Category Archives: War

Joe Biden in 1982: pro-Israeli warrior

Posted on April 3, 2024 by odeboyz

In 1982, shortly before Reagan bluntly ordered Begin to cease his ‘holocaust’ in Lebanon, a young US senator who revered Elie Wiesel as his great teacher met the Israeli prime minister. In Begin’s own stunned account of the meeting, the senator commended … Continue reading →

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The CIA’s 2024 Annual Threat Assessment: Intelligence Community Assessment

Posted on March 20, 2024 by odeboyz

The CIA isn’t interested in the rights and wrongs of international conflicts. Their focus is their impact on the USA. The Gaza Conflict is interesting in this respect. It is facile to think it is tightly located there. “Conflicts, particularly … Continue reading →

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Stalin’s Patriotism

Posted on February 7, 2024 by odeboyz

Having learned they had captured Joseph Stalin’s son, the Nazis had an idea: exchange the boy – artillery Lt. Yakov Dzhugashvili – for Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus, the commander who surrendered Stalingrad.  Stalin’s answer….All Soviet prisoners, he said, are … Continue reading →

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The Strategic Context of the Israeli-Gaza War, 7th October 2023

Posted on January 24, 2024 by odeboyz

The Hamas attack was shocking but had probably been war gamed by Israeli chiefs of staff. Only the detail of the 7th October attack amazed and caused a military earthquake. The attack itself was a classic asymmetric hit-and-run incursion. Hamas: … Continue reading →

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The End of Nazi Germany

Posted on January 21, 2024 by odeboyz

The toll of the final struggle was immense, for Germans as well as for their victims and the Allies. Of the 5.3 million German soldiers killed in the war, half died in the final ten months. The Nazis threw Hitler … Continue reading →

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Book Review: Ben MacIntyre ~ Agent Sonya (2020)

Posted on December 20, 2023 by odeboyz

Historians often write beautifully and are highly literate. But they don’t create new genres. MacIntyre has pulled off the feat of writing biography, history and thrillers: simultaneously. He chooses remarkable and well documented stories. This provides a structure to work … Continue reading →

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Film Review: Napoleon (2023) (Joaquin Phoenix)

Posted on December 6, 2023 by odeboyz

I shouldn’t go to historical biopic films. I tut-tut and nit-pick and definitely don’t enter into the spirit of the thing. Oppenheimer lulled me into a false sense of security. Disaster! I hated it and nearly walked out. Why? The … Continue reading →

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Crimea, 2014: Vladimir Putin’s Triumph

Posted on November 15, 2023 by odeboyz

Russia’s annexation of Crimea was textbook perfect. Putin gained the tacit approval of the international community. This was essential for an unqualified success. A consequence was that the Ukraine itself was undermined. Putin’s justification for the annexation, the correction of … Continue reading →

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Warfare without Humans

Posted on November 1, 2023 by odeboyz

Background Warfare involves finding competitive advantages. David and Goliath is the classic example. David overcame Goliath’s size advantage with technology. Technological advances create defensive antidotes until they are, in their turn, overcome. Defensive walls, for example, were effective until high … Continue reading →

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The Tragedy of the West Bank Conflict

Posted on September 7, 2023 by odeboyz

It’s internationally accepted that Israeli sponsored settlements in the West Bank are illegal. Israel have, nonetheless, made them a central policy for their coalition government. Settler townships only exist because of this political commitment. The full panoply of surveillance drones … Continue reading →

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