Русский корабль - иди нахуй

[BamaATL 16339]

7 minutes ago, Mikey4 said:

Explain this line of reasoning to me. No one expects any other military contractor or private company to donate equipment or services for the war. The Pentagon pays for it. Why should StarLink be different? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the point you're making.

That isn't the problem, well not entirely, it's that he can turn it off on a whim.  

The other issue is why the military that far behind private industry on having this capability.  

[MisterP 127]

6 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

That isn't the problem, well not entirely, it's that he can turn it off on a whim.  

The other issue is why the military that far behind private industry on having this capability.  

ugh...gov't much? Corruption, bureaucracy, committees....In the private industry, you dont have to suck off and pay 18 different parties to get something done. Is this not common knowledge?

Edited July 30, 2023 by MisterP

[BamaATL 16339]

4 minutes ago, MisterP said:

ugh...gov't much? Corruption, bureaucracy, committees....In the private industry, you dont have to suck off and pay 18 different parties to get something done. Is this not common knowledge?

I understand all that, do you understand the danger in having only one option, and that option being controlled by someone that may have general indifference as to what is best for the country, might be a problem?   In an emergency of course, these assets could be seized and taken over for national defense purposes, but it's probably better if we develop a few other options.  

[Mikey4 2476]

13 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

That isn't the problem, well not entirely, it's that he can turn it off on a whim.  

The other issue is why the military that far behind private industry on having this capability.  

There should be a simple solution: the military enters into a contract with StarLink that requires StarLink to keep the service turned on and contains a clause that allows the government to enforce the contract  by specific performance.

 

Also, as long as StarLink is being paid, I don't know what incentive it would have to turn off the service. StarLink is a company and is in business to make money. It maximizes its return by selling a service, not by turning it off and driving customers away.

[MissingInAction 24438]

You're forgetting one major point: Elon is a raving cunt.

[MisterP 127]

12 minutes ago, BamaATL said:

I understand all that, do you understand the danger in having only one option, and that option being controlled by someone that may have general indifference as to what is best for the country, might be a problem?   In an emergency of course, these assets could be seized and taken over for national defense purposes, but it's probably better if we develop a few other options.  

I do understand and agree the danger of one option, but that isn't the reason the military isn't behind. I agree with everything. I assume you were being rhetorical in your question.

[BamaATL 16339]

19 minutes ago, Mikey4 said:

There should be a simple solution: the military enters into a contract with StarLink that requires StarLink to keep the service turned on and contains a clause that allows the government to enforce the contract  by specific performance.

 

Also, as long as StarLink is being paid, I don't know what incentive it would have to turn off the service. StarLink is a company and is in business to make money. It maximizes its return by selling a service, not by turning it off and driving customers away.

It would be easy if we could simplify this to that level (just run a straight up business), but it isn't.  Musk buys aluminum from Russia for Tesla, he has other financial considerations.  Bottom line, he's compromised by other considerations at a minimum.  This is just one of many potential ways in which he is compromised.  Mind you these are just facts and not wild accusations, there is ample reason to believe there is more to it than just that.  

Leaving him out of it, the danger of having one option run by private business is clear.  If the private business has other considerations that aren't in the nation's best interests, that's a problem.  In that scenario, it doesn't really matter who would own it, they are compromised by default.  Does that mean it can't be used, no of course not.  What it does mean, is that we need to find multiple options.  

[atomheartbevo 89096]

45 minutes ago, Mikey4 said:

There should be a simple solution: the military enters into a contract with StarLink that requires StarLink to keep the service turned on and contains a clause that allows the government to enforce the contract  by specific performance.

The government could easily shut down down SpaceX launches from American soil - Starlink is a SpaceX subsidiary,

45 minutes ago, Mikey4 said:

Also, as long as StarLink is being paid, I don't know what incentive it would have to turn off the service.

Because Elmo controls it and has publicly made it clear he’s not happy that Ukraine is doing as well as it is.  Musk doesn’t hide his Russian sympathies at all. As @BamaATL said, Elmo is compromised because he buys raw materials from Russia (and has deep financial ties to China).

45 minutes ago, Mikey4 said:

StarLink is a company and is in business to make money. It maximizes its return by selling a service, not by turning it off and driving customers away.

It’s controlled by a man who removed the “W” from the Twitter HQ’s sign because he thought “titter” is funny, and he openly courts white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and has been actively driving customers away from Twitter. I don’t know why you think he’d be any different with SpaceX, other than in theory there are adults in charge instead of him.

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

Will these new sats still be part of the starlink network, just allegedly dedicated to the us military?  Or not even that?  
 

why don’t we pressure him to provide the hardware and launch (that we pay for) for a separate network that is then owned and operated by the USA?  Or is that what this will be?

[Gatorubet 29797]

3 hours ago, KYHorn said:

Some important points made in this thread, and I imagine the Polish citizens are much more aware of this context than we are. 

 

 

 

 

 The rest of the thread is good too, but these are the significant points. He's right though: stationing nuclear weapons in Belarus prior to giving Wagner a home base gives them the protection of the threat of nuclear Armageddon and allows for the continued escalation of rhetoric that does seem to echo the justifications for the attack on Ukraine

Yeah, but what is he going to attack with?

[Gatorubet 29797]

Regarding the disturbing read, “One Soldier’s War”, about the experience in Chetsnya, the Brittanica article on the Russian Military is revealing.  IOW, same as it ever was.  

The changeover from the traditional militia-like military organization to a “European” professional army (as it developed in the course of the so-called military revolution of the 17th century) had been initiated during the reigns of Tsars Michael and Alexis. But it was Peter who gave it the full-fledged “modern” form it retained until the middle of the 19th century. The army—and, for the first time in Russia, the navy as well—was manned by recruits drawn from the peasantry (and other taxable groups) whose service obligation was for 25 years (i.e., virtually for life). Recruitment entailed liberation from serf status both for the soldier and for all his children born after his recruitment. Eventually this provided a path, however steep and narrow, for lower-class children to follow to join the ranks of petty officialdom and nobility. Submitted to cruel and savage discipline, the soldier was isolated from direct contact with the population, and his total commitment was to the state. Drilled in modern battle order and technology, the peasant recruit was forcibly “modernized,” and there are indications of some minimal influence of this on the population at large.

Edited July 30, 2023 by Gatorubet

[Schulz2.0 28657]

 

 

 

[Schulz2.0 28657]

 

 

[Gatorubet 29797]

18 hours ago, Pods said:

A katzap mortar unit

Was lined up

The fuckers are happy

Their deployment almost done

Suddenly it banged,

And their lives were cut short,

And with it all their health,

For this combat moskal.

“Katzap” is a Ukrainian slur for Russians. It’s a play on words for Billygoat, because before Peter the Great’s reforms, Russians had those long beards and goatees that you see on Russian orthodox priests.   

Naturally, a slur for Ukrainians is “Khokhol”, which refers to the Cossacks/Ukrainian hairstyle with a shaved both sides of her head, and had long hair in a ponytail in back.

IOW, disrespectful hairstyle smack not going away. 

[Rimbo 25257]

it's like calling okies "mullets"

[Gatorubet 29797]

2 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

it's like calling okies "mullets"

….400 years from now. 

[Rimbo 25257]

8 minutes ago, Gatorubet said:

….400 years from now. 

"Ya see, back then, they played football. It was a very different game then, than today. And one of the Oklahoma teams had this leader who was a man, he was 40, and he had this hairstyle. And we've called them by that ever since."

Yeah, seems kinda silly. Which is why it would catch on!

[Schulz2.0 28657]

 

 

[Pig Bellmont 8637]

2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

why don’t we pressure him to provide the hardware and launch (that we pay for) for a separate network that is then owned and operated by the USA?  Or is that what this will be?

It’s my understanding that’s basically what this will be. 

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

1 hour ago, Rimbo said:

"Ya see, back then, they played football. It was a very different game then, than today. And one of the Oklahoma teams had this leader who was a man, he was 40, and he had this hairstyle. And we've called them by that ever since."

Yeah, seems kinda silly. Which is why it would catch on!

I don't know friends, to this day, what it was that they was a doin' down there, but I have studied about it.
I think it was that it's some kindly of a contest where they see
Which bunchful of them men can take that pumpkin and run from one end of that cow pasture
To the other without gettin' knocked down or steppin' in somethin'.

[Nivek 16692]

5 hours ago, KYHorn said:

Some important points made in this thread, and I imagine the Polish citizens are much more aware of this context than we are. 

 

 

 

 

 The rest of the thread is good too, but these are the significant points. He's right though: stationing nuclear weapons in Belarus prior to giving Wagner a home base gives them the protection of the threat of nuclear Armageddon and allows for the continued escalation of rhetoric that does seem to echo the justifications for the attack on Ukraine

Maybe Putin is hoping to start a Polish/Belarus war where NATO diverts assets from Ukraine to Poland?  

[Brisketexan 103664]

Maybe Putin is hoping to start a Polish/Belarus war where NATO diverts assets from Ukraine to Poland?  

If he starts a war with Poland, there won’t be a diversion of assets. Per article 5, there will be a full-on dedication of NATO assets to wrecking any and all Russian and Belarusian shit that could be used to wage war on a NATO country. That will also benefit Ukraine. Because every fucking Russian tank, airplane, airfield, etc, is fair game.

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

4 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Maybe Putin is hoping to start a Polish/Belarus war where NATO diverts assets from Ukraine to Poland?  

Poland would be doing donuts in Minsk parking lots before nato could load it’s first rail car. 

[Nivek 16692]

2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Will these new sats still be part of the starlink network, just allegedly dedicated to the us military?  Or not even that?  
 

why don’t we pressure him to provide the hardware and launch (that we pay for) for a separate network that is then owned and operated by the USA?  Or is that what this will be?

US should use eminent domain to seize StarLink from that punk.

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

If he starts a war with Poland, there won’t be a diversion of assets. Per article 5, there will be a full-on dedication of NATO assets to wrecking any and all Russian and Belarusian shit that could be used to wage war on a NATO country. That will also benefit Ukraine. Because every fucking Russian tank, airplane, airfield, etc, is fair game.

I didn't say it was a good plan. 

[Rimbo 25257]

17 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I don't know friends, to this day, what it was that they was a doin' down there, but I have studied about it.
I think it was that it's some kindly of a contest where they see
Which bunchful of them men can take that pumpkin and run from one end of that cow pasture
To the other without gettin' knocked down or steppin' in somethin'.

It was war. The war over the red river. Seems a silly name for a river that wasn't red, but then hauling a leather pumpkin a silly way to wage war. They wore armor too, so we know it was a real fight.

[Gatorubet 29797]

 

The legalized weed grown at LSU is nowhere near this good.

[Superhero 8643]

29 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

If he starts a war with Poland, there won’t be a diversion of assets. Per article 5, there will be a full-on dedication of NATO assets to wrecking any and all Russian and Belarusian shit that could be used to wage war on a NATO country. That will also benefit Ukraine. Because every fucking Russian tank, airplane, airfield, etc, is fair game.

[Schulz2.0 28657]

 

 

[atomheartbevo 89096]

57 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Maybe Putin is hoping to start a Polish/Belarus war where NATO diverts assets from Ukraine to Poland?  

Stop sending equipment to Ukraine, because he’s trying to make them think they might need it?

[956 Worldwide 34022]

15 hours ago, butthurt said:

 

It was posted a couple of years ago but still listen to it. Plus eye candy.

The eye candy here is better but this Slovak version slaps.

 

[956 Worldwide 34022]

I love watching drones crash into Moscow office towers. I only wish we had developed the neutron bomb so we could let the Ukrainians wipe out Moscow and St. Petersburg but keep all the cool stuff. 

[FartingMonk 3604]

12 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I love watching drones crash into Moscow office towers. I only wish we had developed the neutron bomb so we could let the Ukrainians wipe out Moscow and St. Petersburg but keep all the cool stuff. 

Sarin would work

[TexasEd 8030]

2 hours ago, Nivek said:

Maybe Putin is hoping to start a Polish/Belarus war where NATO diverts assets from Ukraine to Poland?  

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

The official response of the Polish government was that the gesture had been an involuntary muscle spasm caused by his exertion.
 

 

lol

[Kdub 498]

I have used that gesture and seen that gesture many times when I lived in Italy

[Schulz2.0 28657]

 

 

 

[MillerEP 30277]

[Gatorubet 29797]

56 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I love watching drones crash into Moscow office towers. I only wish we had developed the neutron bomb so we could let the Ukrainians wipe out Moscow and St. Petersburg but keep all the cool stuff. 

IOW, Ivan says, “ I’m just burning doing the neutron dance!”

[NAVY 6711]

1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I love watching drones crash into Moscow office towers. I only wish we had developed the neutron bomb so we could let the Ukrainians wipe out Moscow and St. Petersburg but keep all the cool stuff. 

Damn dude. Going all repo man on this shit 

 

[NeverMarryAStripper 21766]

1 hour ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I love watching drones crash into Moscow office towers. I only wish we had developed the neutron bomb so we could let the Ukrainians wipe out Moscow and St. Petersburg but keep all the cool stuff. 

The US developed several versions of enhanced radiation weapons that were deployed operationally on tactical ballistic missiles.  The last ones were retired in the 90s.

 

 

[Schulz2.0 28657]

 

Dude in the Sumy Oblast had a T-80 hidden in his backyard.

 

[Scheiss Meister 8322]

8 minutes ago, Schulz2.0 said:

Dude in the Sumy Oblast had a T-80 hidden in his backyard.

 

Like I said in this thread about a year ago, there are going to be awesome barn finds in Ukraine for years.

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

This is my tank. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My tank is my best friend. It is my life.  I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my tank is useless. Without my tank, I am useless. I must fire my tank true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy, who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will. Before God I swear this creed: my tank and myself are defenders of my country, we are the masters of our enemy, we are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace. Amen.

[MillerEP 30277]

[Pato del Muerto 52120]

There’s a hammer and sickle emoji graphic thing?

[Rimbo 25257]

14 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

There’s a hammer and sickle emoji graphic thing?

they got emojis for everything except my avatar

[Kel Varnsen 8327]

Ascii Alt+9773 ☭

[BamaATL 16339]

1 hour ago, Scheiss Meister said:

Like I said in this thread about a year ago, there are going to be awesome barn finds in Ukraine for years.

Some History Channel executive just busted a nut thinking about having Ukrainian Pickers a few years from now.  

[Armybrat 40562]

2 hours ago, Kdub said:

I have used that gesture and seen that gesture many times when I lived in Italy

It was commonly used in Mexico when I lived there in the early 1960s.

[Rimbo 25257]

Phillips P O'Brien's weekend Substack

Quote

Counteroffensive Update (don't assume this is the main effort): Drones attack Moscow-why?: Why its matters that analysis was flawed--its about the future.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

	Open in app or online Weekend Update #39 Counteroffensive Update (don't assume this is the main effort): Drones attack Moscow-why?: Why its matters that analysis was flawed--its about the future. Phillips P. OBrien Jul 30     Share   Good Morning Everyone. Even though there were alot of quite dramatic headlines over the week about the Ukrainian counteroffensive (first very pessimistic and then rather bubbly), and some claims that the Ukrainians were committing their reserves, I do wonder if indeed what we really say was a modest uptick in effort as the Ukrainians are actually continuing on their campaign of the last 5 weeks. Also, this morning there were pictures of (what we assume to be) Ukrainian drones attacking Moscow. This campaign is an interesting one, and I think I have an idea why they are doing it. Finally, I had an article out in Foreign Affairs, which discussed the importance of resetting our understanding of what matters in war. Its been extremely widely read, but some seem to resent it. The importance of the piece, as I will hopefully make clear, is not to simply cast blame on failure, its to push a new understanding so such mistakes are not made in the future. Ukrainian Troops in Liberated Staromayorske Phillips’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid Counteroffensive Update (don't assume this is the main effort) A week ago there were, once again, some very pessimistic stories about the Ukrainian counteroffensive. They stressed the slow geographic progress of Ukrainian forces, Ukrainian losses, etc etc. You can find them if you want. However, early in the week, the narrative shifted quite markedly. It became clear that Ukrainian forces had been making consistent (if modest) advances. Maybe the immediate catalyst for this was a CNN report of July 26, quoting unnamed Pentagon officials who said that Ukraine was committing more forces to the counteroffensive and may have identified weak points in the Russian line. You can read that report here if you want. https://edition.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-07-26-23#h_5a637916a55861db6e5fc0e39875caec At that point, stories started coming on of some Ukrainian advances in Zaporizhzhia oblast. One of the issues seems to have been that there had been some Ukrainian advances, but the quiet (and bad weather) had made difficult to track them. The New York Times added to the news by saying that the ‘main’ effort of the counteroffensive might have commenced. NYT https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/07/26/world/russia-ukraine-news Then things really took off. President Zelensky certainly fanned the flames with his deliberately coy statement on July 26 that some ‘very good news’ was coming in from the offensive. https://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/duzhe-vazhlivo-sho-zuhvalist-ciyeyi-ataki-rosijskih-terorist-84521 The specifics of the good news was made clear a few hours later when it was stated that the small town of Staromaiorske had been liberated. This had been a town the Ukrainians had been aiming at for a while (see Deep State map) cahttps://deepstatemap.live/en#6/49.438/32.053ption... There were even these videos—which Zelensky tweeted out with the rather stirring caption. Our South! Our guys! Glory to Ukraine! https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1684627441610891265?s=20 And since then—once again things seem to have quieted down. We hear only little of new Ukrainian advances (which Im sure means that pessimistic stories will start up again soon). I do think we need to be very cautious in thinking that this development represents anything like the main effort of the Ukrainians. It could just as easily represent a small ramp up of the efforts of the Ukrainians over the last few weeks—and again it has not yet been confirmed how many of the brigades Ukraine has in reserve (which is considerable) have been committed to battle. I have heard from some pretty reliable people that a very large force of reserves still remains to be committed. I will go back to what I said last week—Ukraine is actually not under any immediate time pressure to step up ground attacks, and they will only do so if they really feel there is a weak spot in the line. Actually, Ukraine continues to making major efforts doing what it has been doing for weeks—trying to damage Russian artillery resources, from the systems to the logistics. They are clearly still trying to weaken Russian defensive capabilities before going forward in masse. The data seems to show that clearly. https://twitter.com/HerrDr8/status/1685274926415028225?s=20 Also the logistics campaign continues apace. The Ukrainians are going after connections to and from Crimea, and seem to have damaged railway and road connections. https://twitter.com/HerrDr8/status/1685274926415028225?s=20 Before leaving the counteroffensive, I wanted to highlight a story by Michael Weiss and Jimmy Rushton, in case you missed it. Its a powerful refutation to the idea that the counteroffensive should be a failure—by looking at Russian sources. What they show, is an extremely high level concern in Russian circles at what the Ukrainians are doing and how Russian forces are weakening. Its a very different picture that many have given. Btw, both Michael and Jimmy deserve your attention regularly, they are two of the absolute best reporters on the war. In this case, their story is entitled: The Russians See Ukrainian Progress Where Others Do Not. Its really worth a close read. https://newlinesmag.com/argument/russians-see-ukrainian-progress-where-others-dont/ Drones attack Moscow-why? You may have woken up this morning to reports of Ukrainian UAVs attacking Moscow buildings. https://twitter.com/Euan_MacDonald/status/1685553125900304384?s=20 Now the Ukrainan attacks on Moscow began months ago, as it seems very very likely that it was the Ukrainians who were responsible for the UAV attack on the Kremlin in early May. UAV attack on Kremlin, May 3, 2023 On the one hand these attacks seem very un-Ukrainian. They are of very limited military value. Its hard to see how they would effect the ability of the Russians to wage war. When they May attack first occurred, I doubted that the Ukrainian did it for precisely that reason. I didn’t see how it helped them win the war. I think now I (might) have a little idea of what they are thinking. The Ukrainians do seem convinced that the stability of the Russian state is weak. The Prigozhin mutiny probably turbocharged that belief. What they are probably thinking is that this will be extremely embarrassing for Putin—who cant even protect his capital from attack. Its a political campaign aimed at weakening Russian beliefs in the effectiveness of their own state and (the hope I guess) is that this will lead to the collapse of the Putinist state. When I was in Ukraine, it was regularly stated that they believed the Putinist state could implode—and it seems that they are trying to accelerate the process. That is the only way this campaign makes sense (to me at least). Why its matters that analysis was flawed--its about the future I published the second article in Foreign Affairs this week arguing that we need to reassess how we understand power and war in light of the Russo-Ukraine war. This one was directed at how war was understood. The reception has been very positive. Its the most read piece in Foreign Affairs, and seems to be sparking a great deal of discussion. The article was entitled, The War that Defied Expectations. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/war-defied-expectations Needless to say not everyone was happy. There have been some complaints that I should not be concerned with the great mistakes of the analysis of pre Feb 24, 2022 Russian and Ukrainian military power—and the shape of the war they would fight. The argument seems to be—everyone makes mistakes, so lets move on. I think this is extremely wrong headed, because the mistakes were so profound, we must learn from them—so that this is not repeated in the future, when the results could be even more disastrous. Ultimately we need to study the analysis and learn from it for 3 main reasons. If the expert community so drastically misunderstood what it was looking at, that calls into question the whole way the community operates. Its not good enough to say—everyone makes mistakes, lets move on. These are supposedly expert communities, that brief policy makers, are quoted widely in the news, and help set the public agenda. Its needs to be questioned and interrogated when it makes such major mistakes. The impact of those mistakes did not magically end on Feb 25, 2022. The vision given of Russian and Ukrainian power, and how war would be fought had for a long time (and in many ways still does) influence the kinds of aid Ukraine has been given. Even today there remains a large chorus of those saying Russia cant lose, and therefore Ukraine should be forced to take a bad deal. The most important issue—similar mistakes going forward could have even more catastrophic results. As the article hopefully made clear, war was presented as fast and to a large degree straightforward. Russia was said to have the capacity to achieve its goals and devastate the Ukrainian armed forces in relativel short order. This is almost never the case—war is rarely decisive and is frankly normally a catastrophic mess. Any war in Asia-Pacific is likely to be this on steroids. We need to talk about such a war in a far more sophisticated and realistic way. I went into that in more detail in this post.   The Failure to Understand War--A Call for a Reassessment Phillips P. OBrien   ·   Jul 27   Hi Everyone, The midweek update this week is about War—and more precisely how there needs to be a larger discussion of what matters within it. Ive been waiting to write about the subject until this article appeared in Foreign Affairs—it just appeared a few hours ago.   Read full story   Final point on this piece. There have been some queries on the quotes in the piece. All I can say is the Foreign Affairs fact checks and approves all quotes to the highest possible standard. They work extremely hard and we discussed the entire article in detail. All the quotes were approved and I stand by them unreservedly. Have a great rest of the weekend!   You're currently a free subscriber to Phillips’s Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. Upgrade to paid   Like   Comment   Restack   © 2023 Phillips P. OBrien 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104 Unsubscribe