In My Defense
@inmydefense.bsky.social
You've lost *another* submarine?
Staring at defense and foreign policy and hoping one day it makes sense.
"Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evil" - Gen. John Stark
Staring at defense and foreign policy and hoping one day it makes sense.
"Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evil" - Gen. John Stark
I'll freely admit I had serious doubts that Putin would go all in like this. "Surely someone in the Kremlin must understand this a bad idea, it'll be their Iraq in '03" was my thought process. And yeah I learned never to underestimate how stupid leaders and how cowardly advisors can be.
December 18, 2025 at 12:55 PM
I'll freely admit I had serious doubts that Putin would go all in like this. "Surely someone in the Kremlin must understand this a bad idea, it'll be their Iraq in '03" was my thought process. And yeah I learned never to underestimate how stupid leaders and how cowardly advisors can be.
I really hate how much it feels like this.
a man wearing headphones talks to another man in a store with max written on the bottom right
Alt: Scene from No Country for Old Men, a man flipping a coin and saying "Call it"
media.tenor.com
December 17, 2025 at 9:41 PM
I really hate how much it feels like this.
Specifically "quarantine zone" in the thickest Boston accent possible
December 17, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Specifically "quarantine zone" in the thickest Boston accent possible
I mean, I know nothing means anything anymore and Donnie just says shit, but a blockade is an act of war. Like, we had a whole thing about that in the Caribbean in the 60s, it's not like this hidden knowledge.
December 17, 2025 at 12:12 AM
I mean, I know nothing means anything anymore and Donnie just says shit, but a blockade is an act of war. Like, we had a whole thing about that in the Caribbean in the 60s, it's not like this hidden knowledge.
"Eastern Ukraine was pro-Russia in 2010"
Okay, and what happened *after* that? I swear discussing pre-2014 Ukraine always brings out the stupidest of takes and leaves me like this:
Okay, and what happened *after* that? I swear discussing pre-2014 Ukraine always brings out the stupidest of takes and leaves me like this:
a man is laying his head on a desk with his hands on the desk .
ALT: a man is laying his head on a desk with his hands on the desk .
media.tenor.com
December 16, 2025 at 3:48 PM
"Eastern Ukraine was pro-Russia in 2010"
Okay, and what happened *after* that? I swear discussing pre-2014 Ukraine always brings out the stupidest of takes and leaves me like this:
Okay, and what happened *after* that? I swear discussing pre-2014 Ukraine always brings out the stupidest of takes and leaves me like this:
Day in and day out, I constantly ask myself, "We lost to this? This group of losers? Them? Really?"
December 16, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Day in and day out, I constantly ask myself, "We lost to this? This group of losers? Them? Really?"
Oh yeah, definitely a great time to deprioritize AFRICOM and EUCOM. Yup, no better time than when JNIM is gonna overrun Mali, and the Russians are being endlessly beligerent. I hate this so much.
December 16, 2025 at 12:44 AM
Oh yeah, definitely a great time to deprioritize AFRICOM and EUCOM. Yup, no better time than when JNIM is gonna overrun Mali, and the Russians are being endlessly beligerent. I hate this so much.
I have not, and will not, forgive the person who described USAID as "similar to the Mafia" in how it operated as it was being destroyed, and didn't believe it would matter much if it was gone. Some people are evil, and some people will happily tolerate that evil. I just wish there were fewer of them
December 15, 2025 at 10:32 PM
I have not, and will not, forgive the person who described USAID as "similar to the Mafia" in how it operated as it was being destroyed, and didn't believe it would matter much if it was gone. Some people are evil, and some people will happily tolerate that evil. I just wish there were fewer of them
As always, they never feared the authoritarianism, they simply feared that they wouldn't be on the same side as the authoritarianism.
December 15, 2025 at 5:22 PM
As always, they never feared the authoritarianism, they simply feared that they wouldn't be on the same side as the authoritarianism.
Nonsense, clearly the next major war we fight (which will most likely be against China) will be identical to a land war in Europe that has become a grinding attritional fight.
December 14, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Nonsense, clearly the next major war we fight (which will most likely be against China) will be identical to a land war in Europe that has become a grinding attritional fight.
Hell, he even has a bit about how the US uses spec ops to control the initial outbreaks with kinetic action, but because there's no follow-through with the actual difficult decisions, it proves to be meaningless in the end and it all falls apart. Gee, that sounds familiar.
December 13, 2025 at 1:41 AM
Hell, he even has a bit about how the US uses spec ops to control the initial outbreaks with kinetic action, but because there's no follow-through with the actual difficult decisions, it proves to be meaningless in the end and it all falls apart. Gee, that sounds familiar.
It is kinda wild how much stuff he calls in that book.
December 13, 2025 at 1:33 AM
It is kinda wild how much stuff he calls in that book.
"We should replace all armored formations with special forces and/or assault Ladas" or "Have we considered the supremacy of will can carry the day?"
December 13, 2025 at 12:54 AM
"We should replace all armored formations with special forces and/or assault Ladas" or "Have we considered the supremacy of will can carry the day?"
Yup. "Drones are the unstoppable wave of the future!" Okay that's cool and all, but the Ukrainians are cooking up some of the most effective EW and kinetic cUAS on the planet. Maybe we should ask them about that stuff? No? Okay, here's another $100 million to Anduril for a Shahed knockoff.
December 12, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Yup. "Drones are the unstoppable wave of the future!" Okay that's cool and all, but the Ukrainians are cooking up some of the most effective EW and kinetic cUAS on the planet. Maybe we should ask them about that stuff? No? Okay, here's another $100 million to Anduril for a Shahed knockoff.
I think Op Spiderweb is a great encapsulation of all of this. "A bunch of FPVs took out a dozen strategic bombers! Why are we investing in multi-million dollar planes?" No, that's not what happened. What happened was an absolutely flawless Intelligence operation, the drones were just a tool in it.
December 12, 2025 at 2:04 PM
I think Op Spiderweb is a great encapsulation of all of this. "A bunch of FPVs took out a dozen strategic bombers! Why are we investing in multi-million dollar planes?" No, that's not what happened. What happened was an absolutely flawless Intelligence operation, the drones were just a tool in it.
What if we simply copied the guys who just got their asses handed to them by a major conventional military? Surely there will be no issues with this!
"You just don't understand, Iran just used the Shaheds wrong. That's why they lost. We'll do it right."
December 11, 2025 at 8:36 PM
What if we simply copied the guys who just got their asses handed to them by a major conventional military? Surely there will be no issues with this!
For anyone sane still left in the GOP, this has to sound roughly like the noise a Geiger counter would make if you shoved it into Chernobyl Reactor 4
December 10, 2025 at 2:08 AM
For anyone sane still left in the GOP, this has to sound roughly like the noise a Geiger counter would make if you shoved it into Chernobyl Reactor 4
*Sigh*
We're talking about the 1991 Gulf War, please actually read what's being discussed.
We're talking about the 1991 Gulf War, please actually read what's being discussed.
December 10, 2025 at 12:36 AM
*Sigh*
We're talking about the 1991 Gulf War, please actually read what's being discussed.
We're talking about the 1991 Gulf War, please actually read what's being discussed.
I do wonder how much of it is because, in non-military situations, "shooting someone as they run away" is almost always bad. And because expecting the general public to understand LOAC is borderline hopeless, they default to what they know.
December 10, 2025 at 12:35 AM
I do wonder how much of it is because, in non-military situations, "shooting someone as they run away" is almost always bad. And because expecting the general public to understand LOAC is borderline hopeless, they default to what they know.
This is all I hear whenever someone complains about us dunking the Iraqis fair and square.
December 10, 2025 at 12:07 AM
This is all I hear whenever someone complains about us dunking the Iraqis fair and square.
Still calling Thiel a "libertarian" at this point is very much a choice.
December 9, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Still calling Thiel a "libertarian" at this point is very much a choice.
So, I'm not a big math guy, but there's gotta be more than 1,000 farms in this country needing a bailout from this, right? 12 billion/1,000 is only 1.2 million per. That sounds low considering farming can be super expensive for bigger farms. If someone knows more than me on this please correct me.
December 8, 2025 at 8:33 PM
So, I'm not a big math guy, but there's gotta be more than 1,000 farms in this country needing a bailout from this, right? 12 billion/1,000 is only 1.2 million per. That sounds low considering farming can be super expensive for bigger farms. If someone knows more than me on this please correct me.