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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
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@shashj.bsky.social I enjoyed your interview on More Or Less about lethality. I thought you might be interested that Downing Street are dragging their feet on how to measure lethality in practice... see the attached FOI and responses from them. www.whatdotheyknow.com/r/43f4cba7-d...

submitted 3 hours ago • 1 comment

🧵 An evolving thread of military analysis of Israel's ability to attack Iranian nuclear sites: what munitions it would need, how deep they would need to penetrate underground & how lasting or brief the effects might be

submitted 1 hour ago • 0 comments

'To reach even [Natanz] all the weapons available to the Israeli Air Force, and all except the 30,000 lbs GBU-57/B and the 5,000 lbs GBU 72/B available to the United States, would likely require several impacts into the same crater to ‘burrow’ down...' www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

submitted 2 hours ago • 6 comments

"Now The Economist has spoken with an Assad-regime insider and gained one of the first authoritative public accounts of the abduction [of Austin Tice] and an insight into one of the regime’s darkest secrets." www.economist.com/middle-east-...

submitted 3 hours ago • 1 comment

“After that, the [US] defense budget would need to rise annually by 6%, or roughly $67 billion, to reach $1.27 trillion in fiscal year 2030 and meet NATO’s 3.5% goal.” www.wsj.com/opinion/will...

submitted 3 hours ago • 5 comments

Published midnight eastern time: “U.S. officials have been told Israel is fully ready to launch an operation into Iran, multiple sources told CBS News.  The U.S. anticipates Iran could retaliate on certain American sites in neighboring Iraq” www.cbsnews.com/news/israel-...

submitted 4 hours ago • 3 comments

“If you recognize a Palestinian state unilaterally, we’ll leave nothing to recognize.” That’s an Israeli cabinet minister—who has broad authority over West Bank policy—responding to the prospect of France or Britain recognizing Palestinian statehood.

submitted 13 hours ago • 9 comments

New: The US ordered all embassies in striking distance of Iran (across Mid East and parts of E Europe / N Africa) to convene emergency action committees & send cables back to DC about what measures they are taking to mitigate risks. That led to today's departures for Iraq

submitted 13 hours ago • 3 comments

One-third of the 3,600 western soldiers who died in Afghanistan were from non-US ISAF contingents. Some countries whose militaries bore especially heavy burdens relative to their size and fought in difficult provinces include the UK, Canada, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Georgia, and Romania

submitted 14 hours ago • 21 comments

Worth noting that this was the reporting from Israeli media today, based on the Trump-Netanyahu call. “Channel 12 reported that there would be no discussions on a strike against Iran until Trump determines that the nuclear talks have failed.” www.timesofisrael.com/trump-said-t...

submitted 14 hours ago • 11 comments

Not a great sign. “State Dept said it has ordered the departure of all nonessential personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad…The department…also is authorizing the departure of nonessential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait.” apnews.com/article/stat...

submitted 16 hours ago • 10 comments

A bit on the nose. 'President Donald Trump is scheduled to attend a performance Wednesday of “Les Misérables” at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

submitted 18 hours ago • 7 comments

Political scientists / historians / military sociologists: what are the best papers on the impact of veterans returning home from foreign wars? This is in the context of Russian troops, but I am interested in the broader literature and what it might have to teach us.

submitted 18 hours ago • 23 comments

This will trigger panic. But nothing wrong with new admin reviewing this, as Stephen Lovegrove did for the UK. "The Pentagon has launched a review of [AUKUS]...The review to determine whether the US should scrap the project is being led by Elbridge Colby" www.ft.com/content/4a93...

submitted 18 hours ago • 15 comments

A small boost for intelligence services in the spending review. "At this SR, the government will deliver an increase of £0.6 billion to the Single Intelligence Account...by 2028‑29, reflecting the rising demand on the [IC] to illuminate & deter threats." www.gov.uk/government/p...

submitted 20 hours ago • 2 comments

"China is conducting polygraphs on its agents [from Russia] as soon as they return home, tightening scrutiny of the 20,000 Russian students in China and trying to recruit Russians with Chinese spouses as potential spies, the document says." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/w...

submitted 23 hours ago • 3 comments

"Today...Bourges is on the cusp of a remarkable revival...Defence-dependent towns, long used to industrial decline, are preparing for the opposite. Three places, in France, Germany & Poland, illustrate the huge potential [and] strains this can bring." www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

A milestone for autonomy in combat aviation in Europe. "The flights...on May 28th and June 3rd, saw a Gripen E fighter jet give control to Centaur [AI agent] above the Baltic Sea and focused on testing Centaur’s Beyond-Visual-Range air combat capabilities" helsing.ai/newsroom/hel...

submitted 1 day ago • 2 comments

I don’t think this, by @kschake.bsky.social, could have been published at a more appropriate time:

submitted 1 day ago • 4 comments