RED ZONE.

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In keeping with the topic of a prior blog entry see this You Tube video:

As is some areas of northern France today so will be portions of Ukraine tomorrow.?

"The Forbidden RED ZONE in Europe, Where Life is No More"

"The 'zone rouge' (in French, Red Zone) is a noncontiguous area that occupies the northeastern part of France and corresponds to the places that hosted some of the bloodiest battles of the Great War. Originally extending as much as 1,200 km2 [about 450 square miles], over the years, thanks to reclamation efforts, it has been downsized to about 100 km2 [about 38 square miles]. Despite this, the subsoil still conceals a disproportionate amount of unexploded ordnance, conventional and otherwise, to the point that it remains virtually inaccessible to humans."

Comments:

* It is estimated it will take the land about 700 years to fully recover?

* Lots of unexploded artillery rounds including about 2 % of which are poison gas munitions. It will take the French about thirty years to dispose of just the amount chemical ordnance currently having been found and stored.

* Arsenic in the ground at much elevated levels way beyond norm. Agricultural products as harvested from the Red Zone must be marked accordingly with regard to hazard!

* I repeat that the black earth farm land the Eurasian steppe land to valuable to lay fallow. How to take remedial action in the aftermath of the war will be a major challenge.

coolbert.

Ignored.

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OSINT VIETNAM! As was the case prior the Easter offensive of the North Vietnamese Army, 1972. OSINT ignored!

"sub rosa: adverb - In secret; privately or confidentially"

"Intelligence Ignored"

From "Small Wars Journal" the article by W.R. (Bob) Baker 02/01/2023 an extract.

That extract:

"As the Easter Offensive of 1972  [North Vietnamese] was the precursor to the signing of the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, there were two occasions where the United States could and should have moved against North Vietnam earlier but didn’t."

"The first time occurred prior to the invasion of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), which began of March 30, 1972, was when William Stearman, a career Foreign Service member who went over to the National Security Council (NSC), put together a small sub rosa group before the Easter Offensive. This group was composed of NSA, CIA, and DIA members, as well as Dr. Steve Hosmer of RAND and Dr. Stearman. Using Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT)—the Hanoi newspapers—they had they first inkling of what was to be the Easter Offensive in the fall of 1971."

"They found that North Vietnamese men who were previously exempted (both skilled and physically unfit, Chinese, and Montagnards who didn’t speak Vietnamese) were all being conscripted in North Vietnam, they looked at seasonal weather patterns, and 'communications shifts,' all of which brought them to the conclusion that the date of the invasion was to be somewhere around 10 days before it actually occurred, which was March 30th."

As to the second occurrence when the USA should have more decisively in a pre-emptive manner against North Vietnamese army forces and North Vietnam in general, the devoted reader to the blog will have to read the remainder of the article for themselves.

Indeed! Even fifty years later I can recall quite well the comments of the famous television evening news anchor Howard K. Smith his reaction to the Easter Offensive:

"Someone has made a terrible mistake here. That South Vietnamese army [the USA had equipped and trained] is inadequate in defending itself against the infantry, artillery and armor combined arms formations of the North Vietnamese army." [not an exact quote but close enough]

Further from a comment to the article by David Hanna:

"I fear that when South Vietnam died, America began to slowly die thereafter."

A sentiment I for one am in 100 % total agreement with!

coolbert.

BAKHMUT.

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Bakhmut the podcast!

"THE BATTLE OF BAKHMUT"

Podcast via the | Modern War Institute |  John Spencer | 03.17.23

"In this episode of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project Podcast, John Spencer is joined again by Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA. He researches Russia and the former Soviet Union, specializing in Russian armed forces, military thought, capabilities, and strategy."

"He also recently returned from Bakhmut, Ukraine—the scene of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces over the past several months. In the conversation, he describes that trip and what he learned there."

Listen the entire podcast Bakhmut as an archetype of urban warfare as it is fought in the Twenty-first Century!

Via the Modern War Institute too see their entire PLAYLIST the topic in all cases historic and modern instances of urban warfare..

Bakhmut too as noted the battle now having a political significance far dominant beyond any sort of reasonable military rationale. For better or worse it being so!

coolbert.

Plunderage.

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Herewith an extract of an extract the Internet web site www.isegoria.net.

"Within a few minutes, the flower of Mughal chivalry lay dead on the ground"

Speaking of the Battle of Karnal, 1739. Invading Persian army commanded by Nader Shah triumphant over the defending forces of the Mughal Empire.

Nader Shah his goal not conquest and subjugation but plundering the wealth of the Mughals. Riches for the taking which can only be described almost as being beyond description!

Originally from: "The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Kindle Edition" by William Dalrymple.

Persian camel-borne swivel gun of the period of Nader Shah. Persian musketeers also more highly trained and proficient than their European counterparts of the era and wielding a superior musket. Credit the image the wiki: By Alexander Orlovsky. 

That extract:

"Nader never wished to rule India, just to plunder it for resources to fight his real enemies, the Russians and the Ottomans. Fifty-seven days later, he returned to Persia carrying the pick of the treasures the Mughal Empire had amassed over its 200 years of sovereignty and conquest: a caravan of riches that included Jahangir’s magnificent Peacock Throne, embedded in which was both the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the great Timur ruby. Nader Shah also took with him the Great Mughal Diamond, reputedly the largest in the world, along with the Koh-i-Noor’s slightly larger, pinker ‘sister’, the Daria-i-Noor, and ‘700 elephants, 4,000 camels and 12,000 horses carrying wagons all laden with gold, silver and precious stones’, worth in total an estimated £ 87.5 million [pounds sterling] in the currency of the time."

Considering only the value of plunder and loot taken from the Mughals by Nader Shah:

* In 1970, the relative value of £88,000,000 from 1740 ranges from £824,200,000 to £53,630,000,000.

* In 2021, the relative value of £824,000,000 from 1970 ranges from £12,080,000,000 to £34,080,000,000.

Whatever way you slice it a tidy sum!! Courtesy all calculation from the www.measuringworth.com Internet website.

At least until the time of the European Industrial Revolution the societies of the Indian sub-continent and China considered to be the richest, wealthiest, most advanced and technologically superior in the world!

coolbert.

PM M1910.

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"More than a hundred and forty years later, Europeans are still using Maxim's machine gun to kill each other.  The weapon and its derivatives have probably slaughtered tens of millions by now.  That doesn't say much for humanity, does it?" - Peter Grant.

"A World War I relic sees action again in Ukraine"

 From bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com | March 22, 2023.

See the pertinent You Tube video:

"Why Ukraine’s army still uses a 100-year-old machinegun"

Maxim gun water-cooled, 7.62 X 54 round. With advanced optics and suppressor [silencer]. Weapon normally crewed-served and tripod mounted. Long-range automatic fire I might think very lethal in the suppression role against enemy forces.

Four-barrel Soviet-era World War Two contraption Maxim gun used in the air defense mode. A variation of this weapon could be mounted on the back of a flat-bed truck and transported to the scene of the action. I can imagine such a weapon effective against low-flying strafing enemy warplanes. I can assume safely the Ukrainian version of this weapon relying on the original Soviet design? These units can be very useful in a defensive role against the low-flying and slow Shahed-136 kamikaze drone?

See my previous blog entry the Maxim gun the Ukraine Conflict:

https://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2022/03/maxim-mae.html

coolbert.

DU Ukraine.

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Courtesy the input from Jax a whole listing of articles with links the use of depleted uranium [DU] in the Ukraine Conflict. 

That Russian response FRENZIED in the extreme!

1. "Putin & Soigu Threaten Britain With Holocaust Use Of DU Will Be Perceived As A Nuclear Attack"

2."UPDATED 2:10 PM EDT -- Statement on NUCLEAR WAR -- URGENT -- BULLETIN: UK To Send Depleted Uranium Ammunition to Ukraine"

3. "Russian Diplomat On UK Plans To Send DU Shells To Kiev - NATO Lost Touch With Reality"

4. "London To Hand Depleted Uranium Ammo To Kiev With Challenger 2 Tanks - Russia Has Promised To Consider This A Use Of Dirty Nukes And Will Use Nukes In Reply"

5. "UK Sending Depleted Uranium Shells To Ukraine Tantamount To Using 'Dirty Bomb’ - Kremlin"

6. "Kiev's Use Of Depleted Uranium Ammo May Cause Health Problems Akin To Yugoslavia, Iraq"

7. "Putin - Russia Will Be Forced To React If West Starts Using Weapons With Nuclear Components (DU)"

See my previous blog entry the topic depleted uranium ammunition the Ukraine Conflict. Note that the Russian T-80 tank reputedly fires a DU round. 

Pot calling the kettle black?

coolbert.

Depleted DU.

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"'[The U.K.] announced not only the supply of tanks to Ukraine, but also shells with depleted uranium,' . . .  'I would like to note that if all this happens, then Russia will have to respond accordingly ... The collective West is already starting to use weapons with a nuclear component.'"

You have been warned! You have been!

Once more the Russia and depleted uranium [Du] weaponry a hot topic. DU is categorized by the Russian as radiological warfare!

1. "Putin: Russia will "respond accordingly" if Ukraine gets depleted uranium shells"

From www.cbsnews.com | CBS News | March 21, 2023 the tip from Yahoo.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow would 'respond accordingly' if Britain gives Ukraine military supplies, including armor-piercing ammunition containing depleted uranium."

2. "Putin blasts UK move to send ammo with depleted uranium to Ukraine"

From Reuters ^ | March 21, 2023.

"(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday condemned British plans to send tank ammunition that contains depleted uranium to Ukraine, saying Moscow would be forced to respond accordingly. Speaking in London on Monday, Minister of State for Defense Annabel Goldie said some of the ammunition for the Challenger 2 battle tanks that Britain is sending to Ukraine includes armor piercing rounds which contain depleted uranium"

AND WHAT EXACTLY IS AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE FROM THE RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE? THAT REMAINS TO BE SEEN!

DU! The use of DU is a war crime? Is it?

coolbert.