Tag: Russia

  • The Russian Threat

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    A few days ago a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent, e.g. VX, in Salisbury, England. Over a decade ago, another former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko, died in London after being poisoned with polonium, a highly radioactive substance produced inside nuclear reactors, placed inside his tea. Russia’s spies are…

  • An Update on Trump-Russia Ties

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    Between travelling and being ill, I apologise for a lack of posting the last week or two. But as promised, we are back with a small update to the Trump–Russia ties. It turns out that shortly before the Syria air strikes, news broke that Jared Kushner omitted dozens of contacts with foreigners on his security…

  • The Nunes Connection

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    I am in Chicago today, visiting friends and former coworkers. Generally taking a break from my team’s recent fantastic work at my new gig. But don’t think that I wouldn’t leave you without some sort of light-hearted Friday content. My Tuesday post was about Monday’s news about another connection between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Today’s…

  • Prince, Prince, Goose?

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in ,

    Well, this wasn’t what I was expecting to post today. But that’s okay, because it’s big news all the same and allows me to get my hands dirty. Yesterday the Washington Post broke news that the United Arab Emirates, specifically Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and the UAE’s national security advisor, arranged a meeting between…

  • The Russians Are Coming

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    I mean, they’re already here…we will return to that shortly. I hope you enjoyed your three-day weekend, but this is a busy week, folks. Most importantly we have Thursday’s by-elections in Copeland and Stoke-on-Trent, those are in the UK for my American audience, where we will see just how crazy British politics gets post-Brexit referendum. But…

  • The T-14 Armata

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Or the post’s sub-title could be something like, Boys with Toys, because I have long enjoyed diagrams of military hardware, like these examples. Today’s post is about Russia’s new main battle tank, the first new design since the 1970s: the T-14 Armata. It premiered in last year’s parade and is expected to enter service soon. This BBC…

  • S-300 Surface-to-Air Missiles for Iran

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Russia has agreed to complete its years-old sale of advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran. What does this mean? Well, it does not make Iran’s airspace invulnerable, but it will be a significant upgrade with the potential to deter Israel from launching an air raid against Iranian nuclear sites. In a nice, illustrated piece the…

  • Ukraine Retreats from Debaltseve

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    This is a short piece—it is only really an inline map—but it illustrates fairly well why Ukraine’s loss of Debaltseve in eastern Ukraine last week is kind of a big deal. Basically, the now mostly abandoned city is a transport hub linking the two quasi capitals of the Novorossiya. Credit for the piece goes to…

  • Population Displacement in Ukraine

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    Ukraine continues to suffer the effects of a Russian invasion. Though we won’t call it that. This piece from Radio Free Europe looks at the displaced persons in the country. Unfortunately, it is not quite the best example of what to do. The line chart looks at the cumulative number of displaced persons. But, a…

  • Russians in the Sky

    —

    by

    Brendan Barry
    in

    This piece has been sitting for a month, but I still enjoy it. The Washing Post maps out Russian air activity around NATO airspace over a two-day period. Credit for the piece goes to Gene Thorp.