(I stopped doing link posts for some time, as I was taking a break from blogging. Consequently the first 3 links on this post are older ones. The other posts are newer ones.)
The fog of war
Chris Cappy looks through the fog of war:
Cappy makes some interesting points:
We are mostly getting pro-Ukraine propaganda with very little information giving the Russia point of view.
Ukraine failed to effectively strike the 40-km-long Russian convoy north of Kyiv, indicating they were unable to, which suggests that Russia has managed to severely degrade their capabilities.
Intercepted Russian communications suggests they regard every attack or explosion as caused by a Bayraktar drone, in much the same way as in the Normandy campaign of WW2, British soldiers thought all German guns were 88s.
Ukraine: a people at war
Perun has a video on how Ukraine has become a people at war, defending their country very effectively against the Russian assault.
In the coming years, nations across the world will be looking at this, and I expect many will move their armed forces towards a posture of mobilising a larger proportion of their population for national defence.
It certainly vindicates my idea of an independent Scotland having armed forces that can call up large numbers of reserves in a national emergency.
Perun works as a analyst for the Australian defence industry. Since Australia is an island, if it was invaded it would be invaded by sea and air. If Australian defence was based on a large number of reservists defending their home towns (alongside the regular army), the invaders would need much more manpower and supplies (particularly ammunition) in their invasion, which given the constraints of seaborne invasion, would make it much harder. The same is also true of Taiwan.
US to transfer Soviet tanks to Ukraine
The New York Times reports the USA is transferring ex-USSR tanks to Ukraine:
The Biden administration will work with allies to transfer Soviet-made tanks to bolster Ukrainian defenses in the country’s eastern Donbas region, a U.S. official said on Friday.
The official said the transfers would begin soon, but declined to say how many tanks would be sent, or from which countries they would come.
I will note that the T-72 is used by many countries around the world, and has been manufactured/upgraded in many different countries. Ammunition for it is also widely manufactured.
Geo History on slavery and the slave trade
Geo History has put up a video giving a long-term overview of slavery, from neolithic times to the present day.
ISW on Russian incompetence
The Institute for the Study of War continues to find creative ways to say "Russia is crap":
Russian forces are not making significant progress around Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast or anywhere else along the front lines. [Wagner boss] Prigozhin acknowledged the slow pace of Wagner Group ground operations around Bakhmut on October 23 and stated that Wagner forces advance only 100-200m per day, which he absurdly claimed was a normal rate for modern advances. [...] Even the claimed rate of advance would be failure for a main effort in mechanized war--and the claims are, in fact, exaggerated.
Russia scraps grain deal
The BBC reports that Russia is scrapping the deal to let Ukraine export grain:
Russia has announced it is suspending its involvement in the internationally-brokered deal that allows Ukraine to export grain from its Black Sea ports.
Given that Ukraine's cereal production of 64 million tons/year is enough to feed 400 million people, preventing exports is going to cause real hardship, particularly in poorer countries.
Maybe a group of food-importing countries could provide naval ships to protect convoys of the food exports? Then if Russia attacks them it is at war with all the convoying countries who could quite legally interdict all ships attempting to trade with Russian ports.
The Troubled Trams of Edinburgh
Jago Hazzard has a video on The Troubled Trams of Edinburgh:
Sarwar contra Scotland
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar claims Scottish independence is 'against the values of social justice':
THE cause of Scottish independence “goes against the values of solidarity and social justice”, Anas Sarwar has said.
Sarwar, currently leader of the third biggest party in Holyrood, said: “Labour will win the next general election.
“And Scotland will deliver the seats to get us over the line. Scotland will elect Keir Starmer as its next Prime Minister.
Scottish Labour currently has 1 MP, Ian Murray. I doubt if they will gert many more at the next election, and most Scottish MPs will be SNP, as happened at the last 3 elections.
Turning his focus on the independence movement, he said: “There is nothing progressive about Scottish nationalism. It goes against the values of solidarity and social justice.
Sarwar thinks that if Scotland votes for one thing and England votes for something else, Scotland should have to put up with what England voted for. That's a very idiosyncratic view of "justice".