1) Interesting information on the control of the skies above Ukraine: @nytimes: "While experts have been puzzled by Russia’s failure to gain complete control over the Ukrainian skies, they are certainly dominant ..." nytimes.com/2022/03/19/wor…
2) "... --- Russian surface-to-air missile capabilities can reach anywhere in Ukraine, according to military analysts. Russia is believed to fly some 200 sorties per day while Ukraine flies five to 10."
3) In the first week of the war, it is not clear how many Russian strikes hit their targets, but Piotr Lukasiewicz, an analyst at Polityka Insight, a Warsaw-based research institute, said that they did serious damage to Ukraine’s command and control centers."
4) “They disabled an important headquarters and communications center in the beginning with precision strikes,” he said.
5) "Just as the Russians are plagued by logistical and resupply issues, the Ukrainians are struggling to replace the stationary systems that the Russians have destroyed or disabled."
6) “Gradually Ukrainians are losing their radars or warning systems,” Mr. Lukasiewicz said.
7) We have to consider the possibility that the Russians have been holding back the bulk of its air force until Ukrainian air defenses have been sufficiently degraded. Russia appears to be relying on long range missiles to hit key air defense facilities.
8) Disabling a sophisticated air defense network doesn't happen overnight. It can take weeks to accomplish. If true, this is evidence that the Russians were prepared for a lengthy campaign.
9) The sortie ratio of 200 to 5/10 a day in favor of Russia shows that the Russians have a distinct advantage in the air. And this part of the reason Zelensky is pleading for a no-fly zone.
10) One last note: @nytimes said the Russians are "dominant" in the air but then says they don't have Air Superiority. This might be splitting hairs, but that is somewhat contradictory. NATO defines Air Superiority as follows:
11) "That degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another which permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea and air forces at a given time and place without prohibitive interference by the opposing force."
12) To be clear, I am not saying the Russians have Air Superiority (it sounds like they are on the cusp), but @nytimes is using terminology that implies it does.
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1) “the solution [in the Red Sea] is not a military solution” - Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Christopher Grady
This is what general officers and politicians say when they don't have the stomach and political will to deal with a difficult enemy. news.usni.org/2024/05/01/nav…
2) The U.S. has barely tried to degrade the Houthis' military capability, and there has been zero effort to target Houthi military and political leadership. But there is no political will to do so. Instead, U.S. leaders are content with playing defense.
3) When enemies and adversaries hear general officers saying things like "there is no military solution to this conflict," they know they have already won, and it is only a matter of time until a tired U.S. defeats itself.
Yesterday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee punted on its chance to grill retired generals Milley and McKenzie for their role in the failure of Afghanistan. My thoughts, and the questions they should have been asked, at Generation Jihad /1
The reality is that republicans are fearful of criticizing the military and can’t distinguish between grunts on the ground doing their jobs and political generals like Milley and McKenzie. The deferential treatment was disgraceful /2
Milley and McKenzie were happy to throw the State Department under the bus (rightfully so) if it meant not having to answer hard questions about their complicity in failure 3/
1) @EFittonBrown joined @caleb_weiss7 & me to discuss the latest UNSC Monitoring Team report on Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Give it a listen, Edmund is the go to source on this. longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/…
2) @EFittonBrown explains the Monitoring Team’s process of gathering the information for the report and dispels the bad “analysis” on this subject.
3) @caleb_weiss7 know the Africa dynamics and happenings of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State better than anyone I know. Thanks gentlemen.
1) Keep in mind that @JJSchroden couldn't have been more wrong about the effects of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. 180 degrees wrong in fact. And the fact that he defers to @US4AfghanPeace, who is eager to deal with the Taliban...
3) First, @ObaidullaBaheer doesn't understand how the UNSC Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team works. It does do its own analysis and fact gathering. How do I know this? I know @EFittonBrown and others on the team who do the actual work.
1) Al Qaeda is now running training camps in 10 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, as well as 5 madrasa, a new base “to stockpile weaponry,” and facilitation network into Iran. All per the UNSC Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team. longwarjournal.org/archives/2024/…
2) The raining camps are in the provinces of Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, Uruzgan, Helmand, Zabul, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Badghis, and Kunar, per current and previous Monitoring Team reports. For previous report, see: longwarjournal.org/archives/2023/…
3) The 5 madrasas, or religious schools, are in the provinces of Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Parwan. To put that into context: Al Qaeda is operating religious schools to indoctrinate Afghan youth into its ideology of global jihad.
1) The Biden administration just can't stop themselves from signaling weakness, restraint and indecisiveness. “We don’t seek a war with Iran. We’re not looking for a wider conflict in the Middle East,” - John Kirby cnn.com/2024/01/29/pol…
2) “In fact, every action the president has taken has been designed to de-escalate, to try to bring the tensions down.” - John Kirby
3) Newsflash: Iran is at war with you. The conflict has widened. With over 160 proxy militia attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, and dozens of proxy Houthi attacks, including on U.S. warships in the Red Sea, Bab Al Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden, what would you call it?