Tag: military

  • Why Québec Was Important and How it Became English

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    When I was in Québec I had the good fortune to take photographs of multiple signs and graphics aiming to educate readers about various things. I have spent a bit of my weekend combing through my photographs to see what I can present. The first in today’s post is simply why Québec was so important.…

  • The Spread of ISIS

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    Brendan Barry
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    ISIS is the main militant group threatening Iraq (and Syria) these days. The New York Times put together a nice graphic showing how in recent years the group has grown ever more violent by launching ever more attacks within Iraq. Of course, the other country of ISIS operations is Syria, where it has been involved…

  • Iraq. Again.

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    Brendan Barry
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    Well, Iraq is in the news again. Basically because the Islamist insurgency in Syria has now crossed the border—to be fair, though, that happened awhile back—and taken control over swathes of northern Iraq. Part of that swath includes the city of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city with a population of almost 2 million. The New York…

  • The South China Sea

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    Brendan Barry
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    Over the last few weeks, tensions have been rising in the South China Sea. While most of the world has been focused on violence in Ukraine and Nigeria, fishing boats and other maritime vessels in the South China Sea have been clashing—thankfully without the use of guns or missiles. These clashes contribute to a growing…

  • Comparing the Troop Deployments of Russia and Ukraine

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    Things remain tense in Ukraine, especially after the violence late last week in Odessa. But in many senses, Ukraine is limited in the operations it can undertake against the separatists, at least with its armed forces. A lot of this has to do with the tens of thousands of Russian troops, tanks, and aircraft now…

  • NATO Deployments Near Ukraine

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    Brendan Barry
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    Things continue to deteriorate in eastern Ukraine. And along the other borders of Ukraine, NATO is boosting its presence with planes, ships, and soldiers. This graphic from Jane’s details the recent deployment of aircraft to the theatre. Credit for the piece goes to IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly.

  • Syrian Anti-tank Missiles

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    Brendan Barry
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    Rebels in Syria have recently acquired American-made anti-tank missiles. But for those who don’t know how exactly the TOW missile system works, the Washington Post illustrated it. In theory, these weapons will give the rebels an advantage over Syrian armour. Credit for the piece goes to Richard Johnson.

  • Defence Spending

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    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    As troops and tanks and rumble around the Ukrainian–Russian border, I was left to wonder just how NATO has been doing with defence spending. So I took defence spending as a share of total GDP. In general, NATO countries have been spending less since the end of the Cold War. The Baltic states are a…

  • Recent Military Expenditure

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    Brendan Barry
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    The Crimean situation has highlight how much not just Ukraine is not ready to fight Russia, but also how much less Western Europe is prepared to fight. This piece from the Washington Post examines actual defence expenditure and then defence expenditure as a share of GDP. While Europe has remained steady or in decline, Russia…

  • The International Arms Trade

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    Brendan Barry
    in

    One of the possible set of sanctions against Russia by the United States and European Union would impact the country’s defence industries. This chart by the Economist shows how that might not have the most impact. Most of Russia’s arms exports go to China, India, and Algeria. None of whom are the United States or…