In the right hands, the plumb job in Government is Chief Secretary to the Treasury.  Seat in Cabinet.  Just below the radar, but enormous po...

The Donald is, by his own estimation, a legendary deal-maker and negotiator.  Well, he does get (some) things done, and indeed sometimes get...

Well, someone on Team Trump knows their game: gotta love the symbolism of meeting in Alaska!  Yup, Li'l Volodya / L'il Volodymyr, it...

Last year I offered a short account of how evolving Russian practice on the Ukrainian battlefield was starting to show signs of being in pu...

... though these days, such is the sheer strength of Putin's international positioning, they must be very, very nice to them.  And send...

A few weeks ago we suggested that, while there are clear signs of their being some kind of doctrinaire, ideological approach (es) behind wha...

I mean, really troubled -?  Obviously, China has done very well out of the pre-existing "free trade" regime (everything is relati...

The old debate we often return to , has surfaced again a propos of steel manufacturing.  To what extent is self-sufficiency in strategic co...

Impressive, or what? So what does Li'l Volodya don for his expedition to a safe corner of Kursk?  Yep, the khaki hi-neck teeshirt and fa...

It looks for all the world as though Trump, against all his self-vaunted reputation as a dealmaker, has rather publicly gone into bilaterals...

The Biden administration didn't in any way distinguish itself on foreign & security matters (well, on anything really) but here'...

He's already winding him up mercilessly.  The context is that Putin's very substantial and prickly pride has been deeply wounded by ...

The 2025 Predictions compo was coming along - but has to wait!  Because ... A short while ago we suggested here that Putin was prone to forg...

At the peak of its vainglorious Cold War pomp, the USA reckoned to maintain forces sufficient to fight two major wars and one minor war - si...

As we well know, declining birth rates across substantial parts of the globe, coupled in many countries with ever-increasing longevity (of a...

Russia has just suspended LNG exports from its Arctic LNG 2 gas terminal - indeed, it's suspended liquefaction.  Not a helpful state of ...

Start with Ukraine.  Zelenski's 'Victory Pan' of earlier this month is so off-beam, it simply serves to illustrate the impossi...

It is well over three weeks of Ukraine's incursion into Kursk.  If they so choose, they can easily extend this into next month, maybe lo...

Last week, a little OT exchange took place BTL here , thus: Anon :  What I'm not so sure of is if this is a Stalingrad moment (in revers...

We should define our terms here, and personally I don't choose to go the whole hog with Carlyle, who claims that the whole of history ca...