Nagorno-Karabakh: "Neither side has a clear military advantage in the border zone. Military positions and front-line trenches are so close in places that residents can shout to soldiers on the other side." crisisgroup.org/europe-central…
"Settlements in proximity to the trenches render civilians on both sides equally vulnerable. While the prospect of civilian casualties may discourage the sides from using heavy weaponry, it also means that any escalation risks taking a fearsome human toll" crisisgroup.org/europe-central…
"A boast by Azerbaijan’s military amid heightened tensions on 16 July that its new missile system had ample range to reach a Soviet-era nuclear power plant near Yerevan highlighted both the strategic importance of critical infrastructure" crisisgroup.org/europe-central…
"Despite the changes, security in the border villages is largely a question of topography. In some villages, Azerbaijani forces are dug into strong defensive positions. In others, the Armenian military holds the higher ground." crisisgroup.org/europe-central…
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I wrote this week on the latest skirmishing in the crypto wars. End-to-end encryption has conquered the world. Governments continue to push back in defence of lawful intercept. But the debate around technical solutions has changed little in years. economist.com/international/…
A few sources for this piece. In 2018 & 2021 a pair of GCHQ officials proposed various solutions for reconciling gov't interception with end-to-end encryption. The first piece proposed that govts could be added secretly to particular communications: lawfaremedia.org/article/princi…
The second proposed various types of "client-side scanning"—automatically comparing content on a device to a stored library of illegal material—as a way of detecting child sexual abuse material on social media sites without intercepting content in transit. arxiv.org/abs/2207.09506
A CNAS tabletop exercise. "This study finds that a hypothetical, protracted U.S.-PRC conflict creates conditions under which nonstrategic nuclear weapons use is both appealing to the PRC and difficult to manage for the United States" cnas.org/publications/r…
"once nuclear escalation in the Indo-Pacific occurs, reciprocal tactical nuclear exchanges may continue, but not necessarily lead to general nuclear war." cnas.org/publications/r…
"These findings reflect the fundamental differences of deterrence in the emerging Indo-Pacific era, where distinct geography, targets, and capabilities make limited nuclear escalation potentially more tolerable than in the Cold War era." cnas.org/publications/r…
“Russia has trained its navy to target sites deep inside Europe with nuclear-capable missiles in a potential conflict with Nato, according to secret files…Maps of targets as far-flung as the west coast of France and Barrow-in-Furness” on.ft.com/4fzYtM2
‘The document notes the navy’s “high manoeuvrability” allows it to conduct “sudden & pre-emptive blows” and “massive missile strikes . . . from various directions”. It adds that nuclear weapons are “as a rule” designated for use “in combination with other means of destruction”..’
‘The presentation also references the option of a so-called demonstration strike — detonating a nuclear weapon in a remote area “in a period of immediate threat of aggression” before an actual conflict to scare western countries.’ on.ft.com/4fzYtM2
Kommersant reports from Kursk. General sense being chaos & abandonment by Moscow. “I want to understand where our state is at all? Where is the administration? I wish they could talk to us. We don't know anything at all… there's no one.” kommersant.ru/doc/6890223
“Why wasn't there a fucking evacuation? Everyone ran away as best they could - under fire, under kamikaze drones! Why did they lie on TV to the last? They said that the situation was stable” kommersant.ru/doc/6890223?fr…
“Tell the state that we want to see them. Let the state tell us the truth - what should we expect? Will we return to our homes or can we say goodbye to them? Well, at least some crumb of honest information from the state!” kommersant.ru/doc/6890223?fr…
Struck by the fact that we can barely work out with confidence which Ukrainian brigades & what proportion of them are properly in in Kursk, let alone if anything is in reserve & what precisely is happening. OSINT can be absolutely magical, and sometimes incredibly limiting.
And so beware wild evidence free speculation however enjoyable it feels.
This seems to have been taken as a complaint. It is not. It is a comparison between the relatively high levels of battlefield transparency we have become used to, esp. when front lines are static, to when they become fluid & when Ukr prioritises surprise.