Brian O'Neill

4 weeks ago | justsecurity.org | Brian O'Neill

Since at least his first campaign, President Donald Trump has been clear in his skepticism toward NATO and his affinity for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has questioned the alliance’s relevance, cast doubt on America’s commitment to Article 5—NATO’s collective defense clause—and dismissed European allies as burdens rather than strategic partners.

1 month ago | justsecurity.org | Brian O'Neill

True to his campaign promises, President Donald Trump has wasted no time wielding the full breadth of presidential power in his first month back in office. Through a flurry of executive orders and administrative purges, Trump has targeted everything from diversity and gender policies to foreign aid programs and federal civil service protections – moves framed as efforts to rescue a sinking ship of government inefficiency and obstruction.

1 month ago | pittsburghquarterly.com | Charlie Stewart |Richard Peterson |Brian O'Neill |Bill Christine

Mention the game of squash and it will likely conjure a traditional image of men in whites, whacking a hard, hollow ball off the walls of an enclosed court in the rarefied confines of a private club, prep school or eastern college. The indoor game with the long-necked racquet and dark rubber ball hasn’t always been that way, though. Its origins derive from a similar game called “rackets,” a descendent of tennis played in the prisons of London in the early 19th century.

2 months ago | pittsburghquarterly.com | Richard Peterson |Brian O'Neill |Bill Christine |Fred Shaw

A. G. Spalding once claimed that baseball likely began with the simple act of a boy tossing a ball into the air. The poet Donald Hall, who wrote a book about Pirates maverick pitcher Dock Ellis saw this simple act evolving into “sons playing catch with fathers” and eventually into a game “on a diamond that encloses what we are.”Baseball has a way of bringing out our best by linking us together.

Jul 16, 2024 | pittsburghquarterly.com | Richard Peterson |Brian O'Neill |Bill Christine |Fred Shaw

Early in the 1974 season, with the Pirates struggling after finishing April at 6-12, Dock Ellis took the mound against the Cincinnati Reds. In spring training, Ellis vowed that he would hit the first five Reds batters because the Pirates had lost their aggressiveness and self-respect ever since their painful loss to the Reds in the 1972 National League Championship Series.