Brian M Downing and the world at war. Timely, thoughtful, and nonpartisan analysis of military matters. @BrianMDowning1.
Brian M Downing The first year of the war went well for Ukraine. The Russians were stopped outside Kyiv and driven from Kharkiv and Kherson. Victory seemed assured. But there’s been little movement in the last six months. The war for now is a stalemate and Ukrainians are less buoyant. Read More …
Brian M Downing Wall Street is doing quite well. Inflation is heading down and indexes are reaching new highs. Analysts believe the market is factoring in a second Trump presidency next January. It may be a miscalculation – one based on assurances of continuity and stability. However, the public mood Read More …
Director: Christopher Nolan Stars: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey, Jr, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon 7/10 This much-awaited film tells the story of J Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) who directed the development of the atomic bomb during WW2. He’s depicted as knowledgeable of physics of course but also an avid reader of Read More …
Brian M Downing Vladimir Putin, then a junior KGB enforcer, saw the Soviet Union’s collapse as a geopolitical catastrophe. Most of the world deemed it a blessing, especially Eastern Europe which had endured Moscow’s rule since 1945. Another geopolitical shift may be coming. The view here has for some time Read More …
Brian M Downing Putin’s war on Ukraine was supposed to be swift and victorious. He probably had a lavish victory celebration all arranged – one modeled on Stalin’s 1945 display. The war, however, is entering a third year. The Russian army has performed poorly, casualties are high. Nonetheless, Putin is Read More …
Brian M Downing Isolationism was once essential to the American identity. We had two oceans to protect us and trade opportunities across both. Isolationism has come and gone over the years. A new form, a counterfeit one, is taking hold in Washington. Our allies see the new isolationists as dangerous. Read More …
Directed by Jack Clayton Starring Robert Redford, Sam Waterston, Mia Farrow, Bruce Dern 8/10 It’s been almost a hundred years since F Scott Fitzgerald gave us his renowned story of the Jazz Age. I’ve read and enjoyed it twice over the years but avoided the movies. One made in the Read More …
Brian M Downing The US has retaliated against IRGC personnel and proxies after three GI deaths on a small remote base near the Jordanian-Syrian border. Retaliatory trikes have gone on for several days now and aim at getting Iran to back down. There’s little sign of it. Where is this Read More …
Brian M Downing American troops in Syria and Iraq have come under fire since the Hamas war began. Over the weekend an Iranian drone struck an outpost in Jordan near its borders with Syria and Iraq. The Houthis continue to attack Western shipping in the Red Sea. It’s all part Read More …
Director: Martin Scorsese Stars: Leonard DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone 8/10 This long-awaited film is based on a string of murders that took place in the Osage tribal lands in Oklahoma back in the 1920s. The victims were Osages who’d benefited from revenue when oil is discovered. Many became Read More …