A continued discussion of the NATO debacle. It is time for America to completely reassess alliances and partnership around the world starting with NATO and then working its way down the list of useless and toxic relationships and promises to commit American blood and treasure to flashpoints planet-wide. The sheer insanity of EU/SSR behavior and the total inadequacy of NATO as a military organization across the entire martial spectrum. NATO insisted after the wall 1989-91 fell that the NATO blob would NOT expand eastward. It did. America should take a non-interventionist pause and get its...
New WarNotes Podcast episode is Live Monday 24 March 2025
Ep 016 "Fixing Fight Club: Just Say No to NATO: Part Two" A continued discussion of the NATO debacle. It is time for America to completely reassess alliances and partnership around the world starting with NATO and then working its way down the list of useless and toxic relationships and promises to commit American blood and treasure to flashpoints planet-wide. The sheer insanity of EU/SSR behavior and the total inadequacy of NATO as a military organization across the entire martial spectrum. NATO insisted after the wall 1989-91 fell that the NATO blob would NOT expand eastward. It did....
Finland Pokes the Bear
President Stubb in Finland wants to expand the armed forces in Finland. Take a look at Finland on a map. Largest contiguous border with Russia in Europe. A population of 5.6 million. 5.6 million in one of the largest countries in Europe. The international border between Finland and Russia is 1,340 km long. Total Army strength is below 50k. Then Finland joins NATO, the organization that has been provoking the bear for decades. And now they discovered they are in a saber-rattling and frothing-at-the-mouth provocative EU/SSR that is begging for greater conflict with Russia. Hence all the usual...
Carrier Follies Continue Apace
The military press seems to be coming around to the conclusion that has been floated here at the Institute for quite some time. The aircraft carrier has seen its time and it is time to retire the tired and anachronistic technology. Poor concepts, design and planning; serial changes to design during construction; serious operating issues when in sea trials brings it back to be fixed; more serious defects in operations, more insufficient fixes. No one held accountable for the fraud waste and abuse that is yet another US Navy building program committing the government to contract for two more...
Ep 060 “The Military Historian’s Craft: Past Tense Imperfect”
New Chasing Ghosts Podcast episode is live Monday 17 March 2025. I am an un-credentialed amateur historian who has done very little archive work and lack the substantial infrastructure credentialed historians have to practice their craft. I have debated esteemed historians and won on stage (Daniel Walker Howe looked at my CV and did not prepare) but that doesn't make me better than them. I think my various detours in life mostly outside the formal academy gives me a unique insight into how history works and why I think I am more sober than university historians. I describe some of the...
Roast in Hell Karl Marx
On this day when Karl Marx became a good communist.
Chinese Chess Moves: A Tectonic Shift in Exquisite Platforms
If the Saab 37 Viggen and the F16 had a love child, it is the Chinese J-10C. The realignment begins, you are witnessing a tectonic shift away from US influence in all the conflict hot-spots on Earth. Meanwhile, the J-10C is equipped to fight against modern threats in air-to-air combat and strike missions with PL-10 short-range and PL-15 beyond-visual-range missiles, high maneuverability, and advanced avionics. Reports indicated that Egypt is diversifying its military suppliers to reduce reliance on the West, particularly the US. Following Pakistan’s purchase of the Chengdu J-10C in 2022,...
All Flesh is Forfeit
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Aerial robotics dominate the battlefield. For the remainder of this century, ALL flesh is forfeit in the combat theater. The Kursk Thunder Run