COIN

"UKRAINE WAR MAP | Ukraine Begins Winter Offensive, Gains Ground | Russia Encircles Georgians" and "Ukraine STRIKES DEEP into Russia, knocks out Bombers on the Ground | Moscow within Range?" (New World Econ). 

"Zaporizhzhia Front Analysis" (Weeb Union War Updates).

"[ Ukraine SITREP ] Day 283-285 (3-5/12): Ukraine drone strikes on Russia airbases; Forest battles" (Defense Politics Asia).

"Singapore Defense Minister warn United States that they are losing geopolitical war in Indo-Pacific" (Defense Politics Asia: IRL).

"Niu-York Front begins as Russia attacks Shumy-NiuYork line; Fighting reported near Pivnichne" and "[ Kreminna Front ] Why Ukraine attacking north of Kreminna towards Chervonopopivka? Explained." (DPA War).

"More Evidence That America’s Diplomats Are Not as Smart as They Believe They Are" (Johnson).

"Larry On State Department, And I--On Pipelines." and "Oh No, Oh No, Oh No... No..." (Martyanov).

"Ukraine War Day #286: Don’t Take NATO Training For Good COIN" (yalensis):

"According to this piece by reporter Sergei Gapchuk, one of the reasons Ukrainian soldiers are dying en masse at the Bakhmut front, is due to a specific type of NATO training they received. The training module is called COIN, which is short for “Counter-Insurgency”. In other words, NATO has been training Ukrainian soldiers to treat invading Russians as if they are some kind of Third-World partisan forces trying to overthrow the government. This model is unsuitable for a war between professional militaries, both of which possess heavy artillery.

[And let’s be polite and not even mention the fact that COIN was spectacularly unsuccessful even in those type of conflicts it was designed for, e.g., NATO’s occupation of Afghanistan.]

A lot of the inside scoop comes from captured Ukrainian POW’s, who related to the Russians about the lousy training they received. Given that these are prisoners, we need to take everything they say with a grain of salt, that goes without saying. They will want to please their captors by painting a dim picture. But still…

According to these Ukrainians, who were taken prisoner on the Bakhmut front, the COIN training they received from NATO did not take into account the real conditions of combat on the front lines, and thus produced more harm than good.

NATO’s COIN program was created, according to its own mission statement, to help official state forces fight against un-official “non-state” insurgents and partisans. It operates on several pre-assumptions, including the hypothesis that said insurgents do not possess heavy weapons and effective artillery. As the car mechanic once said, “Well, there’s your problem right there, ma’am!”

And this course of training, even as shitty as it is, was stripped down for the benefit of the Ukrainian students. Normally the training is supposed to take months. But Ukrainian “storm troopers”were given a quickie 20-day version; and infantry– just 14 days.

The result is what we see: the Bakhmut Slaughterhouse. In which even pro-Ukrainian sources estimate their guys have lost up to one battalion of cannon-fodder for every single day of the operation."