John Wright’s Post

Sometimes, it happens this way: you submit a book chapter hoping to see it published, but it never materializes. Fortunately, the story goes otherwise this time: I submitted a chapter and was informed it passed all the necessary procedures. I thought it would be published somewhere in late 2024. However, BANG—Research Gate alerts me, "We found your paper." Springer Nature's living references are swift and highly recommended for everyone intending to have a paper in print not two years after acceptance. So, here (https://lnkd.in/dzPEjseY) is another text on Azov in a Handbook with a charming title and an enticing description: "Introduction to the diverse universe of non-state actors in East-West relations. New insights into the dynamics of the relationship between states and non-state actors. Distinguished attention for contemporary relations between Russia and the West." In case you are interested, there is also a Chapter on The Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment.

#Newsletter: This week, several tonnes of #American #military materials arrived in #Narvik and will roll over the border from #Norway into the new NATO countries. The US will soon present its new #Arctic strategy, and a #Swedish major asks the #Nordics to build their own #preparedness without NATO. We also have news about #sanctions and life in the North.

"...the United States is launching missiles into Syria, into Somalia, has special operations going on in a number of countries. It is training and involved in warfare with many militaries in Africa. And, really, 80 countries around the world, according to the Cost of War Project at Brown University, are places where the United States is currently engaged in a so-called War on Terror, and yet those countries are off the media map in terms of those activities and, officially, we’re in peacetime." https://lnkd.in/gsutfng5

Valerii Zaluzhnyi The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine recently published via The Economist an extensive essay concerning much needed breakthroughs and what it takes to achieve them. Worth a read! 🇺🇦🪖🧠⚔️ℹ️🌐💪♟️📊🚧🏛️💡⚖️🧰🛡️💣🗡️🩸🔎🇺🇦 #ukraine #ukrainewar #war #warfare #warfighter #warrior #strategicplanning #strategic #strategicleadership #strategicgrowth #tactical #tactics #tacticaltraining #military #militarycommunity #militaryhistory #militarytechnology #easterneurope #nato #internationalrelations #ir #globalimpact

With a salute from the Horizon, we welcome Leonid Davydenko and "The Development Of Russia’s Hybrid War Doctrine"! "The Russo-Ukrainian war has shown that the Russian #hybridwar #doctrine, in its real essence, is not about #military #technology at all – it is a collection of covert special operations. This #war is regional in terms of territory but not in terms of its #influence on global #geopolitics and the development of #hybrid #wartheory. A principal feature of hybrid #warfare is a paradoxical logic: it is the situation of neither war nor #peace. #clausewitz’s formula of war is turned inside out: war is no longer the continuation of #politics by other means, but politics is war waged by other means." #TDHJ https://lnkd.in/dRPXKuYZ

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was from my brother-in-law. I was having a tough time with something he’d been through himself. At first, all I could do was complain about what I saw as wrong about making a change … about changing my perspective. When I was done with my rant and was ready to listen, he delivered his advice. “John, every morning when you wake up, start your day by realizing that you don’t know s**t.” He was right, and acknowledging this fact proved liberating. It enabled me to step over the hurdle of my own limited understanding and to see things from a different and more open perspective. It is for similar reasons that I admire the wisdom of Carl von Clausewitz as it pertains to operational art and military strategy. His introduction of “the fog of war,” for example, is an acknowledgment that we can’t plan for or foresee everything once contact is made with the enemy. Or as Mike Tyson puts it in modern terms, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Not that Clausewitz wasn’t strongly opinionated, or that he thought he was right when others were wrong. This article highlights how he bucked the conventional wisdom of his day. But I believe his legacy is not in detailed, absolute truths about war. I think they are in the recognition there are general truths that must be flexible, subject to reflection as the years go by with their ever changing ways and means of achieving political ends. He offers us guidance, which includes acknowledging the unknowns. I am a fan of Clausewitz. This article is an excellent read … taking a critical look at how he defined strategy, and how he wrestled with it. I admire most the people whose legacy is not just in what they made or accomplished, but who are more defined by their struggles … beginning with an acknowledgement that they cannot possibly know everything.

I've just published a new article, "Lessons from the Chinese Conquest of Taiwan," in Defense Opinion. The article briefly explores what we can learn from the last time that a mainland regime seized control of the island, and how those insights apply today. #China #Taiwan #history #lessons https://lnkd.in/dZpgszgk

In this article on my blog, Strategic Wisdom, I discuss Maskirovka, a strategy of deceit used by Russian intelligence services both in peacetime and war, and for both offensive and defense purposes. To learn more, read:

This week our intelligence team are hosting 2 webinars; Anticipating war in the Taiwan strait and Militarily escalation in the Red Sea Click here to register for our webinar: Anticipating War in the Taiwan Strait #geopolitics #geopoliticalrisk #taiwan

Scott Savitz of RAND Corporation in a new commentary in Defense Opinion discusses the modern day lessons to be drawn from China's conquest of Taiwan more than three centuries ago. "In China, history matters. China’s rulers, including its Communist ones, have been keenly engaged with the history of their nation and its implications for the present. Even Mao Zedong, who sought to expunge many aspects of China’s past, did so in emulation of a history-erasing emperor who had lived over 2,000 years earlier," he writes. "For this reason, it is critical to learn from mainland China’s previous conquest of Taiwan as a guide to how China may seek to seize that island again. That struggle is strikingly similar to the present one: in both cases, a Taiwan-based government, ruling in the name of one that had once ruled all of China, was holding out against a mainland regime that sought to extinguish it." Read more at the link.... #taiwan #china #pacific #nationalsecurity #USmilitary #USNavy https://lnkd.in/eCBm4Ard