What's up with North Korean soldiers fighting in Ukraine? North Korea’s sending troops to fight for Russia in Ukraine isn’t some grand ideological alliance. It’s a straightforward transaction that benefits both sides right now. Russia’s burning through manpower and wants to avoid another big mobilization that could cause problems at home. North Korea has the bodies and the artillery shells. In exchange, Pyongyang’s getting food, oil, hard currency, and access to technology sanctions have kept out of reach. The economic upside for North Korea is in the billions over a couple years. That's serious bank when their whole economy is around $25-30 billion. Their troops also get real exposure to modern combat (drones, electronic warfare, etc..) High casualties obviously aren't a dealbreaker for Kim. The regime frames it as loyalty and uses it for domestic propaganda while reducing some of its dependence on China. They formalized it with a mutual defense pact. For Putin it’s a way to keep grinding. For Kim it’s cash, upgrades, and a seat at a table that isn’t just Beijing’s. There’s also history here. North Korea spent decades training and arming non-state groups in the Middle East and elsewhere. Palestinian factions, Hezbollah types, and others. Some of those networks later overlapped with al-Qaeda-linked activity (mortars turning up with al-Shabaab is one example) Direct ties to core AQ have always been thin and mostly transactional, but the pattern is the same. Proliferation and support when there’s something to gain. Same opportunistic approach they’re using with Russis. Both sides know what they’re getting and both are willing to pay the price.

The chief problem was trying to create a Western democracy in Afghanistan. Jim Gant outlined how it could have worked, but he was ignored. The other issue here is people thinking fighting is "a mistake" when there is no other choice, just because it didn't go the way they hoped.

It was very interesting to the three of us to see FPV drones being utilized as disinformation by cartel sicarios. To us this demonstrates the added value & importance that cartels as a whole have placed on drones, as they use it as part of their propaganda efforts against rivals.

Najaf. Strong recommend on this Pepperbox Doc (see below), by the way. You should watch that with the atlas on a second screen. battlefieldatlas.app

The US Army undoubtedly shows, and will keep showing, the best results in terms of its adaptability during exercises, and I’m sure in real combat as well. But such figures (like the loud claims about NATO brigades being “crushed by drones”) somewhat distort reality and, as a result, lead to false conclusions. Questions that should be asked: - How many Ukrainian (or any other) UAV crews were deployed per 1 km of frontage (and, accordingly, across the frontage of the whole “offensive” of the notional enemy); - How many integrated sensors, of the kind fielded on the Ukrainian side in the current war, were deployed; - What density of drone detection assets and EW suppression assets was deployed against the advancing American brigade; - What percentage of the deployed UAV crews on the frontage, broken down into SRD, fixed-wing ISR, FO, FR FPV, heavy drones, RUGVs, etc., took part in the exercises; - Did the defending side manage to establish constant surveillance of the notional enemy with SRD and fixed-wing ISR; - Was mining carried out with assets such as FPVs, heavy drones and fixed-wing “bombers”; - Was a decentralized SIGINT & ELINT network deployed; - Was a radar field built with STR; - Were UAV crews capable of striking at depths of 25–75 km present at the exercise; I could name quite a few more such “?” questions. Fighting a notional enemy that has 7–12 FPV/SRD/fixed-wing ISR crews deployed across a 10–15 km frontage is not the same as breaking through an echeloned defense made up of a large number of sensors, a unified situational awareness system, and detection and strike assets with corresponding strike zones and depths.