Europe/Russia/CIS

Putin’s mobilization is myopically feared by some but does more damage to him at home than anything to help the war effort, the dynamics of which have been set and cannot be altered by this mobilization or “referenda,” gimmicks that ...
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An anti-monarchist reflects on what we have lost in our modern era: “an image of the splendour of the Kings of Men in glory undimmed before the breaking of the world.” By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), September ...
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Revisiting my coverage from early in Putin's escalation campaign and a new excerpt (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), September 16, 2022; with an excerpt from his article The Beginning of the End of Putin? Why ...
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Losing this badly will help wake up millions of Russians to some level of reality, and they will blame Putin. It is doubtful that the Russian military will keep fighting under these conditions for much longer. (Russian/Русский перевод; traduction française) ...
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In moving troops from stronger positions in Ukraine's east to weaker positions in the country's south, Russia exposed those troops to more danger in the south while making its eastern positions more vulnerable to counterattack, with predictable results playing out ...
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There are many Twitter accounts focusing a lot of their attention on the war in Ukraine, and a decent number of solid ones, but these five are the standouts of the standouts (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, ...
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The factors explaining why things are now happening the way they are happening (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), August 23, 2022; adapted for and published by Small Wars Journal as Russia’s Limits Meet Ukraine’s Discretion to Slow ...
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What a brief comparison between today’s aid work in Ukraine and efforts during Iraq’s Battle of Mosul against ISIS can teach us (Russian/Русский перевод coming soon) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), August 9, 2022 People offer rooms for Ukrainian refugees as ...
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It’s possible Ukraine can push Russia out entirely (including from Crimea & the Donbas) in the coming months; here’s how that would most likely go down. If my last piece focused on the “why” Ukraine will win, this one focuses ...
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Dynamics over time are the key to analyzing just about anything, and they clearly favor Ukraine in Russia’s failing war of conquest (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), July 30, 2022; adapted version featured by Small ...
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Some fools claim that the West has been the aggressor against Russia here. The best argument against this—that enthusiastically helping Ukraine is not only a proper response to Russian aggression in this current war but to a decade-and-a-half of Russian ...
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Three maps juxtaposed in one collage are worth at least three-thousand words and tell the bigger picture of the war in Ukraine (Russian/Русский перевод) By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook), July 14, 2022; see July 30 follow-up article ...
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