For most of my adult life, I’ve learned history almost exclusively by reading books. I took American and World history in high school and two quarters of American history in college, but after that, I became a history autodidact. I’ve written several book reviews (and published three of them), but this is the first course review I’ve written.In a footnote to an article on Ukraine in New York Review of books by British historian Timothy Garton Ash, he...
Read More »Speech on “Ukraine: Tactical Nuclear Weapons”
My Lords, I am grateful, as we all are, to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, for initiating this debate and for drawing attention to the real danger of nuclear escalation. I am in profound disagreement with the Government’s policy on Ukraine—I have said it before in this House and I shall say it again. This disagreement can be stated in one sentence: the Government’s policy is a war policy; I support a peace policy. I shall try to justify that. The then Foreign...
Read More »The Hard Truth About Long Wars: Why the Conflict in Ukraine Won’t End Anytime Soon
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, few observers imagined that the war would still be raging today. Russian planners did not account for the stern resistance of Ukrainian forces, the enthusiastic support Ukraine would receive from Europe and North America, or the various shortcomings of their own military. Both sides are now dug in, and the fighting could carry on for months, if not years. Why is this war dragging on? Most conflicts are brief. Over the last two centuries, most wars...
Read More »Too Poor for War
Nov 8, 2022 ROBERT SKIDELSKY and PHILIP PILKINGTON Decades of deindustrialization have hollowed out the UK economy and made it woefully ill-prepared for wartime disruptions. As the financial speculators who funded its current-account deficits turn against the pound, policymakers should consider Keynesian taxes and increasing public investment. LONDON – A wartime economy is inherently a shortage economy: because the government needs to direct resources toward manufacturing guns, less...
Read More »Germany’s position in America’s New World Order
Germany has become an economic satellite of America’s New Cold War with Russia, China and the rest of Eurasia. Germany and other NATO countries have been told to impose trade and investment sanctions upon themselves that will outlast today’s proxy war in Ukraine. U.S. President Biden and his State Department spokesmen have explained that Ukraine is just the opening arena in a much broader dynamic that is splitting the world into two opposing sets of economic alliances....
Read More »Are North Korean Workers Going To Annexed Portions Of Ukraine?
Are North Korean Workers Going To Annexed Portions Of Ukraine? Maybe. An October 21 report in NK Daily says so, with further speculation on this matter on blogs that cover North Korea. Supposedly Kim Jong Un agreed to this with V.V. Putin in their most recent meeting. The number supposedly to be around 800-1,000, with the NK Daily report saying that they have actually been selected. Russia, China, and North Korea somehow agreeing that having...
Read More »Managing escalation risk and arming Ukraine
The desire to manage escalation risk – especially the risk of a nuclear attack – has clearly led the United States to withhold weapons from Ukraine. We may also be slow-walking delivery of weapons or limiting quantities to reduce escalation risk, although perceived delays could be due to training and logistics issues or our own readiness concerns; even experts disagree about this. The Ukrainian attack on the Kerch bridge and the Russian...
Read More »Mark Hertling gives us a lesson in charitable interpretation
Mark Hertling is one of the people I follow on Ukraine. He is a staunch advocate for arming Ukraine, but he recently had a tweet thread defending what some see as the overly cautious and slow approach taken by the United States. Here are some tweets from his thread: Warning: This will NOT be a popular thread. I anticipate a high degree of pushback from those who follow me. But…I thought it might be useful to provide some thoughts as to why the...
Read More »Ukraine takes out key Russian supply bridge. Russia looks increasingly impotent.
What's Scott Ritter, Andre Maryanov, Col Douglas MacGregor going to say about this?Russia's air defense is totally absent. Western arms supply is making a big impact.WTF are the Russians doing?Ukraine takes out key bridge, "destroying" Russia's plans for south advancement.https://www.foxnews.com/world/ukraine-takes-out-key-bridge-destroying-russian-plans-south-advancement
Read More »How to cut short the long slog in Ukraine
James Stavridis, the former NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, recently predicted that the Russia-Ukraine conflict would end this year. Some experts, such as Stavridis, expect a stalemate and frozen conflict. Others hope for negotiations to begin. After all, this is what usually happens. War is brutally expensive and exhausting, so most conflicts are brief. Over the last century, the average war was just 100 days long. Unfortunately, some wars last because sustaining the...
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