The Desert Fox (Turtle) Loses to the Toxic Dragon

The Desert Turtle is not an endangered species. It is arbitrarily designated as “vulnerable” but not endangered.  They are inactive during most of the year and only come out during seasonal rains. At least 95% of their life is spent underground. Adult tortoises can survive a year or more without access to water. Their natural predators include ravens, gila monsters, and ants. But the BIGGEST threat to the desert tortoise’s habitat are WIND AND SOLAR FARMS. Do you care about the Desert Tortoise? I know I do. I believe in preserving living biodiversity. Therefore, any environmentalist worth his salt should be up in arms about the idea of the Chinese … More after the Jump…

Warsaw 1920: Lenin’s Failed Conquest of Europe

To say that the Polish-Soviet War was a continuation of The Great War would be a lie. Certainly, the vacuum of power from the Vistula to the Dnieper had something to do with it, but it does not account for behaviors that Americans will always find opaque and odd when visiting Eastern European history. The Polish side had brandished rifles at one another during the previous international conflict. They were now united for everything reactionary and terrible (in the eyes of the Bolsheviks): defense of their homeland against the international worker’s revolution (led by soft-handed bourgeois intellectuals). One anachronism would be the idea of a champion swordsman challenging the other … More after the Jump…

Now would be a good time for a bit of revisionism

Ladies and Gentlemen: Please notice the absolute awe of silence from Western nations (and in particular, liberals) during the takeover of the Crimea…. Where are the street demonstrations? Remember 2003, anyone? Well, maybe if you live in Alaska or Europe, you may want to remember that our “allies” in WWII were the most brutal, raping animals that ever came out of the steppes. Life under Russian rule would be cold, despotic, arbitrary, hopeless and short: just like it is for Russians right now. Meanwhile, America is worried that a worthless piece of desert *may* produce a single bomb: the last time this country invaded Europe was 2400 years ago. The … More after the Jump…

The Evolution of Warfare and the Crimea

“History” is a problematic concept because it is very much tied to a specific culture. History departments derive from the medieval university culture of Europe and we have to accept that most people, at most of the time, have lived without any notion of it. Perception is a key to understanding this phenomena: in the history of warfare, violent confrontations have in large part been endemic. Two parties confront each other and display a show of brutal force and often the conflict is resolved symbolically by a single dual or one side is hidden behind a fortification, while tribute is discussed. A perfect example of endemic warfare would be the … More after the Jump…

National Review and Cliches on the Crimea

This is what poses as journalism in the disgenic idiocracy of today’s Western world : here. They aren’t even embarrassed that they are quoting an author that they haven’t read. If NRO wants to cut and paste the following comments, I suggest they do that, especially considering that this is the age of twitter journalism and that it is more important to Bolshevik-purge your only decent intellectual to tow the line in PC thinking than to actually read the books you are quoting from in our modern society. Here may be some reasons why Putin has taken the Crimea (perhaps he actually has read Clausewitz?) One country may support another’s … More after the Jump…

The 9th Company – Film Review

The 9th Company is the Russian Full Metal Jacket. It starts of in bootcamp and ends in an inhospitable landscape fighting guerillas in unconventional warfare. It is a fictional portrayal of The Battle for Hill 3234. That being said, the value of this film lies in what can be gleaned not from the similarities with the former film, but with the differences. First of all, we are introduced to Russian culture in the form of dedovshchina, a term which encapsulates the institutions of the former Soviet Union ( and which continue to this day). Russian hierarchies have their cultural inheritance in the gulag, and in The Bitch Wars. A brutal, … More after the Jump…

Machiavelli? Try Clausewitz!

Full disclosure: I consider the NYT to be a gang of flabby, post-modernist girlymen who stroke each other(‘s egos) all day long, and try to get an emotional response out of their dwindling readership. So today I saw a comment on one their articles that fully describes my opinion of what is wrong with America. Who do we want to emulate? A bunch of tribalist beach bums who sing “O Sole Mio” while thinking about how to poison their uncle in order to take over his restaurant, or the Iron Will of Prussian Steel??? Here is the comment from the unworthy-to-read article: Do we really need to be told that … More after the Jump…

The Phonetic Revolution

You are on a hill, a commander. Your troops are aligned in a phalanx. Your commanding officer is guarding the bridge on the opposite side of your fortress. He sends his messenger to you: By ths rdr ttck t th wstrn flnk nd kp prssr n th nmy whn h s rtrtng It’s not Greek, its an abjad, meaning that there are only consonants in this alphabet. Although you want to focus on the enemy formation, you take a moment to decipher this message: By this murder attack to the western flank end keep pressure in the army when he is returning So, we must attack the western flank end … More after the Jump…

Review – St. George Shoots the Dragon

To be baptized into the trenches, on film, requires historical knowledge, but also an expensive pyrotechnic arsenal. This can be done, but when it is overdone, the viewer is left with a dazzling shell shock that does less to educate than to confuse. St. George Shoots the Dragon, a Serbian film, brings to life the Balkans at a critical age. It does not shell shock the viewer, but also, fails to enlighten. Serbia, unlike most places in the world, has been at perpetual war for nearly a thousand years. It is therefore likely that an exposition of their participation in battle will accompany a Laconic wit that borders on gallows … More after the Jump…

Finnish Exceptionalism – Sisu

American exceptionalism is no myth. The 19th century saw some of the greatest minds produce a vastly modern civilization out of a wilderness. Since then we have been in intellectual decline – we have consistent party purges of anyone who doesn’t toe the party line in all areas of life from academia to the military, and narrow ideological constructs such as political correctness have rendered the 1st amendment a relic and a sideshow. How about our performance in the Second World War? The greatest fighter pilot was a German, the greatest tank ace was a German, and the greatest sniper was a Finn. The greatest military performance of all time … More after the Jump…

A rebuttal to “Killology”

In the past 100 years man has gone from a man, to a killer ape, to a man again. I find it hard to believe that he ever was a killer or lover of mankind, but more like a hungry creature who needed a reason to do anything other than satiate himself. First of all, we don’t have evidence to prove that the Battle of Gaugamela was “a giant shoving match.” We do have evidence that modern soldiers have misfired their rifles on purpose in order to avoid shooting the enemy, but many conclusions can be drawn from this. I would argue that Europeans have gone through four stages in … More after the Jump…

Von Saucken – The Last Aristocrat

Today’s generation can be forgiven for seeing the Second World War’s common participants as engaging in a battle of ideologies. That being said, the Waffen SS were the ultimate outsiders who became the ultimate insiders. During the blitzkrieg into Poland the Wehrmacht saw them as little more than auxiliaries, along for the ride. It is therefore interesting to appreciate the fact that the majority of the Heer were not ideologues, and therefore why they were capable of constantly putting up amazing fronts against an opponent (Russia) that outnumbered them 13:1. The German military predated the rise of national socialism and shared few values with the Fuhrer and his henchmen. German … More after the Jump…

How the Hussars Took Moscow

By the time the leopard-pelt donning Serbian mercenaries arrived in the commonwealth, the ferrous mines of Europe were in full bloom. No longer would the ancestral ingot change from plowshare to spearhead and back again under the same village smithy. The 17th century would see the rise and fall of heavy cavalry. The panoply of the mighty Polish Hussar would only come to rust when the musket was capable of penetrating plate mail, but this falls after our incursion into events past at this moment in time. Today citizens fear the idea of fighting two wars at the same time. In our peek into rustic Poland we shall find that … More after the Jump…

When the Tigers Broke Free – Rape in World War Two

I am afraid that the top side is not completely satisfied with my work… They are naturally disappointed that I failed to chase the Hun out of Italy but there was no military reason why I should have been able to do so. In fact there is no military reason for “Shingle”. – Major General John P. Lucas     The Royal Fusiliers Company C were not the only men sacrificed for the imbibing hereditary duke beyond the Cliffs of Dover. The Battle of Monte Cassino and its sub theaters were a great multicultural event. The last time so many nations had uplifted and hurled themselves at an object was … More after the Jump…

The Christ of Nations, 1920

In Polish history, war usually comes down to two conflicting scripts. From the Polish side, pushing geographical boundaries out in all directions, as far as possible. From the opposing side: eliminating the irritating roadblock begrudgingly acknowledged as “Poland.” This theme is perennial. It has not only been steel and fire that has determined if the land of the White Eagle was to be a flesh and blood state, or merely a state of mind; it was also the petitioning of the fighting spirit through ideological appeal. Literature in Poland has served such a purpose. Polish literature is not meant to appeal to outsiders. It is generally so nationalistic that neighboring … More after the Jump…