Russia is Celebrating

One of their missiles was used by ISIS to destroy an Abrams tank involved in the ongoing siege of Mosul. The video, originally posted by ISIS, was further broadcast by RT and is now on youtube.

Since the US-built Abrams is generally considered to be the world’s all-around best tank*, Russia is pleased to see […]

Securing Security

As some of my readers may already know, there was a bunch of bombings in Brussels last weekend which the Islamic State took credit for. Two of the explosions occurred in an airport. Because, unfortunately, terrorists aren’t totally incompetent idiots, these two went off before the security checkpoint. It’s much easier than trying to get […]

The Dabiq Experiment

The Islamic State (also known as IS, ISIS, ISIL, & Daesh) has provoked a lot of questions since it first exploded on the world stage. These questions range from the philosophical (the ever-popular “how can anyone be so cruel to another?”) through the practical (say, “is Assad now a potential ally?”). One of the more […]

Military Science

There’s an old joke about how military intelligence is an oxymoron.

Unfortunately, it appears that Military Science is as well.

The products of science are, of course, still in high demand. Consider the modern arsenal of fusion bombs, GPS guided missiles, autonomous weapons, fission powered submarines, and research into lasers, bioweapons, and railguns. Never has […]

Tactical Depth

There is an interesting consequence of military drones and other (semi)autonomous war machines that I have not yet seen described anywhere else.

An urgent question for military planners throughout history has been: should we attack first (thereby gaining initiative and the element of surprise) or wait for the enemy to attack (thereby claiming moral superiority […]

Yemen: The Five(ish) Way War

There is a relatively straightforward story about Yemen. It goes like this:

Saleh, dictator in all but name, resigned in 2012 under considerable political pressure after surviving decades as the leader of the poor and terror-wracked nation. His vice-president, Hadi, took the helm and (encouraged by Western support) promised elections – before being overthrown by […]