BY STEWART SLATER Wars, the old military saw has it, start when both sides have an unrealistic understanding of their own power and end when both sides have a realistic one. War is a learning process, stripping through delusion and self-deception to reveal the truth. We may assume that the Russian military, if not necessarily its leadership, has a slightly greater awareness of its capabilities … Continue reading The End of Empire
BY PAUL T HORGAN I do not have a TV Licence so I did not see the newscaster at the BBC gently reminding viewers that the M4 motorway up which Wagner commander Yevgeny Prigozhin was advancing with 25,000 battle-hardened veterans was in fact the road from Rostov to Moscow, and not the one that runs from Cardiff to London. Prigozhin made good distance along the … Continue reading An Armchair General Writes …
BY NIALL McCRAE Products are made in factories, but brands are processed in the mind. A remarkable feat of the government’s Covid-19 response in March 2020 was the readily produced slogans (such as ‘hands, face, space’) and other messaging. Initially the colours were red and yellow, signifying an emergency, but later the colour scheme changed. The constant barrage of marketing for the booster injections in … Continue reading Blue & Yellow
BY EFFIE DEANS Everybody including me got everything wrong about the war in Ukraine. The Germans and the French thought it wasn’t going to happen right up until the moment that it did. The British and the Americans thought that the Ukrainians would be defeated within a week or so. The fear was that the Russians would then threaten Lithuania and Poland and that NATO … Continue reading Mother Russia Calls in Vain
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy this Sunday morning. Today, whatever You are doing, please spare a thought and a prayer for Ukraine. As You likely know already, heavy fighting, shelling and air strikes across Ukraine have had devastating consequences for ordinary people. Over 5 million people have fled the country in recent weeks, and many … Continue reading A Prayer for Ukraine
BY JIM WEBSTER The thing about farming is that yields fluctuate. You can plant the same acreage in two successive years. Sow the same variety, put on the same sprays and inputs, and see what happens. One year, because the rain came at the wrong time, the sun just scorched what was left. Next year everything fell just right. So, one year you didn’t even … Continue reading Windfalls, No Cider
BY JIM WEBSTER During first lockdown, behind the scenes, major retailers performed logistical miracles. As a farmer I’m not somebody who is prone to praise them, but in spite of ridiculous levels of panic buying (there are people out there who won’t need to buy toilet paper for another couple of years) the retailers managed to keep the show on the road. During lockdown I … Continue reading Too Little Wheat, Too Much Makeup
BY EFFIE DEANS When the clocks change each year in Scotland each spring, I am able to see more of it. The weather may vary, but the daylight doesn’t and by June we have so much light that it is possible to go almost anywhere and get back in the same day. I take my own coffee and buy sandwiches in a supermarket so the … Continue reading Peace and Prosperity
BY EFFIE DEANS The war between Russia and Ukraine is essentially about different forms of nationalism. It is for this reason that it is relevant to Scotland. This is why the SNP is trying to create a narrative which it hopes will be helpful to its goal. After all Ukraine is the result of a successful secession movement. But it is also the victim of … Continue reading What Ukraine Teaches Us About Scottish & Irish Nationalism
BY JIM WEBSTER On the agricultural front, so far nothing has really been said in the West, although I’ve noticed a couple of the papers starting to run stories about possible food shortages. Apparently the Chinese government, which seems to think about these things rather more than our governments do, has stockpiled 70% of world maize stocks, 51% of world wheat stocks and “enormous quantities … Continue reading Ukraine Effects: A Farmer’s Thoughts
BY MEG LEE CHIN It seems some of the events in Ukraine may have been misinterpreted by our Western media. Our typical warfare style is to immediately storm the capital city and kill or seize the leader. Although this allows us to claim a swift victory for our folks back home, it tends to leave a messy power vacuum as we scramble to install a … Continue reading The Zelensky Meme
BY STEWART SLATER What is the iconic image of WWII? It probably depends where you come from. If you are British, it is likely St Paul’s, standing proud, wreathed in smoke and flame. If you are Russian, it is probably a Soviet soldier flying the hammer and sickle from the top of the Reichstag. For an American, it is surely the Marines raising the flag … Continue reading The Image of War
BY EFFIE DEANS It is difficult to write about a fast-moving conflict with limited information and much disinformation. But it is impossible to write about anything else as every other topic looks trivial. I am uninterested in the domestic politics of the UK and cannot bring myself even to notice whatever Nicola Sturgeon might be saying about it or anything else. The key with news … Continue reading Putin the Terrible
BY EFFIE DEANS Ukraine as a truly independent state has already ceased to exist. It may end up as a Russian vassal or it may largely be absorbed into Russia, but it is hard to see how it can truly regain control over its territory in the near future if ever. The Russians have taken over the second largest country in Europe. They cannot take … Continue reading We Must Defeat the USSR Again
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy. I hope that Your families are likewise well and that You are enjoying a peaceful Sunday. Alas, the same cannot be said for Ukraine. It comes as little shock that Vladimir Putin has taken up the role of Hitler of our age. The widespread international condemnation will hopefully morph into … Continue reading A Prayer for Ukraine
BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN The 1944 Soviet Military Encyclopaedia refers to: “means of securing combat operations and the daily activities of forces; a complexity of measures, directed to mislead the enemy regarding the presence and disposition of forces.” Russian military deception, known as maskirovka (Russian for ‘disguise’), contributed to major Soviet victories including the Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Kursk. In both these cases, … Continue reading Maskirovka
