Category: Ukraine

Is the West fumbling security?

I urge you to watch the video below, in which Jonathan Fink interviews … Dr Benjamin Tallis. It’s a fascinating, and I think important, conversation.

Image from Wikimedia

I never thought I would say this. But I approve of some of Boris Johnson’s actions. But let me be a bit more specific; I disapprove strongly of almost everything he did as Prime Minister, but there is one exception:

I like the way he stood up to Russia and clearly understood that enabling Ukraine to win and standing firm against Russia’s objectives and actions was necessary to Europe’s (and the UK’s) long term safety. Although that is all in the past now, we should still be analysing the European situation as it is today, and facing it by planning and acting wisely in our own and our neighbour’s best interests.

With that in mind, I urge you to watch the video below, in which Jonathan Fink interviews the researcher, political analyst, member of the RUSI think tank and author, Dr Benjamin Tallis. It’s a fascinating, and I think important, conversation. The thinking exposed by the interview is crucial to the survival of our way of life in a very dangerous world.

See also:

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Writing with feathers

Yara has a lovely way with words, especially when you consider that she had to learn English first. Or maybe she expresses herself in a Ukrainian way that English speakers don’t expect.

Here’s more from Yara in Kyiv and her weekly Sunday messages. She stays strong and determined, reporting on events, Ukrainian art and literature, sharing photos and sometimes a video.

I wanted to mention Yara from Ukraine again (aka StrategyWoman) because I’d like you, my readers, to better understand what she and others in Ukraine have to deal with every day. Normal for Ukrainians is not the same as normal in the West – far from it. Yara lives in Kyiv, hears the drones and missiles coming in every night, and the air raid sirens. Her life is not like yours (unless, perhaps, you also live in Ukraine or another country under attack).

Here in the UK, and in western nations more generally, most of us have experienced nothing like this since the Second World War, and you would need to be very old to recall those times.

Yara does not ask us to rescue her, that would be to misunderstand her completely. She wants to live in her own country, not escape to somewhere more peaceful (but nor would she blame those who have left Ukraine). What she does hope for is that we in the west won’t forget about Ukraine.

To guard against our forgetting, she posts weekly messages on Sundays. These provide news, but they are always illustrated by beautiful artworks and photos, and she usually explains something from her daily life and from those around her.

Yara has a lovely way with words, especially when you consider that she had to learn English first. Or maybe she expresses herself in a Ukrainian way that English speakers don’t expect. However that may be, her words are fresh in innovative and interesting turns of phrase. For example:

Every support adds a feather to my wings. Yeah, I use these feathers to write you letters.

And she included the picture of feathers in a nest along with the words above.

If you’re willing to read her Sunday letters you are unlikely to be disappointed. For starters, read her 27th October letter for yourself. Even better, sign up to receive her letters regularly, the links are on Yara’s page. Sign up for free, but if you like what you find, do consider supporting her as well.

Jonathan Fink

Silicon Curtain will expand your knowledge and background of the war as well as current events as they unfold. He posts frequently so the interviews are bang up to date.

Jonathan Fink is deeply interested in Russia’s illegal and barbaric invasion of her neighbour, Ukraine. He interviews all sorts of interesting, knowledgeable, and influential people in depth on his channel Silicon Curtain.

The background

Jonathan speaks at length with western politicians, retired army generals, Ukrainian commentators, visionaries, exiled Russians, and more. His interviews are always fascinating and he draws his guests out, always kind and measured, but also always probing and perceptive. Silicon Curtain is well worth watching and will expand your knowledge and background of the war as well as current events as they unfold. He posts frequently so the interviews are bang up to date.

With Mark Galeotti

Here he is, for example, talking with Mark Galeotti, a British historian, academic, and writer as well as being a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).

With Chuck Pfarrer

And here interviewing Chuck Pfarrer, a retired US Navy Seal team leader and a respected military analyst and commentator, author and more.

Do take time to browse Silicon Curtain, you will find interviews on every aspect of the conflict here with experts who know their topics really well.

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‘Gradually, then suddenly’

Nobody can predict when the crash will come. But I believe General Hodges is right when he suggests that current events in Kursk are unlikely to be the only surprise.

What is going to happen next in Russia’s war against Ukraine? We don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see. But it’s possible to make some broad predictions even without knowing the facts.

General Ben Hodges, speaking about Vladimir Putin and the Russian Army’s current floundering against Ukraine, quoted Ernest Hemingway :

How did you go bankrupt?

Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.

Ernest Hemingway – ‘The Sun also Rises’
The Kursk incursion – ISW

This is certainly true of Russia, they are wasting their soldiers, wasting their equipment, the economy is sliding out of control, and the population is now beginning to hear the very bad and disturbing news from Kursk Oblast (click the map for a larger version).

And it’s just as true for Putin personally. His moral bankruptcy in Russia and in the world at large is going to catch up with him. Abraham Lincoln’s famous words are relevant here: ‘You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.’

The truth has a way of coming out, and it often chooses very bad moments to do so!

Nobody can predict when the crash will come. But I believe General Hodges is right when he suggests that current events in Kursk are unlikely to be the only surprise Ukraine will spring on all of us, perhaps in the near future or maybe a little while later.

We’re still in the ‘gradually’ stage. But for Russia and for Putin the ‘suddenly’ phase will surely follow.

Watch the interview with Ben Hodges
Kyiv Post interview with General Ben Hodges

The Kyiv Post interviewed Ben Hodges on 21st August 2024, answering a series of questions about Ukraine’s recent activity in Russia’s Kursk Oblast, as well as some more general questions.

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Image of the day – 29

Tree roots probe small cracks and as they grow, heave even heavy structures aside.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every day (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

Silver birch

Today’s image shows a piece of ground lightly covered with silver birch; but the history of this area is interesting. During the war it was an RAF airfield (RAF Riccall) with runways, brick and concrete buildings, bomb stores and more. The airfield was in used from 1944 to 1958, and today the brick structures are collapsing, the runways have cracked and are mostly covered by layers of moss, grass and other low vegetation, and the other areas have become scrubland and lightly wooded areas as shown in the photo.

This clearly illustrates how much time and maintenance effort is required to hold back the natural world from recolonising our built infrastructure. What begins with the typical grass and weeds of cultivated ground soon becomes an impenetrable mass of brambles and young trees. As they grow larger, the trees shade out the brambles, and fallen leaves cover the concrete and tarmac and accumulate as fresh soil. Tree roots probe small cracks and, as they grow, heave even heavy structures aside. It’s a fascinating process. Skipwith Common, with the old airfield on its north-western edge, is representative of Yorkshire’s lowland heath ecology.

We think our built environment is solid and secure – not so! It’s easily overwhelmed once we stop maintaining it. Look at the land around the site of Chornobyl in Ukraine for another example of the speed of wildlife return to an area substantially left alone by humans.

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!