Romeo Squared

Defense with a Baltic edge

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The intertwined nature of Russian academia and the state

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Interesting look at the Russian academic community and its impact on policy. It’s written by Mariya Omelicheva for PONARS Eurasia and titled Influencers, Echo Chambers, and Epistemic Bubbles: Russia’s Academic Discourse in the Wake of the War in Ukraine. Much of the scholarship in the field of Russian IR takes place in an epistemic bubble […]

Inflation is a long-term problem for Russia’s military

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The Russian Defense Policy blog has an interesting look at the wages for Russian soldiers, and it does not look great. Corrected for inflation, the wages for Russian soldiers have dropped significantly over the last decade. With RF inflation at roughly 8 percent this year, overall prices for essentials paid by Russian servicemen are now […]

Russia has a now or never dilemma in Ukraine

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Russia’s far-reaching demands from NATO and the prospect of a war in Ukraine can seem irrational. But Russia is facing a dilemma that if they do nothing, they are on a trajectory to losing in the long term. So even if Russia isn’t sure what the outcome will be in a war, they may still try it as a tool to stop the process of losing.

The five “nots” of AUKUS

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Interesting rundown of what AUKUS is and is not by Michael Shoebridge for ICDS Diplomaatia magazine: AUKUS, though, is five ‘Nots’. It is not just a pact about sharing nuclear submarine technology that leads to Australia acquiring and operating eight of these “peak predator” deterrent weapons. It is not a military alliance that contains commitments […]

Mahan and Corbett agreed on most things

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B. J. Armstrong in a piece for War on the Rocks called The Shared Genius of Mahan and Corbett: Articles in the pages of the leading naval journals include titles like “Going to War with China? Ignore Corbett. Dust Off Mahan!” and “Going to War With China? Dust Off Corbett!” Even here at War on […]