Category Archives: Defence Review

How I Would Win The Ukraine War

   I have been commenting on the progress of the Russo-Ukraine warn for over a year now, getting about eighty per cent of it right and the rest of it wrong. Which is a pretty good result although I say it myself, because predicting the course of a war is fraught with difficulty. No planContinue reading “How I Would Win The Ukraine War”

Is Downing Of US Drone An Act Of War?

  Wars are sometimes started on the flimsiest of excuses. The War of Jenkins’ Ear, for example, took place between 1739 and 1748 between Britain and the Spanish Empire. I was named so as the casus belli was the alleged severing of the ear of one Robert Jenkins, captain of the British brig “Rebecca”, byContinue reading “Is Downing Of US Drone An Act Of War?”

Will Poland And Slovakia Sending MiG-29s To Ukraine Open The Floodgates?

  Poland announced that it is to send four of its MiG-29 Soviet-era fighter jets to Ukraine, with the hint that more may follow them. This has been replicated by Slovakia pledging to do the same, saying it will send thirteen of its now redundant fleet (three without engines apparently). This is good news forContinue reading “Will Poland And Slovakia Sending MiG-29s To Ukraine Open The Floodgates?”

Nicola Sturgeon’s replacement ,,,,, who will threaten the Union most?

  “Union Safe in Kate Forbes’ Hands! There are barely two weeks to go before the competition to replace Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the SNP and Scotland’s First Minister is decided, but it’s already quite clear who the winner will be. Barring nuclear war or an act of God, Kate Forbes will emerge asContinue reading “Nicola Sturgeon’s replacement ,,,,, who will threaten the Union most?”

Any Russian victory at Bakhmut will be Pyrrhic!!

  The war in Ukraine, now dragging on into its second year, has been punctuated by intense conflicts over towns and cities. Think of Kharkiv, Lyman, Mariupol and others. In this “war of the settlements”, where vast areas of Ukrainian hinterland have a thin scattering of troops and no discernible, permanent front line in theContinue reading “Any Russian victory at Bakhmut will be Pyrrhic!!”

Ukraine: How Russia Got It Wrong

    You’ll all be familiar with those “how it started: how it’s going now” photograph posts on social media, usually signalling an abject mistake by some poor benighted soul or organisation. Yes, I’m bored with them too, but if any one event deserves such treatment I can think of a no more deserving recipientContinue reading “Ukraine: How Russia Got It Wrong”

How The Ukraine War Ends

    We are just short of a year to the day when Russia invaded Ukraine. We all know what happened next. The Russians were rebuffed at Kyiv and Kharkiv but made modest gains elsewhere in the teeth of furious Ukrainian resistance. And, while serious fighting goes on around Bakhmut and elsewhere, the front linesContinue reading “How The Ukraine War Ends”

Send F-16s And ATACMS To Ukraine Now!

  Much as Germany dragged its heels over sending tanks to Ukraine before it was frog-marched into doing so by the force of diplomatic and public opinion, now the USA is proving reluctant to follow up with modern fighter jets and long range missiles. This not to say that President Biden has not been generousContinue reading “Send F-16s And ATACMS To Ukraine Now!”