Yes, this is a great interview of Colonel Macgregor to Judge, but Judge's quip about Air Force and Army at 28:50 is as hilarious as it is accurate))
Now to a point that Aqua brought to our attention and that fits extremely well in my thesis that American "realists" are nothing more than collection of American exceptionalists--a euphemism for imperialists--with milder more aesthetically acceptable manners. These were and are the guys who played all along into the narrative of Russia's weakness and decline (no, Mearsheimer is not alone marked with this dubious distinction) which created the impression among uncultured and badly educated Washington establishment that it can fight and win a war against Russia. Now, that the outcome of the SMO (I stress again--Operation) is not (it never was) in doubt for the combined West, we have one of those "realist" outlets which is adorned in its writing staff with such amateurs and Russophobes as Anatol Lieven and others coping with the outcome. They wet dream, they wet dream big and here is a wowser from the (former) academic staff of the US Naval War College by Lyle Goldstein. Goldstein proposes to Trump Administration:
1. Do not measure anything Russia produces in US Dollars--it is a fool's errand, a method invented by the white board academic frauds from the Wall Street and Ivy League economics departments, precisely the thing which brought about geopolitical defeat of the combined West which turned out to be military and economic paper tiger.
2. $1 billion, while a large sum of money, is by no means something dramatic or astronomical for Russia and her budget. E.g. non-existent and over budget (and already delayed) US Navy's new SSBN of Columbia-class WILL cost around $9-10 billion per a single sub, for the same price Russians already built EIGHT (5 operational, 3 getting ready) state-of-the-art SSBNs of Borei-class, which carry weapons which make SLBM Trident -II D5 look like a backwater.
Goldstein should know this, he taught at the USNWC. In the end, it is a respectable educational institution. And then there are THESE guys.
And not only--Russia's Arctic research and development programs dwarf anything combined West can even dream about--after all; it is all about capability. Goldstein does refer to them, somewhat ... but then arrives to a completely out of the blue conclusion about North Sea Route (NSR).
Yet despite incremental progress, Chinese and Russian analysts are aware that the Arctic passage will never achieve its true potential without Western backing.
What? I understand where Goldstein comes from and not all of it is bad, but that is a complete delusion. In fact, the growing Russia's military presence in Arctic, including both ground and naval component, is designed precisely to prevent the West from any "backing" of the Arctic passage. Russians know damn well what "true potential" of this passage is and are going it alone. Not to speak of the fact that Trump "lifting sanctions" on Russia (he was the one who boasted about being the most "anti-Russian President" in his first term) is altogether from a parallel universe. Russia is done with the West, period. Combined West lies, cheats, steals and will continue to do so and the only conversations with it is possible with these things in the background.
Politico calls her "leading Russia-Ukraine expert". She is not--there are no anyone Russian "experts" in Washington anywhere near political and military top. Same goes for National Defense University because you cannot teach current US civilian and military corps, majority of which comes from a joke military schooling in ROTC and OCS and primarily with humanities degrees which preclude any fundamental in modern warfare, anything useful about war, military history and applied geopolitics.
But Laura, who undeniably is qualified for war criminal status, has a bigger problem--she may have a meeting with Trump's Justice Department due to her 3.5-hour long deposition to Congress:
In her last position at the US Department of Defense, Cooper established strong relationships with many Ukrainian government officials. According to Politico, she is regarded in Kyiv as "an honest broker in negotiations". Cooper first gained media attention in 2019 when she was summoned to Congress to testify about former President Donald Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden. Her testimony focused on the delay in providing Ukraine with US$400 million in military aid allocated by Congress for training purposes. She stated during the hearings that the funds were "held without explanation" and US officials "began to raise concerns about how this could be done in a legal fashion". Pentagon and State Department officials who worked closely with her, speaking to Politico on condition of anonymity, expressed fears that she might face persecution during Trump’s presidency for her testimony and ties to Biden-era Ukraine policy.
But then again. Trump is all talk and very little action. At this stage it is difficult to even imagine how one can right the ship of the American statehood without radical cleaning of the Augean Stables, as you all know--Hercules' Fifth Labor, so far little indication that Trump can do it.
P.S. Evidently General Kellogg postponed his visit to 404. I think he should postpone his visit to Moscow too--he has no business there until Washington fully comprehends the scale of the events.
That would apply to these "military experts" in UK who pretend that they are slightly more than terrorists and have a grasp of war and applied geopolitics. Remember this cretin?
The NATO militaries, including the US Army generals paraded themselves throughout the SMO as nothing more than credentialed amateurs, who can operate only on templates created on utterly false premises from history to technology. But even considering the fact that British tabloids are just that, a BS peddlers, one has to ask the question, with CV like that:
What do you expect? Exactly. But when one has no elementary self-respect and NATO armies and fleets are commanded by people with degrees in agriculture, biology or God forbids, journalism, no number of hours in some staff college is going to address a gaping hole in professional military education and integrity which comes with Esprit de corps--a thing beyond the grasp of British military, a demoralized, shrinking lilliputian force which is shown its true miniscule scale by the enemy British loved to hate since 18th century.
Or why many (not all) men want to be associated with military and violence. Often not understanding that there is no glamour in this field. Gladiators, however, have been sex symbols. One of the reasons why American football is popular in the US--it is a primitive reference to gladiators. That explains also why Musk, who wouldn't know a first thing about warfare needed to comment on Yakut fighter and knifes.
