Tag: Warfare

Saudi–Yemen War: Iran Wins, USA Loses

Saudi Arabia reignited war with Yemen's Ansarallah (Houthis) on 13 July, deploying mercenary forces. Ansarallah struck back, hitting Saudi military bases and oil facilities, including the East-West pipeline. By September 11, they'd captured Yemen's west coast and key Red Sea islands, securing fire-control over the southern Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab

How the Taliban Defeated the Pentagon’s “Best and Brightest”

Sat., 15-Aug-26, is the fifth anniversary of the Taliban’s victory over the US. In a 20-minute podcast, two discussants analyze the intellectual failures that led to the US’s strategic defeat. It is based on Shivan Mahendrarajah’s article in “Small Wars & Insurgencies,” and “is a scathing indictment of Generals Petraeus, McChrystal, et al., who brought military hardware to a political battlefield.” The “Afghan Surge” was doomed from day one. Generals were blind to the Taliban’s Maoist “revolutionary warfare” strategy (Rev. War = Guerrilla Activity + Political Activity); and systematic development of “parallel hierarchies” (shadow state) throughout rural villages.

Ukraine Minerals Agreement: Most Valuable Minerals are in Russian Territories

Trump’s “minerals deal” is a “nothingburger.” The bulk of Ukraine’s natural resources (oil, gas, diverse metals, etc.) are, or will be, under Russian control. There is nothing the USA, UK, and EU can do to change reality on the battlefield. The minerals in “rump Ukraine” can be exploited after the war, but the deposits are assuredly less valuable than the natural resources of “former Ukraine” that Russia will acquire.