Michael Woodson
Russia in Syria: More Footprint Than Boot
A September 14th, 2022 report of the U.N.’s Commission of Inquiry on Syrian Arab Republic found conditions similar to those that led to the wider Syrian Civil War eleven years ago. Moscow has borrowed heavily on its credited strategic gains in Syria to pay off its deep deficits in its war of aggression against Ukraine…
Putin’s Serial Murders of Russian Energy Executives
Sundry falls suffered by Russian energy executives and CEOs may go beyond punishing criticism of Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine. The targeted energy executive critics may also have had knowledge of officers, insiders, technologies, and intelligence assets acquired through Russian energy firm relationships in Western nations, energy companies, and OPEC states. The above is likely given the facility with…
Update: Turkey
In late August 2022, Haluk Bayraktar, the CEO of Bayraktar drone company Baykar, reportedly pledged that the company would not sell its drones to Russia “no matter how much money we are offered.” This, while expressly continuing to sell them to Kyiv in solidarity with Ukraine. Yet in March, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kiran…
Turkey playing both sides with decided preference for autocracy
One would think Putin would have yanked S-400 contracts with Turkey, angered by Ankara’s Bayraktar combat drone deals with Kyiv. He has not. Instead, he is pursuing a Bayraktar drone plant in Russia to use the combat drones against Ukraine. If a conflict with NATO broke out Putin would not want S-400’s operational over Turkish…
Might NATO Aggressively Employ Anti-Bombardment & War Machine Countermeasures as Humanitarian Aid to Ukraine?
2022 Introduction: The following is a short position piece written under the auspices of Stratpass Corporation in February 2015 after the Crimean takeover by Russia. It proposes Transnational Anti-Weapon, Anti-War Machine, & Anti-Bombardment Aid Problem The Russian military expansion into Crimea, Ukraine, and Europe (EN1) warrants a new NATO conventional deterrence doctrine for the 21st Century, especially…
This Week in Russian Gray War: Space Shrapnel, Weaponized Refugees, Petro-economic Warfare
Russia’s “chain-reaction warfare,” via space shrapnel, weaponized refugees, and energy supply influence are much analyzed, yet there has been little devised to deter or decisively stop it. This last week, Russia blasted one of its defunct spy satellites into over 1500 fragments too high for the pieces to timely burn up in Earth’s atmosphere; Putin…
Defending Free Business & Private Property with Enhanced Fiduciary Duty
Corporate leaders do not fulfill fiduciary duty to shareholders in the spirit of the laws by allowing company property, some of which enables strategic advantage over free nations, to slide into the maw of autocracy. The Congress and legislatures of the United States, the 50 states, and U.S.-based business lobbies have embraced a zombified version…
The Shape of Political Subversion: Executive to Legislative
The exodus of GOP conservatives from Congress continues into 2022 with Ohio Rep. Anthony Gonzalez withdrawing from a primary contest in submission to a Trump-controlled candidate. It is not often a young incumbent steps down, especially one who expands and diversifies the GOP tent in the spirit of former President George W. Bush’s once Latino-friendly…
“Quackaganda” & the Art of Information Defense
It helps to update information defense nomenclature in ways that precisely target attack vectors aimed at our national security. Recently, attacks on U.S. and allied health security seek to tie-up U.S. resources and mental bandwidth on complex iterations of alternative health narratives that take on ‘Big Pharma,’ the “medical establishment,” and corporate health as dramatic camouflage…
Is the Zambezi River Authority a Model for Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan?
Issues: The Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam, or GERD, is a massive Nile River dam project impacting tens of millions downstream and upstream. Ethiopia cites national sovereignty in its right to build and fill the dam to stabilize its own infrastructural, agricultural, and energy future. Egypt and Sudan cite risks to their water, agriculture, and energy…