Lawrence Lease
Bio
Alaska born and bred, Washington DC is my home. I'm also a freelance writer. Love politics and history.
Achievements (1)
Stories (303)
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Yemen Is About to Break In Two
Yemen has lived through revolutions, foreign interventions, famine, epidemics, and one of the world’s most devastating civil wars. Yet somehow, the country has found itself lurching into crisis once more—only this time, it’s not the Houthis dragging the nation back into chaos. Over the past several days, a powerful southern faction known as the Southern Transitional Council has launched a stunning territorial blitz, sweeping across eastern Yemen, seizing key oil fields, and conquering cities with a speed and efficiency that blindsided nearly everyone watching. The internationally recognized Yemeni government, already fragile after years of war, now teeters on the edge of outright collapse. And in the shadows, the unmistakable fingerprints of the United Arab Emirates are shaping a conflict that is rapidly evolving into a major proxy showdown with Saudi Arabia.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in History
Tokyo’s Bold Taiwan Bet
Friday, the 7th of November, was supposed to be routine business inside the Japanese Diet. Lawmakers expected a day packed with procedural questions, quiet policy disagreements, and the kind of legislative tedium that rarely makes front-page news. Instead, a single exchange detonated into an international incident that now sits at the center of East Asia’s escalating tensions. It began when Katsuya Okada of the Constitutional Democratic Party asked Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a straightforward question. Her response, however, was anything but straightforward: she declared that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could pose an existential threat to Japan — one that would compel Japanese intervention on Taiwan’s behalf.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in The Swamp
The Drone That Broke Modern Warfare
The global drone revolution isn’t quietly unfolding in laboratories or behind closed military briefings. It’s happening out in the open, across battlefields from Ukraine to Yemen to the Middle East. Nations are racing to build more drones, faster drones, and smarter drones, while criminal networks and insurgent groups turn everyday electronics into lethal tools. In the middle of all this chaos, Iran managed to create a drone so effective — and so disruptive — that it rewired military thinking across the world.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in FYI
Is Al-Sharaa’s Syria A Success?
Electricity isn’t something most of us think about. We flip a switch, the lights come on, and that’s that. But in Syria—where infrastructure has spent more than a decade in ruins—48 hours of uninterrupted electricity can feel like a revelation.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in The Swamp
The Night the Texans Ended the Chiefs Dynasty
The NFL loves chaos, and Week Whatever-This-Is delivered it in buckets. Across the league, standings flipped upside down like a bad parlay. The Rams jumped back to the top of the NFC. The Bears plummeted from the one seed all the way to seven. And in Arrowhead—home of nine straight AFC West titles—the Kansas City Chiefs walked straight into a wall built by the Houston Texans. It wasn’t subtle, it wasn’t pretty, and it absolutely mattered.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in Cleats
Netflix is Wrong, Going to the Movies is Not an Outdated Experience
Hollywood woke up Friday morning to the kind of news that makes agents skip breakfast, studio executives break into cold sweats, and industry group chats explode in all caps. After a bidding war that felt like a live-action crossover of Succession and Shark Tank, Netflix officially entered exclusive negotiations to purchase Warner Bros. for just under $83 billion. Eighty-three. Billion. Dollars. Even for an industry built on massive egos and even bigger budgets, that number rattled the room.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in Geeks
WWE Returns That MUST Happen In 2026
When wrestling fans talk about dream returns, we tend to float the obvious names — the icons, the disruptors, the nostalgia megastars who can blow the roof off an arena with one familiar guitar riff or a single raised eyebrow. But 2026 is shaping up to be a different kind of crossroads for WWE, one where strategic returns could rebuild divisions, revive midcard chaos, and give the product a much-needed jolt of the unpredictable. And look, I’m not shy about this: some departures over the last few years stung. They left holes on the roster that never quite got patched over, vibes that no one else replicated, momentum that evaporated the second those talents walked through the exit doors.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in Geeks
What NXT Stars Will Be on John Cena’s Farewell Show?
Every once in a while, pro wrestling delivers one of those rare moments where the outcome on paper completely contradicts the impact in reality. This past week at Madison Square Garden was exactly that kind of moment for Je’Von Evans. Despite losing matches on both Monday and Tuesday, he walked away looking more polished, more legitimate, and more obviously destined for superstardom than many wrestlers do after months of televised victories. It was a week built not on triumphs, but on transformation, and Je’Von Evans emerged from it as one of the most talked-about names in the industry.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in Geeks
What Happens to Child Abusers in Prison?
Some crimes are so disturbing that society can hardly speak about them without recoiling. People who harm children, the elderly, or the disabled occupy a level of infamy that sets them apart even from murderers and gang leaders. In the outside world, they’re viewed with disgust. Inside prison, that disgust transforms into something far more dangerous. What many people don’t realize is that stepping into a correctional facility doesn’t offer these offenders a clean slate or anonymity. Instead, it places them at the very bottom of a rigid social order that thrives on dominance, violence, and punishment administered from within.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in Criminal
North Korea has Infiltrated the Tech Sector.
North Korea, long known as the most sanctioned and isolated regime on Earth, has somehow managed to insert its workers into hundreds of American companies. These aren’t operatives sneaking across borders or Cold War sleeper agents hiding behind suburban picket fences. They’re remote developers who appear in Zoom meetings, clock in from supposedly legitimate addresses in Japan or South Korea or Seattle, write code that passes muster, and collect paychecks like any ordinary employee. They’ve landed roles in AI labs, fintech startups, media organizations, blockchain firms, and even defense contractors—the exact spaces most countries try desperately to secure from foreign interference.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in The Swamp
Europe Needs to Get its Shit Together. NOW
If you spent any time in left-leaning American spaces just before Thanksgiving, you probably noticed the frustration simmering beneath the surface. On November 10th, a group of Senate Democrats unexpectedly broke ranks, joined Republicans, and voted to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. They gained nothing. They protected nothing. They surrendered after weeks of chest-thumping about holding firm. For Americans on the left, it felt like their leaders had folded a winning hand without even looking at the cards.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in History
Forged in Fire: The Untold Story Behind China’s Most Powerful Leader
If you want to understand the world we’re stepping into, you have to understand Xi Jinping. That realization hit me years ago—quietly at first, and then with the force of a geopolitical earthquake. Every headline, every trade dispute, every military exercise in the Taiwan Strait, every shift in global alliances… somehow, it all traced back to a single man who, for most of his life, existed in the shadows.
By Lawrence Lease3 months ago in BookClub
