Defence

2022-04-08

Mopping up is allegedly all that is left for the Russians to complete.

The Daily Exposé hosts Larry C Johnson, who makes a compelling case.

"When a 24 mile (or 40 mile, depends on the news source) was positioned north of Kiev for more than a week, it was clear that Ukraine’s ability to launch significant military operations had been eliminated. If their artillery was intact, then that column was easy pickings for massive destruction"

"The Ukrainians did not even mount a significant infantry ambush of the column with their newly supplied U.S. Javelins"

Can't really argue with that analysis.

"Not only is Russia striking and destroying bases used by NATO regularly since 2015, but there was no air raid

2022-04-07

I have always advocated that the UK should leave the EU, and a major factor in that stance concerned our ability to defend ourselves without needing to rely on others whose strategic imperatives might not coincide with ours.

Add in the lack of transparency in matters of EU governance and the inherently bureaucratic nature of the decision-making, and I was clear in my own mind that the smallest competent group of British officers (including military, political, and expert) should be in the driving seat of our defence.

In passing I note that both UK and EU pronouncements on the Ukraine situation seem to be very long on stoking the inflammatory rhetoric and very short on trying to calm the situation with a view to promoting a negotiated settlement, so one does wonder whether our establishment really has withdrawn from EU defence thinking. In this critical area I do not subscribe to the view that our stance is in line with the thinking of the population.

Are

2022-04-06

Unherd's interview with Yanis Varoufakis, scourge of the EU, Greek and liberal left patriot and consummate economist and politician, who unlike most of that ilk, reliably speaks a great deal of sense.

We need his good sense now.

Read the article, watch the video:

(38 minutes)

Like / Dislike this video here.

2022-03-28

Much has in the past been written about PESCO and the labyrinthine network of treaties and agreements that underpin the EU's defence posture. The UK was famously equivocal about what parts of it we did or did not support, amongst much controversy over how we could be both leaving the EU and staying within its defence agreements.

I'm not entirely sure whether or not these arguments were ever really resolved, but today we have an article from Investigate Europe that has a look at the how the EU military is composed and who benefits.

"These huge arms producers are very much intertwined with governments and even competitors. They are also partly owned by the same American funds that control important parts of their -American competitors’ shares"

Ukraine - Military Matters

2022-03-20

At the UN meeting of 11th March the Russian Federation protested that the US had been running bio-labs in the Ukraine.

UN Security Council Debates Threats to International Peace and Security

One week on and Russia has documented further details:

"Over the past week, we have discovered new details indicating that components of biological weapons were being developed in Ukraine"

"I suggest that you should study it carefully. It confirms that Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) directly funded and supervised military biological projects in Ukraine"

"Representatives of the US Department of State still get confused when asked about it and assure that the United States allegedly takes

2022-03-20

Dr Lee Jone, "Professor of Political Economy and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London", writing in Unherd has produced one of the most thoughtful and (hopefully) informed contributions to the Ukraine situation that I have seen. 

Examining the situation from the different viewpoints is not very fashionable given that war has broken out and the first casualty is truth, but without such an analysis, peace is unlikely to be either concluded or successful.

Worth reading.

2022-03-20

Brexit Watch reminds us (well, those that may need reminding) of some basic defence truths that have been relevant for thousands of years, yet which our government has been disrespecting for decades.

On the other hand the "Art of War" by Sun Tzu reminds us that to win we should appear weak when we are strong and strong when we are weak...   so perhaps our government have some secret defence strengths that they are not publicising?

"... winning the war with as little unnecessary combat as possible is the key to true victory"

Show of hands please - those who believe that our current apparent defence weakness conceals unexpected strength?

2022-02-22

A short selection of articles covering the main points:

Russia recognises the independence of Donetsk and Lugansk  Peoples Republics

Washington sounds the alarm whilst its allies withdraw

Russia breathes down middle eastern necks over Ukraine

2022-02-17

It seems that they may have (although not in person) and much more besides.

It seems that the preoccupation of our medical elite is now transferred from Covid to HIV and TB.

They also report on the resignation letter of a policeman from the Gloucestershire Constabulary who lays out exactly what he sees as the basic deficiencies of the GC police leadership team. Hard stuff. Alex Thomson's comment is particularly striking:

"... his stand is eminently replicable by people in any other numbers of professions... simply asking your immediate superiors and going up the chain as far as you need to: 'have you considered the fundamental lawfulness of what we are implementing as policy in the name of health since Covid' and you will usually find the answer is 'well of course we don't think about that, we just do as we are told' - if you document that, then if you are prepared to resign given your personal circumstances and conscience in the matter then you

2021-12-30

The CIB (Campaign for an Independent Britain) makes some pertinent comment on Russia's request for involvement in discussions regarding the situation in eastern Europe and the Ukraine.

They set the proposal in its proper historical context:

"Ambassador LEONIDAS CHRYSANTHOPOULOS, a distinguished member of his country’s diplomatic service who now campaigns for Greek independence from the EU, here lays out the assurances which the Western powers gave to Russia in 1990 when it withdrew from East Germany and the other Warsaw Pact countries which had been in alliance with the Soviet Union"

"Ambassador Chrysanthopoulos makes a plea for NATO and the EU to halt their relentless Eastern expansion"

"What the Russian Federation is actually proposing is what Moscow was promised by the West in 1990 in order to agree to the reunification of Germany"

A

2021-11-28

Brexit Watch brings us up to date with the latest "defence" news from the EU.

Since the UK left the EU we are not formally part of PESCO, but the door is left ajar for states that wish to participate - on the EU's terms or course.

"The latest projects... include aerial drones, naval surface drones, space assets, space asset protection and a platform for EU Member States to rebuild the military institutions of non-EU states"

"2025 is also the year targeted as the date by which the EU achieves what it calls a ‘Fully Fledged Defence Union"

Since "the Donald" told the NATO nations to contribute their fair share to the NATO costs, the EU has been busy building its own military capability. After all, if you have to pay for it, you should retain control of it - and the EU has built dual-purpose forces that can be deployed either under the NATO

2021-10-10

Admiral SIr Tony Radakin was accused of "undermining a Royal Marines Major General" according to the Daily Mail.

"His appointment as Chief of the Defence Staff came days after the death of Major General Matt Holmes, 54. The former Commandant General of the Marines was found dead at his family home in Winchester, Hampshire, on Saturday. There were no suspicious circumstances"

It would seem from the Mail's account that there was little love remaining to be lost between these two officers.

The Mail reports "A directive from Sir Tony's office included a gagging order banning the Marines officer from discussing key issues with colleagues, including the commander of the US Marine Corps". 

Why on earth would a high-ranking Major-General be prohibited from discussing matters military with US colleagues? It would seem that the prohibition possibly related to matters

2021-08-10

Few Brexit supporters who have monitored the seemingly ever-closer "defence" arrangements between the UK and the EU military post-Brexit (under both Mrs May and the Boris) will be surprised by this article on the Brexit Watch site - the only real surprise is how long it has taken to manifest.

It has been a pretty safe assumption since the early days that the civil servants were in fact driving the agenda, pulling the various Defence Ministers (and others) along in their slip-stream, willingly or unwillingly.

Now the "Brexit Watch Team" has published their investigation into the role of one Angus Lapsley in these post-Brexit shenanigans, and interesting reading it makes:

"...there is no such thing as a single error in the loss of secret intelligence, because many

2021-06-20

Man interfaced with AI? Robot humans? Hyper-Intelligent Humans?

This document is offered by a government web-site and I make no comment about it one way or another - except to say that some sort of "human augmentation" is definitely coming down the track towards us and if we do not or cannot understand it we will be unable to control it.

Note that there are copyright and usage restrictions to this documentation, which seem incompatible with its publication on the general internet. I assume that this is a simple oversight, but I may be wrong.

Almost inevitably, it seems that augmentation is first and foremost being driven by the military - no great surprise there but maybe it tells us something about the priorities of those who rule over us. Or it could just illustrate that the military are of necessity our

2021-05-25

That our politicians are toying with the notion that our armed forces should be "greened" has always struck me as an absurdity worthy of propagation within our ranks by our most committed enemy. After all, in a dog-eats-dog fight to the finish, all our people, systems, and forces will be strained to their very limits, and often beyond. Shouting that "my tanks are greener than yours" isn't going to cut it.

That such an obvious truth should need to be stated is pretty worrying. That it is not being stated loud and clear by our government is cause for dismay, to put it politely.

That is not to say that "greening" has no place whatsoever, just to emphasise that its place is down at the very bottom of the heap unless there are other more important associated reasons that might pull something up the priority list.

Veterans for Britain seem to have concluded that the

2021-04-26

After many years of defence cuts and the strategic reviews that led to them, Britain is back . . .

Reports in the press confirm that we will send a "carriier strike group" to far eastern waters (albeit with a little help from our friends).

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace:

"When our Carrier Strike Group sets sail next month, it will be flying the flag for Global Britain - projecting our influence, signalling our power, engaging with our friends and reaffirming our commitment to addressing the security challenges of today and tomorrow"

Sky News has the story.

I hope they will leave us enough boats to defend our fishing grounds, not to mention that invisible line down the middle

2021-03-31

UKIP's Defence spokesman Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley writing in Conservative Woman reviews China's geopolitical stance, and he paints a concerning picture.

"There is little point in the West trying to deal with China as if she were another democratic or even old-style communist state"

"... military consequences will be determined by who can employ them. Principally, this is the US and certainly not the hollowed-out British armed forces"

It may be worth mentioning that the only reason that the US is in pole position is that President Trump spent a lot of money on brining the US armed forces up to scratch - it remains to be seen how the new

2021-03-19

Robert David Steele is a prolific ideas man and there seem to be few important subjects that have not caught his attention. Here he takes an external look at where he sees NATO could go by 2040.

I'm not a military man but nor are our parliamentarians, who seem content to simply let the boffins get on with it - but we have seen where that approach has led us in the Covid arena, and the idea that similar thinking could hold sway within NATO strategic planning is frankly horrifying, so I think a different approach is required.

Maybe this is it, maybe we should do something differently, but I do think we would be very foolish not to take an interest.

Download the

2021-03-18

UK Column News of 7th March has a pertinent section on how NATO is developing to effect an amicable merger with EU Military Union - the question being whether this will alter the nature of the arrangements for better or for worse.

The UK of course is "committed to NATO" as the cornerstone of our defence policy, so perhaps we are seeing how the Brexit process is being allowed (or not) to change the direction of our military development.

Boris has now conducted an "integrated" review of our defence needs for the future, and as always UK Column has the story:

Like / Dislike this video here.