Shashank Joshi

One thing I recently updated: US supercomputing zoomed past the benchmark established for stockpile stewardship (100 tflops) and also China has too. The Chinese have the computers to design new weapons, but what they don't have is the data from nuclear testing -- yet.

This strikes me as an abdication of responsibility. "Officers swear to constitutions, but constitutions cannot interpret themselves. If district judges cannot agree on the Constitution’s meaning, why pretend soldiers can?" warontherocks.com/2025/10/the-...

The American Military Officer After Liberalism Across academia, government, and Silicon Valley, on social media, and in leading journals, intellectuals and political leaders are openly debating what

"Depending on what a society hopes to find, it will reshape its politics accordingly. The military will, and ought to, follow. Or, if civic collapse is deep enough, it may... seize power, and attempt to force its own political order into being." warontherocks.com/2025/10/the-...

The American Military Officer After Liberalism Across academia, government, and Silicon Valley, on social media, and in leading journals, intellectuals and political leaders are openly debating what

Hard to imagine a more sinister & dangerous argument, couched in euphemism & high-minded language. "This essay does not argue liberalism will collapse, only that [US] military officers should be intellectually (and spiritually) prepared for alternatives." warontherocks.com/2025/10/the-...

Drove past RAF Fylingdales in the beautiful north Yorkshire moors today. Our little corner of future Golden Dome.

"Black service members represent roughly 15 percent to 16 percent of the active-duty force, yet they account for 66 percent of those holding shaving waivers, Military.com reports." www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

Hell of a thread from my colleague, covering a court appearance by a Trump border official in Chicago. The admin clearly revels in the excessive use of force & will push as far as the courts let them, and perhaps further.

The defence lawyer now speaking for the government sounds absolutely shell-shocked. Voice quavering. Ironically looks like he has been tear-gassed

She has now ordered Bovino to appear personally at the court every day to report back what has happened and to list everyone arrested who is not being arrested for immigration enforcement reasons. This is the most insane court session I've ever been in. Feels like a headteacher bollocking

She now notes an agent pointing a gun at somebody and saying "bang bang you're dead" would, "on the face of it" violate the TRO. Bovino says each situation is different and he would like to know about the specifics

Quite a world when a federal judge has to call in a federal official to specifically tell him he can't use tear gas on children in Halloween costumes

Ukraine's Drone War with Shashank and Rob Lee Spotify video

Got to join China Talk last week to talk drone wars and Ukraine w/ @shashj.bsky.social and Rob Lee:

open.spotify.com/episode/2c6a...

This is just golden.

Absolutely mad that someone like this was responsible for cyber policy in the trump first term.

Strategy or Spectacle in South America? Through the green haze of a drone’s camera, a fiberglass skiff skims across black water before erupting in fire. The Trump administration portrays the

"Within the administration, “boats destroyed” risks becoming the seductive metric of success, just as body counts once were, crowding out harder, higher-leverage work on finances, precursors, containers, and prosecutions." warontherocks.com/2025/10/stra...

Strategy or Spectacle in South America? Through the green haze of a drone’s camera, a fiberglass skiff skims across black water before erupting in fire. The Trump administration portrays the

"The [drug] boats lack the range to reach the United States, typically ferrying product to nearby islands or rendezvous points with larger vessels. Destroying them does not cripple the trade — it barely inconveniences it." warontherocks.com/2025/10/stra...

The U.S. Is Preparing for War in Venezuela More U.S.-military firepower is headed to the Caribbean as Trump escalates his anti-Maduro rhetoric.

Striking line in the Atlantic's story on the Venezuela build-up. "The U.S. hasn’t sent this many ships to the Caribbean since the Cuban missile crisis." www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

China is using America’s own trade weapons to beat it It has spent years pinpointing America’s weaknesses and mitigating its own

"Until the early 2000s Chinese manufacturers were more reliant on inputs from America than American firms were on Chinese inputs. By 2020 that had flipped ... American manufacturers are three times more reliant than Chinese ones on inputs from the other"
www.economist.com/briefing/202...

Beware the Slide Toward Regime Change in Venezuela | International Crisis Group The Trump administration is dispatching military assets to the Caribbean and sinking boats it claims ferry drugs. While it appears the deployment is part of a plan to depose Venezuelan President Nicol...

Good & detailed analysis of the US campaign in Venezuela, including the prospect of a war. "The risks of violence in any post-Maduro scenario should not be downplayed. Many senior military officers could resist regime change." www.crisisgroup.org/latin-americ...

Remarkable developments in the UK China spy case yesterday. What stands out is UK prosecutor saying deputy national security advisor 'would... not accept that China was opposed or hostile to the interests of the United Kingdom at the material time' www.google.com/amp/s/www.bb...

Is this MDO?

US axes website for reporting human rights abuses by US-armed foreign forces The Human Rights Reporting Gateway acted as a formal "tip line" to the US government.

The Leahy law is being killed off. "The US State Department has removed an online portal for reporting alleged human rights violations by foreign military units supplied with American weapons." www.bbc.com/news/article...

As usual for Jack Watling, this is a fabulously data & evidence-rich paper on what the Ukrainian battlefield looks like today. A pivotal role for drones & ground robots—but also for tanks, armour & artillery, each coming into its own at different moments in an assault www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

Here's a sample piece of "journalism" from one of the "news" outlets that signed the DoD rules. Welcome to the new press corps.

French Army chief Schill sees Europe facing empires, vassals, war France and Europe must out-innovate themselves quickly out of uncomfortable choices, the general said at a presentation of his new book in Paris.

'Other questions to consider are the return of conscription and increasing France’s number of reservists, the general said. www.defensenews.com/global/europ...

Analysis: Pokrovsk on the brink as Russian troops, drones infiltrate deeper into Ukraine’s fortress city At first, the pictures went viral for another reason. Two Ukrainian civilians were shot dead and another injured on the roadside, the victims of another Russian war crime that was as everyday as it w...

Good reminder of urban aspect of war in Ukraine. "If they make it inside the dense, built-up area of a city like Pokrovsk, with high-rise buildings and endless opportunities for cover and concealment, clearing them out becomes an almost impossible task." kyivindependent.com/analysis-pok...

Lockheed To Test Golden Dome Space-Based Missile Interceptor In Orbit By 2028 Space-based interceptors are a key part of the Golden Dome missile defense vision, but are also one of its most challenging.

"Lockheed Martin is aiming to conduct an on-orbit demonstration of at least one space-based anti-missile interceptor design no later than 2028" www.twz.com/space/lockhe...

Strategy of denial (of my own strategy)

This seems accurate. It's absurd to think killing Maduro amounts to a serious way of tackling narcotics in the region & any serious analyst in the US intel community knows this. What's more important is that the Asia-first crowd are being out-manoeuvred and sidelined on this.