The tendency observers shaped by GWOT-era failures to reach back to Pape's work in criticising US DoD belief in airpower's ability alone to achieve specific strategic objectives has led to less attention to the broader impact of the sheer carnage American airpower has unleashed since 1941

"Make people dependent enough, and then make it shitty" Still giggling at this hilarious video from the Norwegian Consumer Council "A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator" which seems a perfect embodiment of Silicon Valley and tech generally these days www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Up...

1/ Experts issued some pretty dire warnings about Trumpian tariffs and Brexit, and the result was not nearly as bad as it could have been. Now they're issuing dire warnings about Iran. A much smarter friend asked me how I was thinking about the difference. My short answer: control.

"Adam Smith" is one hell of a name for a politician discussing the efficient use of limited resources.

Britene har for få skip, og helikopterbesetningene deres sliter med å få seilingsdøgn. Vi har skip, men ikke helikoptre. Grei byttehandel, og kanskje et frampek om et framtidig helikopterkjøp ihvertfall britene håper vil komme.

vimeo.com/event/5688229 RNoAFA Air Power and leadership conference live stream. Programme below. www.forsvaret.no/en/research/...

Nå er det ganske nøyaktig ett år siden mange norske medier gjorde all mulig mental gymnastikk for å slippe å slå fast, uten hvis og at og eufemismer, at Elon Musk gjorde en fascisthilsen. Det siste årets hendelser viser med all tydelighet hva som er så viktig med å bruke et ærlig og tydelig språk.

Pretty sure it's a printer.

Hånda i været de av oss som har hatt rosa fingre mens vi har vært på direktesending hos NRK for å snakke om Israel-Iran, bare fordi vi glemte at treåringen fikk male pappas negler òg!

Og svaret er, den gang som nå, "det spørs". =) mvh, Luftkrigsskolen

Mustafa Cans tekst anbefales sterkt! «For i samme øyeblikk som nasjonen forstås som organisme, begynner mennesker å deles inn i to kategorier: de som er organismen, og de som bare befinner seg i dens nærhet. Statsborgerskap blir da en overflate; tilhørighet flytter inn i et «indre».»

I'll just quietly as that one of the finest academic paper titles of all time is the glorious: "Tin, Tin in the Congo | 7 | From Imperial Asset to Conflict Mineral" | share.google/ZSoztBqFozjY...

The Nobel Prize committee should announce the World Cup winner tomorrow

Vi har en ledig PhD stipendiat-stilling ved Luftkrigsskolen - søknadsfrist 10. januar: arbeidsplassen.nav.no/stillinger/s...

Since the USN is once again looking for a proven, easily modifiable foreign off-the-shelf design, I have a modest proposal: www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2...

The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?

A lovely October weekend in Libertwolkwitz for the 212th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Leipzig. First time back since 2013, this time as part of a very small composite grenadier coy with Gordons and KGL. Good to be back in the field again.

Go work with Elisabeth and Jonas! Just do it!

“For small states like Ireland, this European drift is dangerous. It leaves us riding two horses that are now galloping in different directions.” This really is a very good piece on Ireland’s (and to some extent other European neutrals).

136 657 days out of date. And counting.

First rate read from @ldfreedman.bsky.social, as always. Also illustrates some of the inherent difficulties in analysing attrition. Russian authorities are under pressure across different domains (financial, domestic, military etc), complicating efforts to sustain its own war effort.

I have a very bad feeling about this...

Det er selvfølgelig litt gledelig at nederlandsk for "Boarding" er "Nu innstappen".

This is the kind of analytical approach to PC games we really need! #KCD2

Where's Taggart when you need him?

These are some of Russia's primary interceptor aircraft in the Barents Sea. The (re-)establishment of Leningrad Military District facilitating the transfer of assets (temporary or otherwise) from Kola to Eastern Europe, setting up new flashpoints in and around the Baltic.

And now I'm feeling nostalgic for something that has yet to end...

Is it just me, or does "ELLIDA STRIKE" sound like a 1960s Bond-girl?

Alltid gøy å se folk forsøke å gå i klinsj med kongen av Nytt på Nytt.

In 2020, Tom generously placed his entire catalog of lyrics and music (including revised versions and little-known and unpublished works) into the public domain at tomlehrersongs.com for free use by anyone and everyone. The site was supposed to go dark around December 31, 2024, but it is still up.

Asked in an interview in the 1970s or 1980s why he stopped writing satirical songs, Lehrer famously quipped, “Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize [in 1973].” Well, Henry Kissinger finally died on November 29, 2023, at 100.

Tom was a prodigy who skipped grades to enter Harvard University as a freshman at 15. Below is the final stanza of “Dissertation on Education,” the poem he wrote and submitted around 1943 with his successful college application. Drafted into the Army in 1955, Tom worked at the NSA for two years.

The first time I heard "Poisoning Pigeons In the Park," I assumed it was some modern song made in a mocking parody of 1950s songs because I could not CONCEIVE of a song as hilarious and subversive as this having actually come out in that age. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTzr...

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

Tom Lehrer outlived his obituarist.

So Tom Lehrer has finally passed. At 97 it's hardly surprising, but still fills me with sadness. Given his penchant for the morbid, plenty of songs of his would serve as a fitting farewell. But I will go with the most famous, not least since it was also the first song of his I ever heard. Thanks.

If confirmed, that's a first for the Gripen. And, someone correct me if I'm wrong, the first combat op by a Swedish made aircraft since the Tunnan in the Congo?

So, allowing European allies to purchase munitions for donation to Ukraine is certainly a positive step. But witholding such permission was a pretty crappy move to begin with, and reinstating it is a pretty minor thing. And giving RU another fifty days before introducing secondary sanctions? Well.

Under-communicated just how important this is. The combination of low munition stocks and idle or non-existent production lines is probably the biggest issue facing European defence credibility at present.

Yes. Because they are.

What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders? Archduke Franz-Ferdinand not only survived the assassination but is actually still alive today, quietly working as a greeter at a Home Depot in Paterson, New Jersey.

The three year old, too busy looking for sea shells to care about the beauty that is the 1866 SDS Hansteen steaming past.

I believe the technical term for this in base defence circles is "epic fail".

Having been a Royal Guard bandsman in a past life may have something to do with it ... ... but I can't be alone in finding the first 30 seconds of this absolutely priceless?

9/10 In conclusion, this was not an attack on "some bombers" but on the whole system of Russian strategic aviation. Pending BDA, but the result will likely be a real degradation of Russia's ability to launch cruise missiles into Ukraine.

The inestimable @larspederhaga.bsky.social is here for all your sober-assessment-of-Russian-airpower needs! As always, he's well worth your time!

Also worth pointing out that the Tu-95 Bear has been *the* work horse of the RuAF cruise missile campaign in Ukraine. If, as looks possible, Ukraine has managed to destroy a significant number of these, any attempt to maintain current ops tempo will place serious stress on the remaining airframes.

One really should stress how difficult these losses are to replace. There hasn't been a new-built Tu-95 since 1992, nor a Tu-22M since 1993. Of the Tu-22 there are a number of aircraft in various stages of storage, so activating some is likely possible. For the Tu-95, there isn't much of a reserve.

Aye. Or rather, what's now possible to accomplish with limited means if you have boots on the ground in the locality. Mortar attacks against NATO airfields used to be a worry, but this is another scale entirely. Difficult to avoid the impression that hard shelters are an absolute necessity again.

Sitter Lars Mytting på fylkestinget?