Michael C. Davies
@blobodelendaest.bsky.social
PhD Candidate in Defence Studies, KCL. Strategic Victory in theory and practice. Lessons from Wars of 9/11.
Purveyor of Mission Accomplished banners
Purveyor of Mission Accomplished banners
Our very own 'special military operation'.
November 26, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Our very own 'special military operation'.
The UN Charter, Geneva, IHL, Just War Theory, good strategy, and basic requirements of winning all demand that if you destroy a government, you have to fix what you've broken. If not, someone else not only gets to claim the win, you get coded as the loser.
November 25, 2025 at 5:16 AM
The UN Charter, Geneva, IHL, Just War Theory, good strategy, and basic requirements of winning all demand that if you destroy a government, you have to fix what you've broken. If not, someone else not only gets to claim the win, you get coded as the loser.
The question of who controls Libya and what is the structure of its government is at the heart of the war since 2011. Since its never been settled, that war continues.
Based on the current status of the country, quagmire fits fine.
Since the US is a key reason for that situation, it gets blamed.
Based on the current status of the country, quagmire fits fine.
Since the US is a key reason for that situation, it gets blamed.
November 25, 2025 at 5:16 AM
The question of who controls Libya and what is the structure of its government is at the heart of the war since 2011. Since its never been settled, that war continues.
Based on the current status of the country, quagmire fits fine.
Since the US is a key reason for that situation, it gets blamed.
Based on the current status of the country, quagmire fits fine.
Since the US is a key reason for that situation, it gets blamed.
The DSA takes over Small Wars Journal.
November 25, 2025 at 3:17 AM
The DSA takes over Small Wars Journal.
Caracas at least has better weather.
November 25, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Caracas at least has better weather.
Actually, yes, you do. Legally, morally, ethically, and strategically. If you overthrow a government, you are responsible for what happens next.
More than that, if you don't, you are automatically coded as the loser, which means its a strategy intentionally designed to fail.
More than that, if you don't, you are automatically coded as the loser, which means its a strategy intentionally designed to fail.
November 24, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Actually, yes, you do. Legally, morally, ethically, and strategically. If you overthrow a government, you are responsible for what happens next.
More than that, if you don't, you are automatically coded as the loser, which means its a strategy intentionally designed to fail.
More than that, if you don't, you are automatically coded as the loser, which means its a strategy intentionally designed to fail.
But the 'Next Day' question is the thing the US always fails at. Intentionally so. Which is also why the US constantly loses wars. It can only think of therapeutic bombing as 'war winning' because that's as far as these people are capable of thinking.
November 24, 2025 at 10:18 PM
But the 'Next Day' question is the thing the US always fails at. Intentionally so. Which is also why the US constantly loses wars. It can only think of therapeutic bombing as 'war winning' because that's as far as these people are capable of thinking.
I would totally agree a state harder to undo, but Hezbollah is still the effective 'state' in Southern Lebanon.
The fact Hezbollah itself did not totally collapse after the strike is a testament to the fact its built a resilient combat force that retains control. Even if it did do a ceasefire.
The fact Hezbollah itself did not totally collapse after the strike is a testament to the fact its built a resilient combat force that retains control. Even if it did do a ceasefire.
November 24, 2025 at 10:18 PM
I would totally agree a state harder to undo, but Hezbollah is still the effective 'state' in Southern Lebanon.
The fact Hezbollah itself did not totally collapse after the strike is a testament to the fact its built a resilient combat force that retains control. Even if it did do a ceasefire.
The fact Hezbollah itself did not totally collapse after the strike is a testament to the fact its built a resilient combat force that retains control. Even if it did do a ceasefire.
Libya is an unstable, barely-held together group of city-states and large desert tracts with multiple competing insurgencies, quasi-state forces, and external terrorist groups vying for control of cities, towns, and borders.
That's a quagmire.
That's a quagmire.
November 24, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Libya is an unstable, barely-held together group of city-states and large desert tracts with multiple competing insurgencies, quasi-state forces, and external terrorist groups vying for control of cities, towns, and borders.
That's a quagmire.
That's a quagmire.
Its because they think they 'won' the Houthi experiment. They think they, with Israel, defeated Iran now and forever. They think Hezbollah is a completely defeated force. They think the USAF and SOF defeated ISIS and no one else helped. They think the only thing that matters in war is the violence.
November 24, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Its because they think they 'won' the Houthi experiment. They think they, with Israel, defeated Iran now and forever. They think Hezbollah is a completely defeated force. They think the USAF and SOF defeated ISIS and no one else helped. They think the only thing that matters in war is the violence.
Its what Israel did to Hezbollah that they're probably trying to recreate.
A large-scale destruction of its leadership cadre, with a single massive and devastating strike on the core leaders, that leads to a collapse of C2.
A large-scale destruction of its leadership cadre, with a single massive and devastating strike on the core leaders, that leads to a collapse of C2.
November 24, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Its what Israel did to Hezbollah that they're probably trying to recreate.
A large-scale destruction of its leadership cadre, with a single massive and devastating strike on the core leaders, that leads to a collapse of C2.
A large-scale destruction of its leadership cadre, with a single massive and devastating strike on the core leaders, that leads to a collapse of C2.
Libya is still a quagmire, and its been 15 years, and all we did was air attacks with SOF on the ground.
November 24, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Libya is still a quagmire, and its been 15 years, and all we did was air attacks with SOF on the ground.
Gotcha. I’ll accept that.
But again, that’s capitalism, not women, that are making their lives meaningless, making relationships harder, and destroying their mental health.
Peterson et. al. at least acknowledged it, and the right to be angry about it. And with that, told everyone who to blame.
But again, that’s capitalism, not women, that are making their lives meaningless, making relationships harder, and destroying their mental health.
Peterson et. al. at least acknowledged it, and the right to be angry about it. And with that, told everyone who to blame.
November 24, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Gotcha. I’ll accept that.
But again, that’s capitalism, not women, that are making their lives meaningless, making relationships harder, and destroying their mental health.
Peterson et. al. at least acknowledged it, and the right to be angry about it. And with that, told everyone who to blame.
But again, that’s capitalism, not women, that are making their lives meaningless, making relationships harder, and destroying their mental health.
Peterson et. al. at least acknowledged it, and the right to be angry about it. And with that, told everyone who to blame.
This is why Trump and MAGA crumbling under their own contradictions, hypocrisies, and the application of their own ideas is so useful.
We’ve got a real-world test and it’s failing everything worse than ever.
They just need someone to listen to in order to help bring them back to the light.
We’ve got a real-world test and it’s failing everything worse than ever.
They just need someone to listen to in order to help bring them back to the light.
November 24, 2025 at 7:55 AM
This is why Trump and MAGA crumbling under their own contradictions, hypocrisies, and the application of their own ideas is so useful.
We’ve got a real-world test and it’s failing everything worse than ever.
They just need someone to listen to in order to help bring them back to the light.
We’ve got a real-world test and it’s failing everything worse than ever.
They just need someone to listen to in order to help bring them back to the light.
I’m someone’s who’s struggled a lot. A lot of my life goals were obtained at the worst times, which threw me off. So I know where they’re coming from.
They just had YT and IG reels to tell them the problem—women—rather than a good education.
They just had YT and IG reels to tell them the problem—women—rather than a good education.
November 24, 2025 at 7:55 AM
I’m someone’s who’s struggled a lot. A lot of my life goals were obtained at the worst times, which threw me off. So I know where they’re coming from.
They just had YT and IG reels to tell them the problem—women—rather than a good education.
They just had YT and IG reels to tell them the problem—women—rather than a good education.
I would counter by saying that most have been struggling, which is what drove them to want to know why.
Instead of accepting that our current pol-economy caused it, they found Peterson or some other chud first, and went down the hole with the algorithm.
They want answers to why their lives suck.
Instead of accepting that our current pol-economy caused it, they found Peterson or some other chud first, and went down the hole with the algorithm.
They want answers to why their lives suck.
November 24, 2025 at 7:55 AM
I would counter by saying that most have been struggling, which is what drove them to want to know why.
Instead of accepting that our current pol-economy caused it, they found Peterson or some other chud first, and went down the hole with the algorithm.
They want answers to why their lives suck.
Instead of accepting that our current pol-economy caused it, they found Peterson or some other chud first, and went down the hole with the algorithm.
They want answers to why their lives suck.
It’s less that than who they blame.
They love to use graphs that show where male decline began and accelerated, and it always starts in the 1970s, getting worse from the 80s.
Simply, they blame gender equality for the problems of capitalism because doing otherwise is treason, weak, and unmanly.
They love to use graphs that show where male decline began and accelerated, and it always starts in the 1970s, getting worse from the 80s.
Simply, they blame gender equality for the problems of capitalism because doing otherwise is treason, weak, and unmanly.
November 24, 2025 at 6:46 AM
It’s less that than who they blame.
They love to use graphs that show where male decline began and accelerated, and it always starts in the 1970s, getting worse from the 80s.
Simply, they blame gender equality for the problems of capitalism because doing otherwise is treason, weak, and unmanly.
They love to use graphs that show where male decline began and accelerated, and it always starts in the 1970s, getting worse from the 80s.
Simply, they blame gender equality for the problems of capitalism because doing otherwise is treason, weak, and unmanly.
Because of how bad some of the services are. Talk to any vet about the VA and this is what they’ll convince everyone else M4A will look like.
November 24, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Because of how bad some of the services are. Talk to any vet about the VA and this is what they’ll convince everyone else M4A will look like.
But they have Grok to tell them all those lawyers are wrong.
November 24, 2025 at 1:11 AM
But they have Grok to tell them all those lawyers are wrong.
Constantly having to relearn the same lessons for things that should be intrinsic is a key reason the same mistakes keep getting made in the first place because without that specialist knowledge, no one knows any better
We just need to stop treating hyper pigeon-holed knowledge as the only solution
We just need to stop treating hyper pigeon-holed knowledge as the only solution
November 23, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Constantly having to relearn the same lessons for things that should be intrinsic is a key reason the same mistakes keep getting made in the first place because without that specialist knowledge, no one knows any better
We just need to stop treating hyper pigeon-holed knowledge as the only solution
We just need to stop treating hyper pigeon-holed knowledge as the only solution
And this is what a key clause in any exile law should be built around.
November 23, 2025 at 11:05 PM
And this is what a key clause in any exile law should be built around.
Very fair point and would agree a lot.
By civilian, I'm guessing you mean DOD civilian, not civilian/contractor?
By civilian, I'm guessing you mean DOD civilian, not civilian/contractor?
November 23, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Very fair point and would agree a lot.
By civilian, I'm guessing you mean DOD civilian, not civilian/contractor?
By civilian, I'm guessing you mean DOD civilian, not civilian/contractor?
The problem is that Big Service always wants to kill all SOF if they don’t have their own command/budget. So we end up in cycles of destruction/creation/learning too late/destruction.
November 23, 2025 at 10:43 PM
The problem is that Big Service always wants to kill all SOF if they don’t have their own command/budget. So we end up in cycles of destruction/creation/learning too late/destruction.
We do need to consider whether Space Force should be a separate Service, a cross-functional corps that contains all Services, or a stand-alone corps.
November 23, 2025 at 10:40 PM
We do need to consider whether Space Force should be a separate Service, a cross-functional corps that contains all Services, or a stand-alone corps.
We never got the Battle of Kashyyyk we deserved.
November 23, 2025 at 10:36 PM
We never got the Battle of Kashyyyk we deserved.