It’s Time to Learn How to Blow Things Up Again


Western governments’ rapidly growing defense spending sounds like a straightforward equation: More spending equals more weapons.

But skilled weapons workers are in short supply, especially explosives experts, and without a sufficiently big bang behind them, even the most sophisticated weaponry is pointless. But blowing things up is not learned in a quick crash course. We need more explosives professors.

Read more…
Source: Foreign policy


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