connections with the Expressionist poet Georg Trakl (whose poem Grodek - about his experience of WW1 - reminded me of the Futurists and Paul Nash’s We Are Building a New World), the physician and alchemist Paracelsus, and Mozart.

We’re starting with The Street of Crocodiles by Bruno Schulz this coming Saturday. Join us to find out why these short stories are described as Kafka wandering into a haunted toy shop. dgozli.com/reading-group-…

Did a fun podcast on the new book with James Simpkin (Hypervelocity podcast) and because we used my figures from the book in presentation mode, James uploaded the entire podcast to YouTube too. Link below is the same podcast but a live recording that includes the graphics... if

And here’s my recently arrived physical copy, with the questions we covered in the episode.

On Tuesday 14 October 2025 at 12pm, Dr Thomas Withington will explain the decision to activate RAF Fylingdales and the role it was to perform. This lecture will be hosted virtually. rafmuseum.org.uk/midlands/whats…

This article says the UK needs more focus on its Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) kcl.ac.uk/the-next-battl…

Mood

There are no cave paintings depicting human combat prior to the invention of the bow and arrow or spear. War is only possible through distance that dehumanises. This trend continues today through drones and ICBMs. Newton+Napoleon+Jomini = drone warfare.

£1bn investment in homeland air and missile defence, including possible directed energy weapons (lasers) on Type 45 destroyers as part of the UK’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence system. The Strategic Defence Review 2025 GOV.UK

Next Saturday (June 21) at noon Eastern Time, we will be starting a series of 11 group discussions on Michel Foucault. dgozli.com/reading-group-… Register here: patreon.com/dgozli/members… #Foucault #Philosophy #ReadingGroup