Tuesday, May 19, 2026

The nature of war has changed and is changing much faster and more radically than most observers—and most of the world’s militaries—yet understand. Rifles, mortars and tanks appear to be going the way of sword fights and cavalry charges. Evacuating the wounded from the ever-expanding drone-infested “gray zone” that separates opposing armies can take weeks, in some cases up to two months. That’s because teams of drone and unmanned ground vehicle operators must struggle to maneuver coffin-shaped evacuation platforms against swarms of hostile drones on a winding path through the war zone. In a war in which thumbs on joysticks have largely replaced fingers on triggers and more fighting is done on screens and less in the trenches, almost every assumption about what armies are and how they fight is being challenged and reshaped daily.

 



The way armies fight is changing daily—and, at the moment, that favors Kyiv.

No doubt Mr. Trump wants to punish Europe for its ambivalent (and at times unhelpful) response to the Iran war. But . . . Poland? The Trump team’s refrain about “model allies” who share the burdens of defense is meaningless if Poland doesn’t qualify.

 

Trump Bugs Out on Poland


The Pentagon cancels a brigade deployment to NATO’s eastern front.


The New York Times is wrong about Iran's position on Nuclear weapons as being non negotiable however Iran retaining the toll booth on the Strait of Hormuz is

 

Stocks, Bonds and Oil Zigzag Amid Mixed Signals on War Talks


“If we’re going to lose this radical idea of a nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal, a nation that in its Constitution guarantees to each state a republican form of government to ensure the debate of ideas — if that’s going to happen, Mr. President, by God, it’s not going to be because I surrendered it.” “I’m voting no.”

 

A Republican You’ve Never Heard of Points the Way


Opinio

From Canada's YouTube reaction its apparent Trump may have declared to Xi to stay away from commercial transactions with his intellectually superior Mark Carney

 

Trump and Xi Would Need Personality Transplants to Get This Deal Done


Soumaya Keynes and 

Ms. Keynes and Dr. Bown are the authors of the forthcoming book “How to Win a Trade War: An Optimistic Guide to an Anxious Global Economy.”