I have resisted the urge to write much about the actual war in Ukraine up to this point for several reasons. First, I am not a military expert, although I have spoken to several retired military men to get their take on the situation since the start of the conflict. This is made easier by... Read More

When I got an email from a friend telling me that a pair of Su-57s was seen landing at the Russian Aerospace Forces base in Kheimim, Syria, I immediately dismissed it as a fake. The list of reasons why this could not be true would run for pages. I knew that, so I simply replied:... Read More

There is a popular point of view in some of Russia’s political circles, especially among those who profess monarchist views and cling to a famous meme of 1913 Tsarist Russia development statistics, that WW I was started by Germany to forestall Russia’s industrial development which would inevitably challenge Germany’s plans on domination of Europe. A... Read More

The recent announcement by President Putin of the creation of a Russian National Guard has triggered a flurry of wild speculations about the reasons behind this important move. Some experts saw that as a way to prepare a bloody crackdown against an insurrection, others have speculated that Putin needed a new force to deal with... Read More

Here are some recent videos of Russian bombings of Islamic state oil infrastructure (LOL at the guy getting out of Dodge at 0:25). And a bombing of a nicely arraigned line of oil tankers: All of which raises a rather obvious question: If this is easy as easy as shooting fish in a barrel -... Read More

As Russian fighters begin their baptism of fire in Syria, it is worth pointing out there are at least three separate wars going on here. And they're all quite distinct. (1) The Actual War Once again I urge people to familiarize themselves with a map of the Syrian conflict (e.g. here). All of Assad's most... Read More