The Krakow Post

Russian President Vladimir Putin may aim to build one of the world’s largest armies, but his ambition could ultimately expose the deeper flaws within Russia’s military. Despite his plans to expand his forces to 1.5 million troops, the ongoing war in Ukraine has demonstrated that sheer numbers are not enough to secure battlefield victories.

When Putin launched his so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russia’s army held a substantial numerical advantage. Russian forces outnumbered Ukraine’s by roughly three to one, and they had a significant edge in critical military assets like combat aircraft, tanks, and warships. Yet, despite these advantages, Russia has struggled to make decisive gains, while Ukraine has mounted a resilient and effective defence.

One of Ukraine’s most remarkable achievements has been its ability to push back Russian advances and even gain territory within Russia—a feat Moscow hasn’t experienced since World War II. The Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, a cornerstone of Russian naval power, has been effectively neutralized by Ukrainian forces. Meanwhile, Russia has suffered staggering casualties, with estimates of over 350,000 troops killed or wounded since the conflict began, according to U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

These figures are a stark contrast to Russia’s previous military engagements. For example, during the Soviet Union’s 10-year war in Afghanistan, 15,000 troops died in total—nowhere near the scale of losses Russia is currently enduring in Ukraine. In today’s conflict, Putin faces a shrinking pool of recruits limited to the Russian Federation, making it harder for him to both hide the mounting casualties and replace fallen soldiers with fresh conscripts.

In response, Putin has called for a dramatic increase in Russia’s military size. A recent decree published by the Kremlin outlines his plan to boost the total number of armed forces to 2.38 million, with 1.5 million active servicemen. This would make Russia’s military the second largest in the world, trailing only China. However, this move seems less a strategic initiative and more a desperate attempt to compensate for Russia’s battlefield failures.

This is not the first time Putin has attempted mass mobilization. In September 2022, following a series of Ukrainian counteroffensives that recaptured key cities like Kharkiv and Kherson, Putin announced a wave of conscriptions. Rather than strengthening the Russian military, these drafts caused widespread discontent. Approximately one million Russian men of fighting age fled the country, unwilling to be sacrificed in what many see as a futile war.

The disillusionment among ordinary Russians is growing as the scale of losses becomes more apparent. Putin’s military relies on outdated and brutal tactics, often sending poorly trained conscripts into the fray with little chance of success. With the war’s frontlines stretching over 300 miles and no major territorial gains in recent months, the Kremlin faces a growing challenge in recruiting new soldiers for its seemingly endless campaign.

Despite bolstering its ranks, the Russian military has made little headway. Western observers have noted that Russia’s forces have grown by around 15% since the war began, but this has not translated into significant battlefield success. Gains in eastern Ukraine have been limited, and the Russian military’s performance remains underwhelming.

Putin’s efforts to expand the military point to a larger issue: Russia’s failure to adapt. While Ukraine has focused on building well-trained, agile forces capable of launching effective offensives, Russia continues to rely on mass conscription and overwhelming numbers. Ukraine’s recent successes, including their offensive near Kursk, highlight the importance of strategy, mobility, and discipline over sheer manpower.

In the end, Putin’s desire for a vast military may offer him some political consolation, but it does little to address the underlying problems within his armed forces. A large army is of little use if it cannot effectively engage a smaller, more determined adversary like Ukraine. Russia’s struggle to achieve its objectives in this conflict is a reminder that modern warfare requires more than just numbers—it demands innovation, strategy, and the will to adapt.

Milblog

A recent study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) highlights the significant disparity between the US and China in terms of combined military exercises conducted in the Asia-Pacific over the past two decades. From 2003 to 2022, the US led 1,113 exercises, compared to just 128 by China. Key military partners in these exercises include Australia, India, and Indonesia.

This focus on joint military operations coincides with Australia’s increased collaboration with Indonesia, formalizing a major defence pact last month. Indonesia has been involved in Australia’s biennial Exercise Pitch Black for nearly a decade, with a more prominent role this year. Despite these collaborations, Indonesia maintains a non-aligned stance, balancing relationships with the US, China, and Russia to foster regional stability and economic development. Concerns linger in Jakarta about potential disruptions to critical trade routes like the Strait of Malacca, driven by rising tensions between global powers.

In parallel, Australia has expanded its military infrastructure and exercises with the US, particularly in northern regions like the Northern Territory. These areas host large-scale exercises such as Pitch Black, Talisman Sabre, and others, involving forces from numerous nations. The US has also ramped up its military presence, including significant investments in expanding Australian bases, increasing rotations of US Marines, and potentially involving Japanese troops.

The growing military cooperation between Australia and the US is strategically important, as both countries focus on maintaining regional stability amid the geopolitical competition between the US and China. Australia’s 2024 National Defence Strategy underscores this by identifying US-China strategic rivalry as a key influence on the region’s security environment.

US military officials emphasize adapting tactics to the unique geography of the Indo-Pacific, with potential hotspots like the South China Sea influencing strategic preparations and capabilities across the region.

SMH  

Ukraine is in urgent need of military equipment to fend off Russia’s ongoing invasion, and although many democracies have stepped up with aid, the assistance remains insufficient given the overwhelming size and firepower of the Russian forces. Australia may soon take a significant step to help, with a potential transfer of 59 decommissioned M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, a move that could make a substantial difference in the fight.

Australian Tanks and Military Aid: A Critical Opportunity

The Australian government is actively exploring the possibility of transferring these tanks to Ukraine rather than scrapping them. This comes after a public outcry over Australia’s destruction of 47 Taipan helicopters in early 2024, despite requests from Ukraine to receive them. The decision drew criticism from Ukrainian diaspora groups and several political figures, who argued that the equipment could have bolstered Ukraine’s defence efforts.

These M1A1 Abrams tanks, retired from service in July 2024, have never seen combat and are still in excellent condition. They were initially brought into service in 2004, and with a healthy stockpile of spare parts, they remain highly capable despite their age. If transferred to Ukraine, these tanks could significantly enhance the country’s ground defence capabilities, especially in its pushback against Russian forces in contested regions.

Navigating the Transfer Process

Ukraine has officially requested these tanks from Australia. However, since the M1A1 Abrams is an American-made combat vehicle, the transfer is subject to U.S. export control regulations. This means Australia cannot simply hand over the tanks; it must first secure approval from the United States. Talks between Australian and U.S. officials are ongoing, and there is hope that the transfer will be greenlit, especially given the increasing international pressure to provide Ukraine with heavier weaponry.

The potential transfer of these tanks symbolizes not only a tangible boost to Ukraine’s military assets but also the broader geopolitical effort to support Ukraine’s sovereignty against Russian aggression. If approved, this move would mark a significant shift in Australia’s contributions to the global coalition backing Ukraine, potentially serving as a catalyst for other countries to follow suit with similar heavy arms donations.

Looking Ahead: Will Australia Step Up?

While Australian assistance to Ukraine thus far has been significant, particularly in humanitarian and financial aid, the provision of military equipment like the Abrams tanks would demonstrate a much more robust commitment to Ukraine’s defence. The outcome of these discussions could also influence other nations currently debating sending military hardware to Ukraine.

With the global focus on strengthening Ukraine’s defences against a more powerful aggressor, the decisions made in Canberra and Washington in the coming weeks will likely have lasting consequences on the battlefield and for the future of international support for Ukraine.

 Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Lang Ca Thi ambush of D445 by 7RAR on 31 December 1970 – the Vietnamese current recovery of D445 remains – seeking Australian assistance

The 7RAR Ambush of D445 at Láng Cà Thi – 31 December 1970: Recovery of VC Remains in September 2024.

“Earlier in September 2024, the official Vietnamese war-remains recovery organization in Baria-Vung Tau (ie: “Ban Chỉ Đạo 515”) – led by PAVN Colonel Nguyễn Thành Trung) began a formal search in the Xuyên Mộc area (vicinity of Láng Cà Thi – ie: Cà Thi Waterfall) for the burial site/sites of the remains of 23+ D445 soldiers killed in a 7RAR ambush (supported by 1 Troop B Squadron 3^rd Cav Regt) on 31 December 1970 at “YS 690668” “ – see: the accounts in the official history – Fighting to the Finish to the Finish (AWM, 2012) pp.482-483; Chamberlain E.P., The Viet Cong D445 Battalion (2011 and 2016) pp. 136-137; and O’Brien M.P.J. – Major General, Conscripts and Regulars with the Seventh Battalion in Vietnam, 1995. The Vietnamese search group have a copy of the detailed sketch map of the area prepared in early 1971 by Major G.P. Warland (OC B Coy, 7RAR) – see below.  The Vietnamese “Ban Chỉ Đạo 515” cadre have added “red vertical lines” to divide the Major Warland sketch map into “last”, “middle” and “first” sectors.

Despite a search of the area of the ambush area, the Vietnamese dig/recovery parties have not – as yet, been able to find any remains of the fallen D445 soldiers – and have sought assistance from Australian veterans. They are hoping that an Australian veteran might be able to indicate the burial site/sites on the “Major Warland sketch map” (below) – if only by indicating a location/location of the burials as either north or south of the central east-west track, or in their red “last”, “middle” or “first” sectors of the “Major Warland sketch map”.

Any information can be passed to Ernie Chamberlain at [email protected] – for on-forwarding to PAVN Colonel Nguyễn Thành Trung of the Baria-Vung Tau “Ban Chỉ Đạo 515” group. Further Vietnamese photographs of their current “dig” can also be provided on request.

Best wishes, Ernie Chamberlain (Vietnam 1969-70)

1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (1 RAR) is a regular motorised infantry battalion of the Australian Army. 1 RAR was first formed as the 65th Australian Infantry Battalion in 1945 and since then has been deployed on active service during the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, the Vietnam War and more recently in Somalia, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. Additionally, the battalion has deployed on peacekeeping operations to a number of countries including Japan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. In 2006, 1 RAR was one of the Australian Army’s most heavily deployed units sending detachments to Iraq as part of SECDET, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste. The battalion is currently based at Townsville, Queensland, where it forms part of the 3rd Brigade.

Summary of IPA research:

New research by the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) reveals a growing crisis in Australia’s national identity. The traditional “Australian Dream”—owning a home, raising a family, and achieving stable employment—is rapidly fading, leaving younger generations feeling disconnected and disillusioned. Meanwhile, older Australians, especially the Baby Boomers, accuse the youth of being ungrateful and unwilling to protect the country’s interests. These generational divides expose deeper cultural shifts that threaten the fabric of the nation.

The “Australian Dream” once symbolized prosperity: a home on a quarter-acre block, a steady job, and the chance to take a yearly holiday. However, for many younger Australians, this ideal feels like a lie sold by their parents—a goal that’s unattainable. They face rising housing costs, limited job opportunities, and increasing economic pressures.

Meanwhile, older generations, particularly those who lived through the post-World War II boom, see the younger population as entitled and unmotivated to continue the traditions and values they hold dear. The post-war era, often seen as a “Golden Age” for Australia and much of the West, offered economic stability and growth. But today, those same opportunities seem out of reach for many young Australians, who are instead grappling with skyrocketing house prices and stagnant wages.

A key point of contention between generations is the question of national defence. The IPA’s poll, titled Defending Australia’s Way of Life, uncovers a troubling trend: less than half of Australians would stay and fight if the country were attacked. This statistic is particularly shocking given the global context of the Ukraine crisis, where we’ve seen ordinary citizens rally to defend their homeland.

Only 46% of Australians say they would stay and fight, while 30% would flee, and 24% remain undecided. Younger generations are particularly reluctant to defend the country. Among 18-24 year-olds, just 27% would stay and fight, with 48% preferring to leave. In contrast, 48% of the 35-44 age group would fight, showing that older generations are more willing to defend Australia.

Daniel Wild, deputy executive director at the IPA, attributes this to the cultural and educational decline, where young Australians are “ashamed of themselves and their country.” He believes the national curriculum is to blame for this loss of patriotic spirit, arguing that it needs to be reformed to instill pride in Australia’s values and history.

Beyond issues of national pride, young Australians face significant economic challenges that further erode their investment in the country. The collapse of the housing market and the rise in precarious employment have made it difficult for them to achieve the stability their parents once enjoyed.

Matt Barrie, a tech entrepreneur, highlighted the dire situation in Sydney’s housing market, where it now takes an average of 46 years to save for a house deposit. This reality feeds into the broader sense of disillusionment. For many young Australians, it feels as though the system has failed them, with few prospects for owning a home or finding long-term, meaningful work.

The erosion of Australia’s industrial base and the shift toward a service-based, “knowledge” economy has only worsened the situation. The rise of automation and artificial intelligence threatens to further reduce job opportunities, while mass migration adds pressure to wages and housing affordability. In this context, it’s no surprise that many young people feel disconnected from the nation and its future.

These economic and social pressures compound a broader sense of dislocation that is pervasive in Australia. Both young and old Australians feel that the country is on a trajectory of “managed decline”—a steady but deliberate erosion of its global standing and internal stability.

David Llewellyn-Smith, chief strategist at MB Super, argues that Australia’s economic policy, particularly its reliance on migration to sustain growth, benefits sectors like banking, retail, and property development at the expense of the general population. As a result, living standards are falling, and productivity is declining. AMP’s chief economist Shane Oliver reinforces this point, noting that while migration increases the tax base, it hasn’t resulted in a rise in living standards per person.

How can Australia restore the faith of its younger generations and foster a sense of national pride? Reforming the education system is one part of the solution. Wild argues that the national curriculum should emphasize Australia’s positive contributions to the world and its status as one of the most tolerant and democratic nations on earth. Only by instilling pride in the country can Australia expect its citizens to defend it in times of crisis.

However, education reform alone won’t solve the deeper economic issues. To reverse the trend of disillusionment, Australia needs to provide meaningful employment opportunities and make homeownership attainable again. Rebuilding the industrial base and fostering innovation could help create jobs that young Australians find fulfilling and worthwhile.

Moreover, addressing housing affordability by controlling demand through more strategic migration policies and ensuring that wages keep pace with the cost of living could restore faith in the possibility of the Australian Dream.

Australia is at a crossroads. The country can either continue down the path of managed decline—where economic opportunities dwindle, and cultural disconnection deepens—or it can take bold steps to reinvest in its people and its future. Policymakers need to acknowledge the frustrations of young Australians and address the root causes of their disillusionment.

If the country fails to act, the generational divide will only worsen, with younger Australians feeling even less connected to the nation’s future. The risk is not just an economic or cultural decline but a loss of Australia’s global standing and influence in an increasingly competitive world.

Ultimately, the question Australia faces is whether it wants to be a nation of steady decline or a thriving, competitive society that offers its citizens a real stake in its future. The choice is clear, but it requires action—now.

This is certainly another point of view and unfortunately is true BUT what the hell do we do as sympathetic human beings. We are creating a worse scenario.

Great dilemma…

Kevin Myers (born 30 March 1947) is an Irish journalist and writer. He writes for the Irish edition of the Sunday Times, having previously been a columnist for the Irish Independent and a former contributor to The Irish Times, where he wrote the “An Irishman’s Diary” opinion column several times weekly. Until 2005, he wrote for the UK Sunday Telegraph. His articles criticize left-wing opinion and the “liberal consensus”, sometimes incorporating hyperbole, sarcasm and parody.

This essay appeared in The Irish Independent:

Somalia is not a humanitarian disaster; it is an evolutionary disaster. The current drought is not the worst in 50 years, as the BBC and all the aid organizations claim. It is nothing compared to the droughts in 1960/61 or 73/74.  And there are continuing droughts every 5 years or so. It’s just that there are now four times the population; having been kept alive by famine relief, supplied by aid organizations, over the past 50 years. So, of course, the effects of any drought now, is a famine. They cannot even feed themselves in a normal rainfall year.

Worst yet, the effects of these droughts, and poor nutrition in the first 3 years of a child’s life, have a lasting effect on the development of the infant brain, so that if they survive, they will never achieve a normal IQ . Consequently, they are selectively breeding a population who cannot be educated, let alone one that is not being educated, a recipe for disaster

We are seeing this impact now, and it can only exacerbate, to the detriment of their neighbours, and their environment as well. This scenario can only end in an even worse disaster, with even worse suffering, for those benighted people, and their descendants. Eventually, some mechanism will intervene, be it war, disease or starvation.

So, what do we do? Let them starve? What a dilemma for our Judeo/Christian/Islamic Ethos; as well as Hindu/Buddhist morality.  And this is beginning to happen in Kenya, Ethiopia and other countries in Asia, like Pakistan.  Is this the beginning of the end of civilization?

AFRICA is giving nothing to anyone outside Africa — apart from AIDS and new diseases. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilization in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us out of Africa, yet again. It is nearly 25 years since the famous Feed the World campaign began in Ethiopia, and in that time Ethiopia’s population has grown from 33.5 million to 78+ million today. So, why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. Now they want to move to other countries to continue to breed and commit crime.

To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn’t count.  One is my conscience, and the other is the picture, yet again, of another wide-eyed child, yet again, gazing, yet again, at the camera, which yet again, captures the tragedy of children starving.

Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially.  Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there.  The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a low IQ, AK 47-bearing moron, siring children whenever the whim takes him and blaming the world because he is uneducated, poor and left behind.  There is no doubt a good argument why we should prolong this predatory and dysfunctional economic, social and sexual system but I do not know what it is.  There is, on the other hand, every reason not to write a column like this. It will win no friends and will provoke the self-righteous wrath of, well, the self-righteous hand wringing, letter writing wrathful individuals; a species which never fails to contaminate almost every debate in Irish life with its sneers and its moral superiority. It will also probably enrage some of the finest men in Irish life, like John O’Shea, of Goal; and the Finucane brothers, men whom I admire enormously.

So be it.

But, please, please, your self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Irish Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison! Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30%. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules plane, Ethiopia’s population has more than doubled.

Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, AK 47-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts and housing pirates of the ocean.  Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of sexually hyperactive, illiterate indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world or allowances by the semi-communist Governments they voted for, money supplied by borrowing it from the World Bank!

This dependency has not stimulated political prudence or common sense. Indeed, voodoo idiocy seems to be in the ascendant, with the president of South Africa being a firm believer in the efficacy of a little tap water on the post-coital penis as a sure preventative against AIDS infection.  Needless to say, poverty, hunger and societal meltdown have not prevented idiotic wars involving Tigre, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea etcetera.

Broad brush-strokes, to be sure. But broad brush-strokes are often the way that history paints its gaudier, if more decisive, chapters. Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 20th century have endured worse broad brush-strokes than almost any part of Africa. They are now — one way or another — virtually all giving aid to or investing in Africa, whereas Africa, with its vast Savannahs and its lush pastures, is giving almost nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS.

Meanwhile, Africa’s peoples are outstripping their resources and causing catastrophic ecological degradation. By 2050, the population of Ethiopia will be 177 million; the equivalent of France, Germany and Benelux today, but located on the parched and increasingly Protein-free wastelands of the Great Rift Valley.  So, how much sense does it make for us actively to increase the adult population of what is already a vastly over-populated, environmentally devastated and economically dependent country?

How much morality is there in saving an Ethiopian child from starvation today, for it to survive to a life of brutal circumcision, poverty, hunger, violence and sexual abuse, resulting in another half-dozen such wide-eyed children, with comparably jolly little lives ahead of them?

Of course, it might make you feel better, which is a prime reason for so much charity!

But that is not good enough. For self-serving generosity has been one of the curses of Africa. It has sustained political systems which would otherwise have collapsed. It prolonged the Eritrean-Ethiopian war by nearly a decade. It is inspiring Bill Gates’ programme to rid the continent of malaria, when, in the almost complete absence of personal self-discipline, that disease is one of the most efficacious forms of population-control now operating. If his programme is successful, tens of millions of children who would otherwise have died in infancy will survive to adulthood, he boasts.

Oh good: then what? I know, let them all come here (to Ireland). Germany and the rest of Europe is already inundated and there are literally millions queuing up who want a hand out, taking in refugees because you feel sorry for them will end in the demise of those countries taking part.

You will note that; No Gulf State is taking any refugees, and the head of the human rights commission is Saudi Arabian!?!

Regards

Kevin Myers

Acknowledgement

I acknowledge the early settlers who came to this land, which had stood undeveloped for over 50,000 years and over only several hundred years, transformed this land to one of the richest and most liveable countries on Earth.

So together, let’s all enjoy and build on the legacy they have given us.