History News & Analysis

The Real Context News Podcast #12: Rula Jebreal—Palestinian Journalist, Analyst, & Author—on Palestine and Israel

By Brian E. Frydenborg (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter @bfry1981, YouTube) January 6, 2024 (recorded December 29, 2023 intro/conclusion recorded January 5, 2024); see Brian’s other coverage the Israel-Hamas war here; because of YOU, Real Context News surpassed one million content views ...
Ara Pacis Rome

The Concept of Roman Peace

As we are confronted with horrific wars even in 2023, a look back at how the Romans conceptualized peace may be instructive. By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981, LinkedIn, Facebook, Substack with exclusive informal content, my Linktree with all my public links/profiles) November 7, 2023, ...
Orwell in Spain

From Orwell in Spain to Trump and Putin: Orwell as Antidote to Stalinism and Fascism, Then and Now

From Stalinist show-trials in Spain to Jim Jordan’s Judiciary Committee, history is repeating itself and it is terrifying as Trump, Putin, and their allies channel the gaslighting spirit of Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union (Russian/Русский перевод; Если вы состоите ...
6 months of Russian "progress" in Bakhmut, Sept-March

Russia’s Pyrrhic Advances at Soledar Near Bakhmut Setting Up Ukrainian Counteroffensive, Not Russian Victory

Many analysts seem focused on whether proclamations by Russia that it has “won” the battle for Soledar are accurate or how accurate. The bigger picture here shows that regardless, Russia is setting itself up for a titanic defeat because of ...

Biden’s and Democrats’ Historic Awesomeness Cannot Be Denied: Midterms Edition

As we watch the escapades of the incoming Republican House majority of the 118th Congress broadcast to the world the most dysfunction for an incoming House majority or plurality since the 1850s, it is worth contrasting that with the historic ...

An Urgently Needed Definition of “Fascism” as the West Fights It Anew at Home and Abroad

Happy New Year! Sadly, in 2023 and beyond, we will and must confront a dreadful specter of the past not only abroad but also at home: fascism. In our current era it is on the rise, but one of the ...

Thoughts on the Passing of Queen Elizabeth II

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 ...
Suomussalmi

Ukrainian Prudence Meets Russian Limitations: Explaining the Current Pace and Nature of Russia’s War on Ukraine

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 ...
Biden Pelosi Schumer

Media Keeps Portraying Democrats and Biden as a Mess, Ignoring Data Proving that Could Not Be Further from Truth

As usual, the media falls into facile forced narratives founded upon anecdotes, personal impressions, and its members own views and agendas without even attempting to include relevant data By Brian E. Frydenborg (Twitter @bfry1981; LinkedIn, Facebook), July 11, 2022 (**updated ...
Finnish officers are inspecting Soviet skiing manuals

A Flurry of Telling Parallels Between the 1939-1940 Soviet-Finnish Winter War and Russia’s 2022 Ukraine War

Apart from other thematic ways I already discussed that Putin today is repeating Stalin's mistakes from the disastrous launching of the 1939 Soviet invasion of Finland, here are a number of other illuminating similarities between the two debacles (Russian/Русский перевод) By ...
Finnish troops

Moscow’s 1939 Finland Hubris Repeats Itself in Ukraine in 2022

Stalin and his Kremlin inner circle were egregiously overconfident in their planning for the Soviet Union’s invasion of Finland in 1939. Disaster would follow. That Soviet-Finnish Winter War today is a gift of lessons for Putin and his Kremlin inner ...
Putin speech

How Delusions of Phantom Fascists Duped Stalin in 1939 and Putin in 2022

Before Stalin launched his war against Finland in 1939, Soviet war planners based their planning on the self-serving, inaccurate fiction that Finland was rife with fascists. This delusion would cost them dearly in the war, and in 2022 Putin and ...