Shashank Joshi
@shashj.bsky.social
Defence Editor at The Economist.
Visiting Fellow at Department of War Studies, KCL. For speaking engagements: https://chartwellspeakers.com/speaker/shashank-joshi
Visiting Fellow at Department of War Studies, KCL. For speaking engagements: https://chartwellspeakers.com/speaker/shashank-joshi
Pinned
Shashank Joshi
@shashj.bsky.social
· Feb 13
Our cover story this week: reforming the Pentagon. www.economist.com/briefing/202...
More evidence that a deal was done. "Rodríguez, a canny political operator, was envisaged as head of a transitional government in secret talks that her politician brother, Jorge, led with Washington last year about a post-Maduro future" www.ft.com/content/4b87...
The woman with Donald Trump’s nod to lead Venezuela
Washington has built its transition plans around vice-president Delcy Rodríguez, a canny operator close to the oil industry
www.ft.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:20 PM
More evidence that a deal was done. "Rodríguez, a canny political operator, was envisaged as head of a transitional government in secret talks that her politician brother, Jorge, led with Washington last year about a post-Maduro future" www.ft.com/content/4b87...
More astonishing public comments from Danish PM on Greenland: “I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland. But I will also make it clear that if the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO..."
Denmark Says US Attack on Greenland Would Mean End of NATO
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that if Donald Trump were to attack the Danish island of Greenland that would mean the end of the NATO alliance.
www.bloomberg.com
January 5, 2026 at 5:16 PM
More astonishing public comments from Danish PM on Greenland: “I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland. But I will also make it clear that if the US chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO..."
A historian kindly pointed me to some more nuanced sources on this episode. The music was initially to mask negotiations with the Vatican embassy. It was then also justified as a psychological tool. www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/D...
January 5, 2026 at 10:03 AM
A historian kindly pointed me to some more nuanced sources on this episode. The music was initially to mask negotiations with the Vatican embassy. It was then also justified as a psychological tool. www.jcs.mil/Portals/36/D...
"there is a risk that the army splits. Some factions may back Ms Rodríguez; others may want power for themselves or Mr Padrino; a few, perhaps joining with dissident soldiers who have already fled... could push for Ms Machado’s return." www.economist.com/the-americas...
The many risks to Donald Trump’s plans to “run” Venezuela
The regime that was led by Nicolás Maduro may well prove tricky to control
www.economist.com
January 4, 2026 at 2:45 PM
"there is a risk that the army splits. Some factions may back Ms Rodríguez; others may want power for themselves or Mr Padrino; a few, perhaps joining with dissident soldiers who have already fled... could push for Ms Machado’s return." www.economist.com/the-americas...
"The heavy, sour crude that the country [Venezuela] harbours is precisely the type of which American refineries are chronically short, at a time when America’s relations with Canada, a supplier of the stuff, are strained." www.economist.com/finance-and-...
Donald Trump’s great Venezuelan oil gamble
The country has the world’s largest petroleum reserves. Getting them out of the ground will be tortuous
www.economist.com
January 4, 2026 at 2:42 PM
"The heavy, sour crude that the country [Venezuela] harbours is precisely the type of which American refineries are chronically short, at a time when America’s relations with Canada, a supplier of the stuff, are strained." www.economist.com/finance-and-...
"The CIA team moved about Caracas, remaining undetected for months ...The intelligence gathered about [Maduro] daily movements — combined with a human source...& a fleet of stealth drones ...— enabled [CIA] to map out minute details about his routines." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/u...
Inside ‘Operation Absolute Resolve,’ the U.S. Effort to Capture Maduro
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2026 at 8:46 AM
"The CIA team moved about Caracas, remaining undetected for months ...The intelligence gathered about [Maduro] daily movements — combined with a human source...& a fleet of stealth drones ...— enabled [CIA] to map out minute details about his routines." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/u...
Reposted by Shashank Joshi
I wrote on the Caracas raid: an unusually large, well planned & successful operation, even if decapitation isn't the same as regime change. Also an opportunity for special forces to show their utility to Trump foreign policy in the post-GWOT age.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
www.economist.com/the-americas...
How the Pentagon snatched Nicolás Maduro
Operation Absolute Resolve was a textbook success
www.economist.com
January 3, 2026 at 9:31 PM
I wrote on the Caracas raid: an unusually large, well planned & successful operation, even if decapitation isn't the same as regime change. Also an opportunity for special forces to show their utility to Trump foreign policy in the post-GWOT age.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
www.economist.com/the-americas...
I wrote on the Caracas raid: an unusually large, well planned & successful operation, even if decapitation isn't the same as regime change. Also an opportunity for special forces to show their utility to Trump foreign policy in the post-GWOT age.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
www.economist.com/the-americas...
How the Pentagon snatched Nicolás Maduro
Operation Absolute Resolve was a textbook success
www.economist.com
January 3, 2026 at 9:31 PM
I wrote on the Caracas raid: an unusually large, well planned & successful operation, even if decapitation isn't the same as regime change. Also an opportunity for special forces to show their utility to Trump foreign policy in the post-GWOT age.
www.economist.com/the-americas...
www.economist.com/the-americas...
"his [Trump's] plan appears to be for Venezuela to remain under the day-to-day rule of a senior chavista, with its democratically elected leaders excluded and its wealth controlled by American corporations." www.economist.com/the-americas...
Donald Trump wants to run Venezuela, and dominate the western hemisphere
Snatching Nicolás Maduro and attempting to take control of Venezuela and its oil is an extraordinary display of the new “Donroe doctrine”
www.economist.com
January 3, 2026 at 8:48 PM
"his [Trump's] plan appears to be for Venezuela to remain under the day-to-day rule of a senior chavista, with its democratically elected leaders excluded and its wealth controlled by American corporations." www.economist.com/the-americas...
Reading up on the invasion of Panama in 1989, and came across this slightly surreal detail. US psy-op forces blasted the Vatican embassy with loud music to flush out Noriega. George HW Bush thought it was "irritating and petty" and told them to stop. www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/Magazine...
January 3, 2026 at 7:47 PM
Reading up on the invasion of Panama in 1989, and came across this slightly surreal detail. US psy-op forces blasted the Vatican embassy with loud music to flush out Noriega. George HW Bush thought it was "irritating and petty" and told them to stop. www.airandspaceforces.com/PDF/Magazine...
Reposted by Shashank Joshi
“The Navy should explore using high-powered water cannons—also known as firefighting monitors—as ship-based counter-UAS (cUAS) weapons.”
That is actually quite clever and I must admit I haven’t seen this before, is anyone aware of existing systems?
www.usni.org/magazines/pr...
That is actually quite clever and I must admit I haven’t seen this before, is anyone aware of existing systems?
www.usni.org/magazines/pr...
Wash the Sky Clean of Drones
Firefighting monitors would be a simple weapon that could operate as long as the ship has power.
www.usni.org
January 1, 2026 at 8:58 PM
“The Navy should explore using high-powered water cannons—also known as firefighting monitors—as ship-based counter-UAS (cUAS) weapons.”
That is actually quite clever and I must admit I haven’t seen this before, is anyone aware of existing systems?
www.usni.org/magazines/pr...
That is actually quite clever and I must admit I haven’t seen this before, is anyone aware of existing systems?
www.usni.org/magazines/pr...
"CIA's secret program to send books to Soviet Bloc countries during the Cold War was one of the longest-running covert action operations in its history. Lasting from July 1956 to September 1991," www.cia.gov/resources/cs...
www.cia.gov
January 1, 2026 at 8:46 PM
"CIA's secret program to send books to Soviet Bloc countries during the Cold War was one of the longest-running covert action operations in its history. Lasting from July 1956 to September 1991," www.cia.gov/resources/cs...
"CIA's secret program to send books to Soviet Bloc countries during the Cold War was one of the longest-running covert action operations in its history. Lasting from July 1956 to September 1991," www.cia.gov/resources/cs...
www.cia.gov
January 1, 2026 at 8:46 PM
"CIA's secret program to send books to Soviet Bloc countries during the Cold War was one of the longest-running covert action operations in its history. Lasting from July 1956 to September 1991," www.cia.gov/resources/cs...
A review of the SVR's journal, in the CIA's journal. "The journal insinuates that suspicious outbreaks of diseases in Africa, Asia, and Latin America just so happened to be caused by the same pathogens the Russians accuse the US government of possessing" cia.gov/resources/cs...
cia.gov
January 1, 2026 at 8:44 PM
A review of the SVR's journal, in the CIA's journal. "The journal insinuates that suspicious outbreaks of diseases in Africa, Asia, and Latin America just so happened to be caused by the same pathogens the Russians accuse the US government of possessing" cia.gov/resources/cs...
Paper in the latest issue of the CIA's in-house journal. LLMs in war-gaming. "in testing we observed that responses generated with Mistral 7B frequently leaned toward diplomatic negotiation, even when behavior was inconsistent with the assigned persona." www.cia.gov/resources/cs...
www.cia.gov
January 1, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Paper in the latest issue of the CIA's in-house journal. LLMs in war-gaming. "in testing we observed that responses generated with Mistral 7B frequently leaned toward diplomatic negotiation, even when behavior was inconsistent with the assigned persona." www.cia.gov/resources/cs...
I don't begrudge Vance et al seeking to prioritise Asia over Europe. I'd make same choice in their shoes. But what's happened is not a prioritisation (we see a new chimerical long war in the Americas), it's a chaotic & short-termist approach to Ukraine, and a needles diplomatic war on Euro allies.
Yet more evidence in the NYT long read on Ukraine that JD Vance, a heartbeat away from the US presidency and probable 2028 Republican presidential nominee, would be a disaster for European security. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
December 31, 2025 at 11:57 AM
I don't begrudge Vance et al seeking to prioritise Asia over Europe. I'd make same choice in their shoes. But what's happened is not a prioritisation (we see a new chimerical long war in the Americas), it's a chaotic & short-termist approach to Ukraine, and a needles diplomatic war on Euro allies.
A few weeks ago I traveled to Ladakh to see how the India-China frontier had changed since a bloody clash five years ago. Things are much calmer, but both sides are rapidly building up infrastructure & there is no going back to the pre-2020 status quo.
www.economist.com/asia/2025/12...
www.economist.com/asia/2025/12...
A fragile thaw at the top of the world
The Economist gained rare access to India’s tense border with China
www.economist.com
December 30, 2025 at 10:26 AM
A few weeks ago I traveled to Ladakh to see how the India-China frontier had changed since a bloody clash five years ago. Things are much calmer, but both sides are rapidly building up infrastructure & there is no going back to the pre-2020 status quo.
www.economist.com/asia/2025/12...
www.economist.com/asia/2025/12...
"The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country"
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/29/p...
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/29/p...
Exclusive: CIA carried out drone strike on port facility on Venezuelan coast | CNN Politics
The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that...
edition.cnn.com
December 30, 2025 at 8:33 AM
"The CIA carried out a drone strike earlier this month on a port facility on the coast of Venezuela, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, marking the first known US attack on a target inside that country"
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/29/p...
edition.cnn.com/2025/12/29/p...
The eternal GWOT
So okay. The US, military or otherwise, carried out attacks in Somalia, Nigeria and Venezeula between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Going wider to last week there were at least six different operations between Dec. 22-25.
December 29, 2025 at 9:24 PM
The eternal GWOT
Reposted by Shashank Joshi
President Donald Trump gifted the world with nearly 200 Truth Social posts (and counting) on Christmas Day, where he amplified conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and called for a member of Congress to be deported.
Trump Posts Nearly 200 Times in Unhinged Christmas Day Spree
The president amplified conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and called for a member of Congress to be deported.
trib.al
December 25, 2025 at 11:36 PM
President Donald Trump gifted the world with nearly 200 Truth Social posts (and counting) on Christmas Day, where he amplified conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and called for a member of Congress to be deported.
Reposted by Shashank Joshi
First-ever US airstrikes in Nigeria put the second Trump admin’s 2025 combat actions at:
—Nigeria—tonight’s strikes
—Yemen—1,000+ strikes (Mar-Apr)
—Somalia—120 strikes, 1 ground raid
—Syria—78+ strikes, 3 ground raids
—Caribbean—11 strikes
—Eastern Pacific—20 strikes
—Iran—3 strikes
—Iraq—1 strike
—Nigeria—tonight’s strikes
—Yemen—1,000+ strikes (Mar-Apr)
—Somalia—120 strikes, 1 ground raid
—Syria—78+ strikes, 3 ground raids
—Caribbean—11 strikes
—Eastern Pacific—20 strikes
—Iran—3 strikes
—Iraq—1 strike
December 26, 2025 at 12:09 AM
First-ever US airstrikes in Nigeria put the second Trump admin’s 2025 combat actions at:
—Nigeria—tonight’s strikes
—Yemen—1,000+ strikes (Mar-Apr)
—Somalia—120 strikes, 1 ground raid
—Syria—78+ strikes, 3 ground raids
—Caribbean—11 strikes
—Eastern Pacific—20 strikes
—Iran—3 strikes
—Iraq—1 strike
—Nigeria—tonight’s strikes
—Yemen—1,000+ strikes (Mar-Apr)
—Somalia—120 strikes, 1 ground raid
—Syria—78+ strikes, 3 ground raids
—Caribbean—11 strikes
—Eastern Pacific—20 strikes
—Iran—3 strikes
—Iraq—1 strike
Christmas tipple is a 🇺🇦 pinot noir. Excellent wine from the northernmost winery in Ukraine.
December 24, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Christmas tipple is a 🇺🇦 pinot noir. Excellent wine from the northernmost winery in Ukraine.
Reposted by Shashank Joshi
Without definitions, Russia can do things like this -- simply decide the RS-26 is no longer an IRBM and stick it in Belarus. That sort of limit, which isn't really a limit at all, doesn't offer much but goodwill. Personally, I would doubt the goodwill of anyone who takes me for a fool.
December 24, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Without definitions, Russia can do things like this -- simply decide the RS-26 is no longer an IRBM and stick it in Belarus. That sort of limit, which isn't really a limit at all, doesn't offer much but goodwill. Personally, I would doubt the goodwill of anyone who takes me for a fool.
Reposted by Shashank Joshi
Why does it matter if Russia cheats on a suspended treaty that will expire in a few weeks anyway? Well, Putin has been offering to extend the "central quantitative restrictions” of the treaty (that he's cheating on) for one year.
www.armscontrol.org/act/2025-10/...
www.armscontrol.org/act/2025-10/...
Russia Proposes One-Year New START Extension | Arms Control Association
www.armscontrol.org
December 24, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Why does it matter if Russia cheats on a suspended treaty that will expire in a few weeks anyway? Well, Putin has been offering to extend the "central quantitative restrictions” of the treaty (that he's cheating on) for one year.
www.armscontrol.org/act/2025-10/...
www.armscontrol.org/act/2025-10/...