“Both Formula One and military organisations are fighting an intellectual battle to come to grips with a new era in their respective endeavours.” What might each offer the other so that they can remain at the leading edge during a disruptive period. mickryan.substack.com/p/formula-on...
A comprehensive update on the war in #Ukraine from Stefan Korshak at the @KyivPost www.kyivpost.com/opinion/71548
"Ignoring lessons of modern wars - in an era when war has never been more visible - will hurt you. America & Middle East nations found this out the hard way during the week." My weekly update on #Ukraine, the Middle East & the Pacific.
mickryan.substack.com/p/a-strategi...
“A bombastic celebration of military strength can only take you so far when there is no obvious strategy for bringing the war to a satisfactory conclusion.” @ldfreedman.bsky.social
samf.substack.com/p/making-it-...
Thanks. I try!
“The war with Iran is little more than the joint targeting process unleashed. The Frankenstein’s monster that is the operational level of war, unsatiated after eating strategy, is now feasting on policy”. @bafriedman.bsky.social
The latest edition of the Snake Island Institute monthly update is here, and includes: Gerbera and Shahed as “motherships,” launching FPVs mid-flight; & Russia connecting interfamily drones in a single airborne network using Chinese mesh modems. drive.google.com/file/d/1fnzz...
"Ignoring lessons of modern wars - in an era when war has never been more visible - will hurt you. America & Middle East nations found this out the hard way during the week. " My weekly update on #Ukraine, the Middle East & the Pacific. mickryan.substack.com/p/a-strategi...
“A classified report by the National Intelligence Council found that even a large-scale assault on Iran launched by the United States would be unlikely to oust the Islamic republic’s entrenched military and clerical establishment.”
wapo.st/4lcrq3M
"As the 2nd week of Epic Fury dawns, it is worth pausing the tactical scorecard and asking a tough question. What signal is this war, and political decision-making around it, sending to the leaders of China and Russia?" mickryan.substack.com/p/selective-...
An extraordinary social media post from one "ally" to another.
"As the 2nd week of Epic Fury dawns, it is worth pausing the tactical scorecard — destroyed missile launchers & sunken Iranian navy ships — and asking a tough question. What signal is this war sending to the leaders of China and Russia?" mickryan.substack.com/p/selective-...
“U.S. pressure on Ukraine is encouraging Putin to keep fighting and refrain from making compromises necessary for an enduring peace….The way to end this war is not to rescue Putin from a failing campaign, but to help Ukraine make it fail faster.”
wapo.st/4rS0tF6
“Moscow has consistently chosen to limit its assistance. The US should take the opportunity to counter the Kremlin’s information offensive reminding Putin’s partners: With Russia on your side, you’re on thin ice.”
www.kyivpost.com/opinion/71175
"The Trump administration gave shifting rationales for its decision to attack Iran, even as U.S. officials with access to intelligence reports said they saw no sign the country had posed an imminent threat to the United States." wapo.st/4aM6zB1
An interesting look at the Trump administration’s road to war with Iran. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/02/u...
"This poses an existential threat to the Iranian regime, and they will throw everything at America & Israel. They will be seeking to survive as a regime. If they do, it will be a victory for them. It would also be a problem for the Trump administration." mickryan.substack.com/p/decapitati...
It has been hectic tracking events in the skies & on the ground in #Iran as well as Iranian retaliatory strikes against Israel and other nations in the Middle East. In this article, I look at the implications of the new war for #Ukraine, and the Pacific theatre. mickryan.substack.com/p/the-new-ir...
“Wars are full of uncertainty. There is never certainty in war about victory or the direction that a conflict will take. The new war against Iran is no different.” mickryan.substack.com/p/iran-and-u....
I just finished this. A terrific book.
This week, J.D. Vance stated "the idea that we’re going to be in a Middle Eastern war for years with no end in sight — there is no chance that will happen." But short wars, regardless of the intentions of those who order them, can easily become long wars. mickryan.substack.com/p/iran-and-u...
As peace talks continue and the U.S. pushes for compromise, one proposal keeps returning: Ukraine should withdraw from the remainder of Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk Oblast.
The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell explains why the Battle of Donbas remains at the center of the peace process.
There’s a lot of things that need to be said today. But there’s one main one:
Thank you Ukraine.
We see you.
We know what you’ve done for us.
We know what we owe you.
We know you will win and take your place as a central defender of the free world.
“The key will be directly influencing Xi’s calculus. Military deterrence, exercises & the revelation of new capabilities, will be of little use if China’s military leadership is either too confident to be intimidated, or too intimidated by Xi to deliver bad news.”
warontherocks.com/2026/02/the-...
“The reality is that the war in Ukraine has long ceased to be just Ukrainian history. It has become the laboratory of the future. And, like any laboratory, it doesn't ask if we are ready for the experiment.” Zaluzhnyi on 4 years of war.
www.pravda.com.ua/eng/columns/...
"We must look past the drones, algorithms and other technological artefacts for the essential lesson from this war...Ukraine has shown us what humans, as flawed as we are, can achieve in their finest hour. This is the essential lesson from 1461 days of war." www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
“We’re not the Ukrainians. We don’t need to be exactly like them, but these kinds of insights are valuable for military organisations that want to fight 21st-century wars, not lose by fighting 20th-century wars.” My discussion in The @australian about learning from #Ukraine.
archive.is/VeLHj
"This is a war where a free people determined that they would not permit the forces of dark authoritarianism to overwhelm their history, their culture, their freedoms and their future prosperity." mickryan.substack.com/p/four-years...
make that Pauline Shanks Kaurin, @queenofthinair.bsky.social 🙂
Russia is building their own, helped by Iranian and Chinese engineers.
