Retired LtGen Mark Hertling encountered Russian and Ukrainian service personnel over many years in various postings, in Europe and elsewhere. In a very interesting article, he outlines what he remembers of them, and how he saw the Ukrainian army become much more professional over time, while the Russian army did not. (A tip o’ the… Continue reading An interesting comparison of the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces
Tag: Military
Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics…
… and it looks like logistics professionals in the Russian armed forces were conspicuous by their absence when that country invaded Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal reports: In Ukraine, Russia began the war by mounting a complex multipronged offensive using land, air and seaborne forces. It quickly lost steam … more than 170,000 Russian… Continue reading Amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics…
Of eggs and nuclear physics
The latest XKCD cartoon made me smile, but also reminded me of the darker side of the history of nuclear physics. The mouseover text on the cartoon’s Web page reads: “The foil on the toothpick represents the blue flash”. The “blue flash” refers to what became known as the “demon core”, used in two… Continue reading Of eggs and nuclear physics
How does the war in Ukraine end? And who “wins”?
Those questions are discussed in an interesting article at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Wars sometimes start easily, but it is a tenet of strategy that they are always unpredictable and extremely hard to end. Putin’s war of choice in Ukraine is already escalating faster than most experts would have imagined just a… Continue reading How does the war in Ukraine end? And who “wins”?
Something is deeply, dangerously wrong with US biological research overseas
One of the pretexts offered by Russia for its invasion of Ukraine was to neutralize biological weapons in that nation. For several weeks, allegations from Russia to that effect have been denied, poo-poohed and played down by the West, most particularly the USA. It begins to appear as if the Biden administration has been… Continue reading Something is deeply, dangerously wrong with US biological research overseas
The Ukraine War: Four interesting perspectives
As I’ve said on several occasions, we can’t trust news reports coming out of Ukraine and Russia about the ongoing war between them. Almost everyone has an axe to grind, almost everyone is pushing a biased, subjective perspective, and almost everyone is holding back anything and everything that might reflect negatively on the side… Continue reading The Ukraine War: Four interesting perspectives
Saturday Snippet: A war for an asteroid-rich star system
I’m sure many of my readers are familiar with my “Cochrane’s Company” military science fiction trilogy. It portrays how a fledgling space security company runs headlong into a conflict with the Albanian Mafia (in space, of course) over stolen asteroids. The first volume, “The Stones Of Silence“, describes how that conflict began, and culminates… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: A war for an asteroid-rich star system
A slight miscalculation…
Found on MeWe this morning (I can’t link directly to the post – MeWe doesn’t allow that): Lt. Colonel Robert Maclaren retired from the British Army in 2001 after a long fulfilling career. On the day that he retired he received a letter from the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defence setting out… Continue reading A slight miscalculation…
Compare and contrast: two competing visions of what the US military should be
The first is from retired Marine Lieutenant-General Greg Newbold, who analyzes what he calls “Critical Military Theory“. Many Americans, particularly our most senior politicians and military leaders, seem to have developed a form of dementia when it comes to warfare. The result is confusion or denial about the essential ingredients of a competent military… Continue reading Compare and contrast: two competing visions of what the US military should be
The US military appears to be deliberately hiding the damage done by COVID-19 vaccines
Astonishing figures are coming to light about how extraordinarily damaging COVID-19 vaccines have proved to be in the ranks of the US armed forces. According to testimony delivered by attorney Thomas Renz before a Senate panel two weeks ago, they include: 279% SPIKE in Miscarriages 487% SPIKE in Breast Cancer 1048% SPIKE in the… Continue reading The US military appears to be deliberately hiding the damage done by COVID-19 vaccines