Michael Woodson
View: Autocratic model trips on its own red carpet
Mr. Khrushchev said, “We will bury you” I don’t subscribe to this point of view… -Sting Xi Jinping has spent tens of billions promoting autocracy as the new, responsible leadership model. Yet Putin’s Russia, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and others have shown the world that autocracy is as outdated and hazardous as lead paint. Top-down…
Assessing Russia’s Ruling Convolutions
Perspective: In an insightful 2016 paper, “A Little Masquerade: Russia’s Evolving Employment of Maskirovka,” Major Morgan Maier, United States Army, wrote: “Russians originally employed maskirovka to create a false reality to achieve surprise and battlefield advantage over adversaries. While surprise remains a significant component of maskirovka, it fails to address Russia’s application of deception in…
Reflection on Sacrifice: Trump’s Hatred for McCain, Mattis, and Kelly Tells Us Who Trump Served: Putin
On this Memorial Day 2023, the nation should have a long memory of those who have faked their love, honor, and support for the members of our Armed Forces including for those who would or did give their last full measure of devotion. We owe our troops and our people the will to tell ourselves…
The Earthquakes of Erdogan
As an Economist headline editor put it recently, “Turkey sits at the crossroads of tectonic plates as well as civilisations.” And when the 7.8 magnitude earthquake centered near Gaziantep, Turkey caused a confirmed death toll of 50,783 souls, it highlighted the risk of autocratic license, boasting, and related corner-cutting to…
To Kill Autocrat Parasitism, Break the Autocratic Spell Over its Hosts
Prescription: By three key efforts parasitic autocracies can be removed: (1) honest diplomacy, psychological, and information operations with cyber-support that break the dictatorial spell over the host peoples wherever they are; (2) giving those physically battling the aggressive parasites a decisive, unfair advantage in eradicating the parasite; (3) aiding other…
China’s Interest in Saudi Arabian Investment in Iran
China’s diplomatic aid mending Saudi-Iranian relations in the Middle East sees Saudi Arabia immediately offering investment in Iran in the name of Saudi Arabia’s self-interest in regional stability. Yet Saudi Arabia’s investment in Iran would bolster the Iranian regime’s capability to perpetuate repression of its own people, continue as Russia’s…
Advocation: Stand-Up “R4 Corps” Volunteer and Selective National Service
Advocation: The U.S. should stand up an “R4 Corps” as a rapid civilian defense, freedom, and security workforce adapting to the rising militancy of autocratic nuclear and proxy powers. The Mission “R4” could mean “Restore-Recycle, Retrofit, Remake, and Repurpose,” four activities applicable to all weapons, aircraft, drones, robots, munitions, vehicles,…
Tackling a Big History Lie Fueling Putin’s Xi-Jinping-Aided Aggression
Despite Beijing’s global posturing in support of national sovereignty it uses sleight of hand to export “dual use” technology (civilian and military) to supply Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine’s sovereignty. Yet Ukraine’s sovereignty is a matter of widespread international recognition. China’s strategy seems simple: tax Ukraine and the West…
The Red Balloon: PRC Research Survey Ship Role?
Early morning February 12th, Japan’s Defense Ministry protested a Chinese PLAN survey vessel potentially violating Japan’s territorial waters, with Asahi Shimbun reporting seven such incidents since 2021. As of 2020, China’s research vessel fleet was the largest of research fleets in the Pacific according to CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency…
Russia’s Gray Warfare in Space Requires Gray Warfare Response
Reportedly, Russia put what was ostensibly a mobile satellite repair vehicle into Earth’s orbit to move among and service Russian satellites. In time, it showed its later purpose as a fragmentation shell with plasma boosters to put U.S. and other satellites in harm’s way of its debris stream. According to a…