Deep Intel on Escalation of the War in Ukraine

Two-time Moochie Award-winning Prof. Justin Bronk rejoins the channel to discuss the most recent escalation of the war in Ukraine, including the change in Russian nuclear usage doctrine and the firing of an IRBM from Russia into Ukraine. Justin also discusses what the results of the U.S. presidential campaign mean for support to Ukraine and the future of NATO.

And as an audiobook here:

[TheBitter]

Just to correct Ward, this is a 10 year war. This started in 2014. Lets not sugar coat anything.

[roberthunter]

Nobody mentions that part of separation of the USSR was that Ukraine would give up their nuclear capability for non aggression from Russia.

[GunnersRange]

I was in Kharkiv in July 2015, and 'the war' had been underway for a year. I was sitting at the hotel bar one evening, and the female bartender gasped and ran to meet a man walking in. I noticed immediately he was in fatigues, dirty from head to foot, and really 'ragged out'. He was her brother, just back from Donetsk for one week R&R. His name was Maximillian - the funny part is I forgot her name long ago, but still remember his! He was 'drafted' by Ukrainian police who knocked on his door and announced he was 'In the army now!' He'd been on the line for 8 months, and his company commander was killed by a sniper only two weeks prior. As we talked [excellent English] I gave him one of my challenge coins, and he gave me a cross made from an AK-74 round. To this day, I carry that cross in my wallet, and more than once I've wondered if he's still alive and prayed for him! Semper Fidelis! CWO4 USMCR [Ret] 17 Feb 1969 - 1 August 2004

[Blowinshiddup]

Yup, thanks for pointing Canada out for not pulling our weight on defense spending. I was in the RCAF for 25 yrs, with our 42 yr old fighters, 45 yr old Auroras, etc. Our government has never seemed to have our backs. We recently bought used RAAF F-18 Hornets to supplement our dwindling numbers. When they do buy stuff, it's the minimum quantity and usually doesn't make up for attrition.

[durrancejames]

Ward, I’m
Not a historian, geopolitical expert, military scientist or politician.
I’m a retired Sailor who has spent my entire adult life operating, building and maintaining warships. I pray for peace and this mess of current world affairs scares the crap out of me. unfortunately the butcher bill is paid by the less fortunate civilians and service members caught in this 3 d chess match.

[jameskress]

As a military historian and former Soviet Foreign Area Specialist, I am very impressed with RUSI's Professor Justin Bronk. His knowledge, intelligence and thoughtful presentations on various military/geopolitical subjects are exceptional. Ward, you are a highly talented and intelligent individual and I commend you for your outstanding pobcast.

[Handyman.]

Good to see Justin again, greetings. Thanks for the update, Ward. Much appreciated. Take care, fly right.

[anthonyx]

As a Canadian, it feels like a national embarrassment that we spend so little on defense, and seem to be constantly trimming further back when it does seem that we could meet our NATO commitment relatively easily without adverse effect on our economy.

[defghi]

My first time on this channel and it's actually helpful to hear from actual defense experts who aren't pushing anything directly political but just laying out policy realities.

[rockbutcher]

The problem with the Canadian military spending (Old CDN Platoon Commander here) is that BOTH major parties have milked the 'peace dividend' for all it was worth. Heck, we were underfunded back in the mid '80's too so it goes beyond that.

Canada could simply just spend >2% on defense next year, the problem is that we'd have to build warehouses to store it all because we simply don't have the manpower to use it. They are looking at buying a new fleet of submarines, but we don't have the ability to train that many submariners. Over 70k people applied to join the CAF last year, and just over 4k of those applications were actually processed. Our Sr. NCO staffing level has dropped so low that it makes training new recruits complicated since Sr. NCOs need to be drawn from other jobs where they are needed. It really is a death spiral.

Our shipyards are incapable of building ships in a timely fashion and on budget. Our aircraft industry is non-existent. We do make some pretty good LAVs and MRAPS, but have to buy our armor and artillery. Our TWO 155mm producing factories can only produced the training rounds...the list goes on and I'm not sure that our next PM will be able to, or is willing to fix that. It breaks my heart.

[ksbs]

Professor Bronk is always a terrific source of information. He's clearly extremely competent and well spoken. Thanks professor!

[johncollinson]

As a Canadian, I am so embarrassed by my Countries defence spending. Can not expect a free ride anymore. Relying on two oceans for defence is not a valid option anymore.

Canada has a similar GDP to Russia with 1/10th the population. Look at the difference in military capacity! I’m not suggesting we have a Russian size military but we can spend 50 billion a year on defence. And pull off two to three percent of GDP spending.

[noahway]

Because of that chair, Justin looks like he is rockin a mullet.

[henryquecabral]

Hi! I'm Brazilian, I lived in Ukraine in 2017. I see it in Brazilian political discussions a lot of "where will we fit?" in this new cold war. We see a lot of Itamaraty (Ministry of Foreign Affairs ) high ranking personal watching the Russian war to weight in possibilities and formulate where Brazil will be, with most coming to conclusion that being a US ally is very much not worth it as you when push come to shovel the US won't be there to help you. Thus, I'm saying from a third party POV, the war in Ukraine is much more than just about Ukraine or Europe, Latin America will see it as a free pass to allow Chinese personal and equipment in LATAM in exchange for Chinese investment, and I'm sure Asia-pacific as well

[kaiying]

Oh yes please. Justin is precisely who I'd like to hear from following what's happened this week. Great job Mooch.

[Ed_Downunder]

It's time to discuss the Budapest Memorandum. This is more than a side note. The memorandum was intentionally designed with ambiguous language regarding the nature of its commitments. But in essence, the intention was to protect Ukraine's sovereign borders from aggression. Russia violated the memorandum. The UK and the USA abandoned the memorandum. And here we are.

[abelabner]

Thanks again Mr. Carroll for having Prof. Bronk on your channel again! Love me some British Prof. commentary on a European war.

[neilpickles]

Sombre analysis and on point as always. Wish the general public watched this for informed commentary instead of the usual channels.

[woodsmaneh]

Sorry on behalf of Canadians. Most of us want our government at or above 2%.

[CBT]

Hi Ward. I have a question for Justin B.: How has the British Challenger tank performed in Ukraine?