Richard Simonson
@richardsimonson.bsky.social
Occasional wandering staff officer. Older than I used to be.
Interested in air and missile defence, COIN, civil-military relations.
Avid podcast listener. Bibliophile. Lapsed reader.
Interested in air and missile defence, COIN, civil-military relations.
Avid podcast listener. Bibliophile. Lapsed reader.
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Sharing this recent podcast by me on how civil-military relations (ideally) should work in liberal democracies.
See here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsma...
See here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsma...
October 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Sharing this recent podcast by me on how civil-military relations (ideally) should work in liberal democracies.
See here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsma...
See here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsma...
Reposted by Richard Simonson
When books are thoughtfully arranged, they help us arrange our thoughts... When not hidden behind barricades of other books, when not stacked into precarious towers, each title becomes a kind of waypoint, a visible record of a mind genuinely searching for particular ideas.
Bookmarks in the story of a life
When books are thoughtfully arranged, they help us arrange our thoughts...
open.substack.com
September 12, 2025 at 3:09 AM
When books are thoughtfully arranged, they help us arrange our thoughts... When not hidden behind barricades of other books, when not stacked into precarious towers, each title becomes a kind of waypoint, a visible record of a mind genuinely searching for particular ideas.
Reposted by Richard Simonson
The ghoulish fixation on preexisting conditions and starving children in Gaza is bizarre. In all modern conflicts the death toll is measured in excess deaths. This is something I wrote about Congo's civil war almost 20 years ago:
August 25, 2025 at 8:24 PM
The ghoulish fixation on preexisting conditions and starving children in Gaza is bizarre. In all modern conflicts the death toll is measured in excess deaths. This is something I wrote about Congo's civil war almost 20 years ago:
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Starting a podcast ("Instant Classics") with Charlotte Higgins at the end of August. One thing we'll be doing (there are plenty others) is reading & discussing the Odyssey over several months. Here's why we chose that tinyurl.com/kfds9tkr
Reading the Odyssey
I have bitten the bullet and am about to launch a classical podcast (with Charlotte Higgins) about classics, ancient and modern. It will not just be about
tinyurl.com
August 22, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Starting a podcast ("Instant Classics") with Charlotte Higgins at the end of August. One thing we'll be doing (there are plenty others) is reading & discussing the Odyssey over several months. Here's why we chose that tinyurl.com/kfds9tkr
Reposted by Richard Simonson
The centrality of India’s economy and culture in Asian history has long been obscured by an overly Sinocentric view. In reality, the Indosphere was much larger and more influential than the much smaller Sinosphere.
The Historical Great Powers of Asia: South Asia
Even if medieval Indian kings didn’t control the entire subcontinent, the region’s wealth and population helped them impact world events.
buff.ly
August 22, 2025 at 1:35 AM
The centrality of India’s economy and culture in Asian history has long been obscured by an overly Sinocentric view. In reality, the Indosphere was much larger and more influential than the much smaller Sinosphere.
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Reposted by Richard Simonson
This is very bad. Although entirely predictable. Once more the humanities are being cut back to prop up STEM and, increasingly, AI investment (including at the expense of bench science). In the past, cuts to humanities were promoted on two separate logic streams that do not hold true: /1
Dean at U of Chicago: “She also expressed concerns that the administration might be asking the Arts & Humanities Division to cut back to compensate for other divisions’ financial challenges, asking whether ‘our entire unit [is] being used to float other units facing cuts.”
UChicago Arts & Humanities Division to Restructure Amid “Historic Funding Pressures”
“The status quo is not an option,” Deborah Nelson, dean of the Division of the Arts & Humanities, wrote to division faculty on June 18.
chicagomaroon.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:37 PM
This is very bad. Although entirely predictable. Once more the humanities are being cut back to prop up STEM and, increasingly, AI investment (including at the expense of bench science). In the past, cuts to humanities were promoted on two separate logic streams that do not hold true: /1
Reposted by Richard Simonson
My big defense of campaign histories (at least a dose of them) is that they illustrate the contingency of history. Someone might have said it before, but there’s a lot of luck involved in war so looking closely at it makes it clear that past events were not inevitable.
I can all but guarantee you it isn't any different at any other program.
I also will guarantee you it's just as bad in history as it is IR/FP. Maybe worse. There's such a revulsion to old "drums and bugles" campaign histories (not for nothing, mind you) that it's often avoided or ignored.
I also will guarantee you it's just as bad in history as it is IR/FP. Maybe worse. There's such a revulsion to old "drums and bugles" campaign histories (not for nothing, mind you) that it's often avoided or ignored.
July 23, 2025 at 6:32 PM
My big defense of campaign histories (at least a dose of them) is that they illustrate the contingency of history. Someone might have said it before, but there’s a lot of luck involved in war so looking closely at it makes it clear that past events were not inevitable.
Reposted by Richard Simonson
'If Welsh, Polish and Bengali all derive from an extinct Proto- Indo-European, then who spoke it, where and when?'
James Clackson on the global reach of the Indo-European mother tongue
James Clackson on the global reach of the Indo-European mother tongue
From the steppes of central Asia
www.the-tls.com
July 5, 2025 at 7:02 AM
'If Welsh, Polish and Bengali all derive from an extinct Proto- Indo-European, then who spoke it, where and when?'
James Clackson on the global reach of the Indo-European mother tongue
James Clackson on the global reach of the Indo-European mother tongue
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Here is what a UAF BC stated to me a while back for a piece, I am fairly certain he is not the only one (even tho his battalion uses a lot of drones)
June 24, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Here is what a UAF BC stated to me a while back for a piece, I am fairly certain he is not the only one (even tho his battalion uses a lot of drones)
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Why am I so unimpressed by these strikes? Israel and the US have failed to target significant elements of Iran's nuclear materials and production infrastructure. RISING LION and MIDNIGHT HAMMER are tactically brilliant, but may turn out to be strategic failures. 🧵 1/17
June 23, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Why am I so unimpressed by these strikes? Israel and the US have failed to target significant elements of Iran's nuclear materials and production infrastructure. RISING LION and MIDNIGHT HAMMER are tactically brilliant, but may turn out to be strategic failures. 🧵 1/17
Reposted by Richard Simonson
There have been 6 Defence White Papers over the past 40 years, and it is hard not to see that something got lost along the way (and also the destruction of language into bureaucratese)
June 22, 2025 at 10:51 PM
There have been 6 Defence White Papers over the past 40 years, and it is hard not to see that something got lost along the way (and also the destruction of language into bureaucratese)
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Please pardon my language, but what the fuck (at the headline, not the OP)?
Cyrus II, the founder of the Achaemenids (the first Persian Empire) gets *really good* press in Jewish scripture, because he allowed the exiles to return and rebuild the temple; they benefited from Achaemenid tolerance.
Cyrus II, the founder of the Achaemenids (the first Persian Empire) gets *really good* press in Jewish scripture, because he allowed the exiles to return and rebuild the temple; they benefited from Achaemenid tolerance.
Only in the Middle East are relatively comprehensible modern conflicts rooted in the balance of power of nation-states reduced to quasi-mystical "ancient hatreds."
June 16, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Please pardon my language, but what the fuck (at the headline, not the OP)?
Cyrus II, the founder of the Achaemenids (the first Persian Empire) gets *really good* press in Jewish scripture, because he allowed the exiles to return and rebuild the temple; they benefited from Achaemenid tolerance.
Cyrus II, the founder of the Achaemenids (the first Persian Empire) gets *really good* press in Jewish scripture, because he allowed the exiles to return and rebuild the temple; they benefited from Achaemenid tolerance.
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Instructing soldiers not to hoot and clap like they are at a political rally when a president gives a speech is civil-military relations 101.
Any officer should know this without even thinking about it.
Any officer should know this without even thinking about it.
“We’re treating it as a teachable moment,” said a senior Army official. “It was not a great look.”
Tonight, a deep dive on how the Army has been embroiled in -- and strained by -- this moment's partisan politics.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Tonight, a deep dive on how the Army has been embroiled in -- and strained by -- this moment's partisan politics.
www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Political turmoil strains the Army as it marks a milestone birthday
Trump’s rally at Fort Bragg was the latest event that has thrust the Army to the center of his most partisan machinations.
www.washingtonpost.com
June 13, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Instructing soldiers not to hoot and clap like they are at a political rally when a president gives a speech is civil-military relations 101.
Any officer should know this without even thinking about it.
Any officer should know this without even thinking about it.
Reposted by Richard Simonson
The problem of the air defence of Australia, c. 1957... #airpowerhistory
June 11, 2025 at 12:25 AM
The problem of the air defence of Australia, c. 1957... #airpowerhistory
Reposted by Richard Simonson
At Fort Bragg, Donald Trump crossed a dangerous line. Where are the generals who should be speaking up in defense of the military's rules and traditions, asks @RadioFreeTom?
The Silence of the Generals
As President Donald Trump crossed a dangerous line at Fort Bragg, the Army’s brass failed to speak out in its defense.
bit.ly
June 11, 2025 at 12:19 AM
At Fort Bragg, Donald Trump crossed a dangerous line. Where are the generals who should be speaking up in defense of the military's rules and traditions, asks @RadioFreeTom?
Reposted by Richard Simonson
This is an excellent article, tying in history with what’s happening now.
@altnps.bsky.social
@altusfs.altgov.info
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
@altnps.bsky.social
@altusfs.altgov.info
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
This land is their land: Trump is selling out the US’s beloved wilderness
During the McCarthy era’s darkest days, public lands came under attack. History now repeats itself – and this may be the last chance to defend what’s ours
www.theguardian.com
May 18, 2025 at 10:21 PM
This is an excellent article, tying in history with what’s happening now.
@altnps.bsky.social
@altusfs.altgov.info
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
@altnps.bsky.social
@altusfs.altgov.info
@hcrichardson.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Reposted by Richard Simonson
“As evidence mounted, while remaining inconclusive, that a Pakistani pilot in the latest variant of the Vigorous Dragon may have shot down India’s French-made Rafale jet, Chengdu’s share price leapt more than 40% in just two days”
on.ft.com/4ka8ocB
on.ft.com/4ka8ocB
China’s J-10 ‘Dragon’ shows teeth in India-Pakistan combat debut
Skirmish is first test of Beijing’s military hardware against advanced western technology
on.ft.com
May 12, 2025 at 7:23 AM
“As evidence mounted, while remaining inconclusive, that a Pakistani pilot in the latest variant of the Vigorous Dragon may have shot down India’s French-made Rafale jet, Chengdu’s share price leapt more than 40% in just two days”
on.ft.com/4ka8ocB
on.ft.com/4ka8ocB
Reposted by Richard Simonson
The insight from every RMA…
“Right now [the battlefield] is not about new technology,” Yakovenko told the Financial Times in his headquarters in the Black Sea port of Odesa. “It’s about how to adapt to new strategies.”
on.ft.com/4jUroME
“Right now [the battlefield] is not about new technology,” Yakovenko told the Financial Times in his headquarters in the Black Sea port of Odesa. “It’s about how to adapt to new strategies.”
on.ft.com/4jUroME
‘We tend to innovate first. But the Russians quickly come up with a response’
Oleksandr Yakovenko, one of Ukraine’s top drone manufacturers, on the challenges of the high-tech war and of keeping one step ahead of the Russians
on.ft.com
May 11, 2025 at 6:18 AM
The insight from every RMA…
“Right now [the battlefield] is not about new technology,” Yakovenko told the Financial Times in his headquarters in the Black Sea port of Odesa. “It’s about how to adapt to new strategies.”
on.ft.com/4jUroME
“Right now [the battlefield] is not about new technology,” Yakovenko told the Financial Times in his headquarters in the Black Sea port of Odesa. “It’s about how to adapt to new strategies.”
on.ft.com/4jUroME
Reposted by Richard Simonson
"In pulling the plug on its Yemen campaign, the Trump administration faced a hard reality: continuing to strike the Houthis at this rate could soon become both unsustainable and aimless, even as it was harming U.S. military needs elsewhere." www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
How the Houthis Outlasted America
Washington needed an off-ramp, but the group can still imperil the global economy.
www.foreignaffairs.com
May 9, 2025 at 10:41 AM
"In pulling the plug on its Yemen campaign, the Trump administration faced a hard reality: continuing to strike the Houthis at this rate could soon become both unsustainable and aimless, even as it was harming U.S. military needs elsewhere." www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...
Reposted by Richard Simonson
My lecture at the Leon Levy Center about writing modern biographies of ancient people (and the perils of that) is now online: tinyurl.com/596phdvy
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tinyurl.com
May 5, 2025 at 1:05 AM
My lecture at the Leon Levy Center about writing modern biographies of ancient people (and the perils of that) is now online: tinyurl.com/596phdvy
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Ukrainian #drone boat/naval drone carrying a surface-to-air missile has shot down a Russian combat jet.
defence-blog.com/russian-comb...
defence-blog.com/russian-comb...
Russian combat jet downed by Ukrainian drone boat
Russian military-affiliated sources have acknowledged the loss of a combat jet following a Ukrainian sea drone attack near the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The pro-Russian Telegram channel Rybar re...
defence-blog.com
May 3, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Ukrainian #drone boat/naval drone carrying a surface-to-air missile has shot down a Russian combat jet.
defence-blog.com/russian-comb...
defence-blog.com/russian-comb...
Reposted by Richard Simonson
An update on the war following a recent trip. The situation has improved compared with Fall 2024. Russian offensive momentum slowed significantly over the winter, though it is premature to claim that the front has stabilized, especially following AFU withdrawal in Kursk. /1
March 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
An update on the war following a recent trip. The situation has improved compared with Fall 2024. Russian offensive momentum slowed significantly over the winter, though it is premature to claim that the front has stabilized, especially following AFU withdrawal in Kursk. /1
Very good @forbes.com piece on the rapid pace of adaption in the UAS counter-measure, counter-counter-measure race between Russia and Ukraine. I
n this instance, describes the adoption of fibre optic drones by the Russians in recapturing territory in Kursk.
www.forbes.com/sites/davidh...
n this instance, describes the adoption of fibre optic drones by the Russians in recapturing territory in Kursk.
www.forbes.com/sites/davidh...
New Drone Tactics Sealed Russian Victory In Kursk
According to a Russian military blogger, mass use of fiber optic FPV drones to target Ukrainian logistics forced them to retreat so the territory could be easily retaken.
www.forbes.com
March 21, 2025 at 5:19 AM
Very good @forbes.com piece on the rapid pace of adaption in the UAS counter-measure, counter-counter-measure race between Russia and Ukraine. I
n this instance, describes the adoption of fibre optic drones by the Russians in recapturing territory in Kursk.
www.forbes.com/sites/davidh...
n this instance, describes the adoption of fibre optic drones by the Russians in recapturing territory in Kursk.
www.forbes.com/sites/davidh...
Reposted by Richard Simonson
Some Ukrainian drivers refer to these as life tunnels.
FPVs will force soldiers to live in covered trenches and vehicles to drive in net tunnels, but these defenses work.
FPVs will force soldiers to live in covered trenches and vehicles to drive in net tunnels, but these defenses work.
March 16, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Some Ukrainian drivers refer to these as life tunnels.
FPVs will force soldiers to live in covered trenches and vehicles to drive in net tunnels, but these defenses work.
FPVs will force soldiers to live in covered trenches and vehicles to drive in net tunnels, but these defenses work.