RE: Economic factors looking up2 Jul 2025 14:10
Wilco_Roger, sorry for my very delayed reply due to life getting in the way. With all the discussion today on the accounts I hope you'll see this.
> Where do you get your info from, I'd be interested in reading it.
Might be easier to list what I don't read! My interest in military affairs dates back 40 years so I've studied an immense amount. I have an extensive library of print military history and geopolitics books about the Soviet Union, Russia, Intelligence agencies, etc from renowned authors - useful for political context and how Russian culture works. I subscribe to several specialist military monthly print publications which are useful because, while being behind in their reporting of events, they sometimes have Russian sources that can verify events (such as hardware losses) previously reported on social media. I read the mainstream broadsheets, but get very little from them as they are always a bit behind events and more useful for analysis on broad geopolitical happenings than anything detailed.
Social media is obviously a major source. While I unfortunately cannot read Russian, I read translated Russian state press and follow various Russian bloggers (professional) and Telegraph groups (mostly amateurs) - which are far more revealing than one might expect from a culture of control. While modern translation tools are pretty good, it's always an interesting challenge to decipher social nuance and niche meanings. And finally the huge number of Ukrainian based (or Ukrainian supporting) news and social media outlets. Though one has to separate facts from the propaganda - again, a fun challenge but not actually that hard IMHO with a bit of practice. And knowing a bit about how military equipment actually functions in reality (or doesn't) then that's very helpful in working out what claims are likely to be truthful.
Also, trans-Atlantic/European aircraft movements: usually mundane but other times there are very interesting things happening that aren't explained. Russian ADSB reporting is extremely limited, but occasionally a little gem is unearthed.
I find that by looking at both sides it gives me a fairly decent picture of what is going on, overall but also why - i.e. what's happening with logistics, electronic warfare, mobility, etc. There are huge questions that scholars will be debating for years after this war ends about why a superpower didn't achieve the 3 day result they expected, and how modern technology reshaped current wars in Africa, the Middle East - and in future the planned Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
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