The tragedy of the American military. James Fallows blasts Americans’ willingness to “do anything for the military except take it seriously.”

The great civil-military freakout. Adam Elkus counters those that seem to “yearn for total mobilization of some sort as a desirable political end.”

Atoning for a genocide. Raffi Khatchadourian reports from Diyarbakir almost a century after the beginning of the Armenian genocide.

Saying goodbye to Tom Coburn. Jonathan Coppage remembers the record of the fiscal hawk from Oklahoma as he retires from the Senate.

The best worst foreign policy quotes of 2014. Micah Zenko rounds up twenty of the most ridiculous statements from politicians and policymakers.

Reviving Babylonian music. Newsweek reports on Stef Conner’s attempt to reconstruct ancient Babylonian songs.

Poet’s corner in Wales. The Economist’s Prospero blog profiles the town of Laugharne where Dylan Thomas spent some of the more productive years of his life.

Marco Polo falls flat in Asia. Bethany Allen-Ebrahamian reports on the mostly negative Chinese and Mongolian reactions to the new Netflix series.