With only a few exceptions, anyone who knows anything about history and aviation has respect (at worst) and love for the extraordinary De Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber-reconnaissance airplane.
As a number of my Readers fall into the history/aviation dork genus, here’s an hour or so of the restoration of a Mozzie. I loved every minute of it.
Even better, in Canada (????). Brilliant stuff.
Via Insty comes this report:
In Finland, adolescent males report for a short and intense period of military training, followed by shorter refreshers for most of their adult life. The training is not, as in the Israeli model, a few years of dedicated service. Nor does it emphasize military discipline, such as keeping one’s bunk tidy and shoes polished, or the Prussian-style transformation of citizen-recruit into fighting machine. Instead, it prepares civilians to be ready to join their unit and harass and kill invaders. A country of Finland’s size can rapidly field nearly 1 million trained soldiers.
And they’re doing this right now. One of my Loyal Readers has a spy at Sako, who tells him that we’re not going to be getting new Sako rifles in the U.S. anytime soon, because their entire production is being directed towards “local consumption”. As I posted earlier:
Insty’s final comment on the report is absolutely on the nail, by the way:
“America should do this too.”
I’ve been trying… A Nation Of Riflemen, remember?
You won’t hear this on CNN, but Putin’s Army of Darkness, in the most complex and ambitious ground maneuver operation since World War 2, following the Soviet “deep war” playbook, is also working on cutting off the Ukrainian army group in the Donbass from Kiev. This is by far the most capable (or only capable) large portion of the Ukrainian army. Yesterday, its main reserves of diesel fuel were destroyed from the air. It will soon be cut off and immobile.
Once that happens, the entire Donbass front collapses (they will no longer have a “front”), and BILLIONS of dollars in U.S.-funded or U.S.-supplied weaponry will be captured almost without a battle. (To be clear, it’s almost all U.S. funded or supplied—even most of the Soviet vintage stuff was bought and shipped in from Poland, Czechia, etc. by the CIA, “off the books” but well documented in videos of tank trains crossing the border into Ukraine, in 2015-2016.)
The Russians have finally entered Kharkov, Ukraine’s second largest city, very close to the Russian border. Previously, they had bypassed it the same way that America bypassed every town in southern Iraq to reach Baghdad in 2003. On Saturday night, they finally wasted all significant, organized resistance with a rain of thermobaric death in the outskirts. Today, they started to go in and mop up. Of course, it’s not a job for one day.
It remains to be seen if Putin’s plan will succeed or fail, but what is clear is that there was a plan to invade Ukraine in force, and that plan has been executed since day one.
Ukrainian troops are putting up a valiant fight facing long odds and difficult conditions. Russia holds most if not all of the advantages. It can, and has, attacked Ukraine from three different directions. The Russian military holds a decided advantage in manpower, as well as air, naval and armor superiority. It has vast resources to draw on. While Ukraine has the support of much of the international community, which is providing weapons, Ukraine is fighting alone.
Believing Russia’s assault is going poorly may make us feel better but is at odds with the facts.
Sobering stuff. And given the fog of war at the moment, both are plausible and well-reasoned arguments.
I think that at the moment the Ukrainians are trying to survive a war, rather than worrying about gender inequality or how they look to Western feminists.
And:
As long as you leave the Jews alone this time, then yes.
Assume you were thirty years old and had your pilot’s license. You were offered the opportunity to own one of the following two aircraft:
And for my Brit / Anglophile Readers, a similar choice:
De Havilland Mosquito FB Mk.VI
And for the lovers of all things German:
No substitutes allowed.
So here’s this report:
Retired generals urge Pentagon to take steps to avert ‘civil war’ after 2024 election
“The Defense Department should war-game the next potential post-election insurrection or coup attempt to identify weak spots. It must then conduct a top-down debrief of its findings and begin putting in place safeguards to prevent breakdowns not just in the military, but also in any agency that works hand in hand with the military.”
I’m all over that thought. But I should caution these old assholes that as usual, they’re preparing to fight the last war, not the next one.
You see, there will be no problems among military or even among ex-military, as they seem to be so nervous about, because the outcome of the next election is likely to be a resounding Republican victory.
But amongst all their little wargames, I hope these guys actually implement their action plans for when the Left starts an insurrection after Election 2024. That, my old Rockjaws, is the more likely prospect.
