Battle plans

What the next year brings

“He thought he’d get the Finlandization of NATO. Instead, he got the NATOization of Finland. And Sweden.”

—President Biden, in Poland this week

THE PRESIDENT of the United States can deliver a good speech—when he’s not interrupting basketball season with the State of the Union address. How many times has a SOTU made for a good speech anyway? Which is another reason to make it an address given to Congress in writing, as it was most of its history.

President Biden gave another speech in Warsaw a few days ago, which was much better. The western democracies went to war against the fascists in 1939 over Poland.

And by the time World War

II was over, the axis and allies had poured millions of lives into the battles throughout Ukraine, Poland, and all over Europe. Where the current president of the United States spoke this week might have reminded some in the Kremlin how military aggressiveness among nations can lead to disaster.

The news often races by us—like an armored brigade—but here are some dispatches from the front that have come over the wires in the last few days that are important enough to highlight: ■ Speaking of the Second World Catastrophe, the Russians have an artillery habit. And have for a while. The Red Army likes to overwhelm a grid square with shelling, then punch its infantry through come hell or high water or more hell.

The Ukrainians, having once been a part of the old Soviet Union, have the same habit. And the war in Ukraine— aka Putin’s War—has become an artillery barrage gone wild.

CNN reports that “U.S. officials have urged Ukraine to shift to a maneuver warfare style of fighting used by the U.S. and other modern democracies—that is, fighting that uses rapid, unanticipated movements and a combination of different combat arms rather than relying too heavily on artillery.”

And by “urged,” the U.S. means: We’ll train you.

“The first group of 635 Ukrainians training on this style of fighting wrapped up their course at Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany last week, according to Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. The second group of more than 700 soldiers has already begun the fiveweek training course.”

The old saying is that the United States military can teach anybody to move, shoot and communicate. You’ll notice which action comes first.

■ George Will points this out in his last Washington Post column: In one year of fighting, Russia has now lost—killed in action—more men than the U.S. lost in all those years in Vietnam. And Vlad the Impaler insists that he will only double down this year.

■ The challenge for the western democracies in the second year of Putin’s War will be logistics. The Ukrainians are using ammo nearly as fast as Europe and the Americans can ship it. Which reminds of a famous comment made by an even more famous general:

“Amateurs talk strategy. Professionals talk logistics.”— Omar Bradley

■ Vladimir Putin gave his own SOTU address about the same time as President Biden spoke in Poland. According to Bloomberg, Comrade Putin told his audience that combat experience is the “best school of life.”

If you don’t die from it, we’d add. And word has it that Vlad the Impaler is sending in green troops with little training and even less ammo. If this is the best school of life, what would be a death trap?

■ Word from the front is that Russia is “saving up” a bunch of drones from Iran in order to stock up for future attacks. “Ukraine’s allies have identified Tehran as a key supplier to Moscow’s war efforts,” Bloomberg reports. “Evidence shared among countries shows that drones observed in Ukraine have matching characteristics to Iranian-made drones seen elsewhere, one of the people said.”

Who does this say more about? Iran or Russia?

That Iran feels comfortable enough to send its technology to a battlefield?

Or that Russia, once a super-power, has to be supplied by Tehran? My, but how the mighty have fallen.

■ Today marks the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. In one year, the West has put sanctions on Russia meant to slow its economy as punishment, has decided to send real weaponry to the Ukrainian government to defend itself, and has stopped saying “the” Ukraine when discussing that country.

Now Ukrainian intel types are warning: The Russians might be planning something big for the anniversary, so get ready for it. The Russians love anniversary dates, and take them seriously.

The rest of us should, too.