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BUK + flechettes = contradiction
In CL’s report on the NYT’s unusual scraps of integrity in reporting on the Kostiantynivka (aka Kostyantynovka) market-place attack, the new standard story is revealed. But evidence collected and analyzed by The New York Times, including missile fragments, satellite imagery, witness accounts and social media posts, strongly suggests the catastrophic strike was the result of…
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Immutable truths and Ukraine
In geopolitics, there are a number of immutable truths. First and foremost, all nations act in their own best interests. We can all point to assorted examples but the United States exercising its foreign policy can be a brutal display of self-interest. This is magnified because the USA is (currently) the dominant force on the…
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Aftermath
Feel that chill in the air? If you think its frosty in your location, it is frozen solid between Russian President Putin and Wagner chief Prigozhin. And so it is that we are now one week after the “March of Justice” that saw Evgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group stage an uprising. But first, a few MSM…
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May you live in interesting times
You already probably know Mearsheimer’s view of the conflict, at least in respect of its cause, which he largely places at the feet of the US (and NATO) and the decision of Bush Jr. to move to have Georgia and Ukraine enter NATO. He again goes over this terrain but also looks at the prospects…
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Nicolai Petro’s The Tragedy of Ukraine
The above is an informative discussion of Nicolai Petro’s The Tragedy of Ukraine. It covers areas that haven’t been discussed in much detail in the West, generally, at least in the MSM, particularly the regional (Galician) character of Ukrainian nationalism, its origins in the 19th and early 20th Century, its attempt to establish a particular…
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The War in Ukraine: Past, Present and Future: A Conversation between Michael Vlahos and Douglas Macgregor
This is a superb discussion involving two well-placed interlocutors, who have been in the middle of international and strategic affairs for at least the last four decades. It comes in three parts. The first looks at the war in Ukraine, its antecedents, and its prospects, particular whether the situation is entering its culminating phase. The…
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Peace-Mongering, Ukraine style
News Reports and Analysis Daily Mail, 30th November, 2021 The Daily Mail reported that three gatherings of some Downing Street staff had taken place during November and December of 2020. This was the lifting of the lid on the cesspool of cynicism that characterised the political response to Covid-19 all over the Western world, with…
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Guest Post: Speedbox – Postcard from Kislovodsk Redux #2
If you like walking, you’ll love Kislovodsk. There are dozens of kilometres of walking trails in the near vicinity and into the mountains. Easy to arduous terrain depending on your preference. Mrs Speedbox has returned from Russia after a near five week visit with friends and family in Kislovodsk and nearby Pyatigorsk. Both are…
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Guest Post: Speedbox – Postcard from Kislovodsk Redux
Mrs Speedbox is back in Kislovodsk, Russia. I wasn’t able to travel due to work commitments and on this trip she will catch up with her numerous friends and the remaining relatives in the city. Our youngest Miss Speedbox has accompanied her on this occasion. In my phone/video calls with Mrs Speedbox, I have been…