Wednesday, April 27, 2022

UK-US support for Ukraine, CCP tries to buy Forbes

In UK and US military support for Ukraine, a divergent tolerance for risk. Britain wants to maximize Russia's battlefield losses and is supporting Ukraine with weapons to that effect. The U.S. is taking a more cautious approach.

The Chinese Communist Party tries to gobble up Forbes media. Beijing has its eye on a prize of Western media credibility.

Monday, April 25, 2022

Putin vs. CIA, Russia explosions

Putin threatens CIA over seemingly Kremlin-imagined assassination plot. The Russian government accuses Ukraine and the CIA of plotting to assassinate a top Russian propagandist.

Russia explosions point to Ukraine's embrace of the British special forces' way of war. The Ukrainians are hitting Russia inside its own territory.



Friday, April 22, 2022

French election

Why I hope Emmanuel Macron beats Marine Le Pen on Sunday. Neither candidate is great but Macron would be far better for French - and U.S./global - interests.



Thursday, April 21, 2022

New Zealand

Jacinda Ardern reminds us why New Zealand should be suspended from Five Eyes. Wellington's relationship with Beijing is incompatible with Wellington's continued access to high grade US intelligence.



Wednesday, April 20, 2022

A Ukrainian deliberate withdrawal strategy?, Missile test appeasement

Two reasons why the Ukrainians may, if only temporarily, conduct deliberate withdrawals around the Donbas area of conflict. It would be about minimizing the risk of encirclement while exploiting Russian weaknesses.

Biden's Defense Department: Russian missile tests are good, U.S. missile tests are bad. The absurdity of this administration's nuclear appeasement is pretty astonishing.


 


Monday, April 18, 2022

Boris Johnson's Ukraine moment

As with Vladimir Putin, Boris Johnson senses destiny in Ukraine war. He sees this as a 1940 moment which offers both personal satisfaction and a step towards Britain's post-Brexit foreign policy identity.



Friday, April 15, 2022

Russian threats over arms supplies, CIA director's speech

Why the U.S. should reject Russian threats over Ukraine arms and Scandinavian accession to NATO. A confident U.S. can deter and defeat Russia and Russia knows it.

Putin, Beijing rules, and recruiting: decoding the CIA director's first public address. Bill Burns outlined his priorities for the intelligence agency.



Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Donbas offensive, Iran threats, Russia false flag terrorism

As Russian forces mass for Donbas-Dnipro offensive, Ukraine begs Biden for more long-range weaponry. The new steps taken on Wednesday are far from sufficient.

Iran reminds the U.S. that no restored nuclear accord will cool its assassination ambitions. A top IRGC general has claimed that killing every U.S. official would still not serve as revenge for Soleimani.

from Monday...

Raising specter of false flag attacks, Russia heightens Ukraine-related terrorism alert. References to apartment buildings do not suggest that Ukrainian terrorists should be of paramount concern.



Friday, April 8, 2022

Ukraine intelligence

Biden must go to Bucha. The leader of the free world must set a leadership example in support of the nation's history and highest values.

Fooling ourselves: the U.S. may regret political use of Ukraine intelligence. There is a hard balancing act to be performed in using intelligence to underline Putin's intentions and actions versus exaggerating the intelligence.



Thursday, April 7, 2022

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

WSJ piece on Marine reforms, Zelensky heartstrings strategy

Guest piece for the Wall Street Journal: The Marines ready for war. Gen. Berger's reforms are necessary to the effective evolution of the USMC for conflict with China.

Zelensky lobbies the West to do more on Ukraine. His strategy is to pull at Western sanction heartstrings even as his forces pull at Russian combat power



Monday, April 4, 2022

Kadyrov's angst, Sanctions dithering

In Ramzan Kadyrov's criticism, a window into Putin's growing crisis. The Chechen strongman is raising increasing complaints over the Kremlin's prosecution of the war.

Biden is dithering as allies push for sanctions response against Russia. The war crimes of Russian forces deserve a more rapid and robust U.S. response.



Friday, April 1, 2022

Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands puts a China target on itself. The proximity of that nation to Australia and U.S. Navy lines of communication makes it a high value staging post for Beijing.