Sponsored by Ground News: Compare news coverage and spot media bias with Ground News ground.news/perun. My genuine thanks to Ben Hodges for agreeing to set aside the time both for this interview, and for our discussions outside it. While there may be a temptation in some NATO or allied militaries to look at the war in Ukraine as an aberration that doesn't reflect what a peer-conflict involving NATO powers would look like - I think there it's easy to argue that the disruption and valuable lessons are very much there, and that the speed at which those lessons are understood and reflecting in practice is going to be a significant factor going forward. Not just in the sense that they will shape how effectively NATO and allied trainers can prepare Ukrainian recruits for the battlefield, but also in how quickly allied militaries can make the investments and changes required to adapt to innovations and lessons of the war in Ukraine. I hope you enjoy the discussion, and are prepared for a return to a more 'slide show as usual' episode next week.
Our lad is moving up in the world. And he deserves it! ❤ And what a great choice of interviewee! Honestly, each and every 1-hour power-point presentation by Perun has been very informative, reasonably grounded and explained. I still can't believe someone with that much skill and personality spends so much time for the benefit of some internet regards like us.
amazing how many people trust someone thats been so wrong on everything and just repeats the same thing the propaganda says...Hodges came on because he's vindicating Perun's unpaid propaganda, giving him access so he can keep up the 'war effort'. You can call this channel US state media now. I'll admit this though, this is the most modest and realistic Ben Hodges I've ever seen in any interview, usually he's pushing the government line so hard he sounds silly but here he acknowledges the struggles they are having. So I at least respect that he's aware of the problems but he is entirely divorced from the correct solutions needed imo
You can really tell General Hodges enjoys speaking with you, Perun. It blows me away the kind of questions you ask and the fact that this is free. Thank you for all your hard work and for lending your bright mind to educate us. It is deeply appreciated
totally agreed, it's still amazing to me this is free. what an incredible interview get combined with his usual highly professional, detailed analysis.
@@0xKruzr The only other place you can get this type of high quality warpig defense contractor shilling is the Institute for the Study of War website run by the Kagan-Nuland family.
He probably really appreciates getting meaty, military based questions like Perun's after the many, many interviews that ask the same, very generalized questions. Either way, I love listening to Ben Hodges talk about Ukraine.
@@usernamearrg Today the Washington Post removed the 'Ukraine War' tab off the front page of their website as they gradually gear up to spin what is obviously a loss into some kind of face saving "victory" in yet another failed US proxy war.
5 march 2022, I clicked on an obscure video called "All bling, no basics", because I was in a state where I lost both sleep and any connection to the humans in my life while reading and watching EVERYTHING related to Ukraine. Almost two years later now, I feel like that video was the first lecture in a university course I unbeknownst to myself enrolled in. And I enjoy it immensly. Some months after that first video, I also discovered that my son was watching as religiously as I, and since then it's a Sunday thing in our house, where he calls out "MOM! Perun just published!" and I go: "YEAH I KNOW, I get the notification too!" It's kinda weird and really great. So, thank you so much.
i went through the same loss of connection to people at the same time for the same reason. Glad to hear I wasn't the only one. and yes I have been watching pretty much every post.
Gen. Hodges was in charge of our corps when I was in Iraq, and I saw him a few times in the DFAC; but his bird flew over our hooches often. It was easily recognizable & almost always had gunship escort. He was one of the only general officers I never heard anyone complain or make jokes about, which was also memorable. Good times.
@@kirikoo9981 The writer doesn't claim to be a fighter, it does not invalidate their personal experience, any more than I would invalidate the personal experience of one of those people the writer was fighting against.
Saw Ben Hodges 100x, but that interview style is the best I've ever heard. Sound like oldschool BBC interview, when transition parts are replaced with commentary, important parts are picked up so good. Brilliant. If only popular broadcasting had same level of interviewing, and not their quick, emotional engaging interviews made by scriptwriters who spents about 5 minutes on the topic.
The difference between the Ben Hodges in this interview and the one who goes on nightly news channels is striking. It’s almost like he has to dumb himself down and simplify concepts so that 5 year olds can understand them when talking to news anchors. Here, it’s clear why he was in the position he was and his genuine intelligence and experience
Perun has become one of the leading journalists of this conflict, covering aspects of this war in depth and with consistency, nuance, objectivity, respect, and a dose of snark that is most welcome in an age of sound-bite based media and 250-character Xeets (Xits?). I send a big “Thank you” to Perun!
@@morgothastartes Nah fam, he's pretty objective. As he's said from the very beginning, it doesn't do pro-Ukraine people any good to ignore Russia's strengths or Ukraine's weaknesses.
@@morgothastartes He have opinions, but his takes are very objective. As some have said, he is an analyst. His shittalk will be mostly directed at the Russian, but for the meat of his content he never outright calls the russian monkeys or completely inept beyond what they have shown. He never glorify western equipment over eastern beyond their actual effectiveness. His very recent videos are even about debunking western(and eastern) "game-changers" even.
Thanks for this one. General Ben has been the most forthright commentator regarding Ukraine for years now. Too bad he's not in charge of the US response.
@@FeffdcI think he is. Ever since the war started I've heard this guy being quoted on various news channels basically saying that the Russians are done. Fast forward tot he present moment and it doesn't seem like any of that is coming true 😂
@@FeffdcMore spesifically he said they would be in a position to do so. He and everyone else would also have said in 2021 that Russia would overrun Ukraine like the Us did to Iraq
It’s interesting to see how many systems that were regarded as obsolete, or soon to be decommissioned based on changes in military philosophy, yet are suddenly finding continued relevance and requirement.
As usual it's gonna go as it did so many times before- those with budgets and the will (US, China, Japan, South Korea, maybe some multinational EU effort) will pour the money into r&d to get some new thing that will be better than old solution, field a standardized version in numbers (US, China, S.Korea, Japan) or gold plate the shit out of the platform and adopt 13 different localized variants (EU) while everyone else will use what they can get
Not to be too flippant, but we built these systems based on what other arms manufacturing nations said their equipment could do (at least when we couldn’t get their stuff to test for ourselves), we based our training on what they published (or we discovered) they were training to do, and we filtered all that through our collective moral compass so that we would win with minimal risk to our people.
We can’t take too many lessons from this however, a NATO vs Russia conflict would be a significantly faster pace war and NATO obviously relies mainly on aircraft to do the job.
@@Wehra96 Yes you can. There are capacities of aircraft and longrange tech for big scale war like Russia vs NATO, either it will spent fast and reserved and used in samll proportions. You would'nt also be able to use it freely like in other wars as sides have means to defend form it, and losing such can be costly as some models are are just in 2-digits quantities. So such war will face a long front anyway coming to what we see today. You can even say it is already Russia vs NATO war in smaller version, as NATO gave its tech, training and support, and even men unofficially, and stuggles to provide with more. So biiger war would mean NATO countries restructure economies for war and Russia doing actual massive mobilisation and also shift ecnomy to wartime completely.
@@Wehra96 it will depend on whether the Russians manage to largely negate NATO's air superiority as Ukraine negated Russia's, which they probably will. And then it's back in the tanks and trenches
When Colin Powell moved to Secretary of State, he briefed the staff there about training. His first comment was during his time in the military, he spent about 25% of his time in training. After logistics as a critical element of success, training is next. One of the most important comments I took away from General Hodges interview was how you must build your training system to be able to learn from the students. A reverse flow on the concept of “Train the Trainers”.
The US and NATO uses RU-vid for training Ukrainian soldiers. They actually know nothing beyond insurgent warfare. No joke. And it's not going to be a joke when the electricity goes out for good in the west because our society is run by mindless morons. I work in heavy industry. The scale of the incompetence in our "experts" is beyond belief. These jobs are going away and they're never coming back. All meaningful knowledge is being lost and it's too far gone to reverse. Keep getting your boosters.
In WW2, Germany and Japan lost their air wars because they failed to rotate out their most experienced pilots. New recruits never got to know the details of fighting the war and soon enough those who did were gone. Hopefully Ukraine is not falling into that trap.
One of the biggest things that is almost never talked about is how well documented the war in Ukraine is. There’s thousands of hrs of combat footage floating around so I wonder how exactly military’s are approaching and utilizing this gold mine of recorded experiences, if at all.
I agree. The foreign militaries may not have people there, but there's more video footage available than for any other war. The relationship between the video footage & the real war is probably like Facebook lives vs real lives - curated, but at least there's information which you can read between the lines.
War on the Rocks had a podcast where a reporter said that Ukrainians said the UK had observers at the front while the US doesn't have any, he said that it's crazy that they don't.
@@Teney1994I would assume the U.S doesn't "technically" have any observer's on the ground due to political reason's but they would have asset's and correspondents relaying information back. The intelligence services are definitely involved, not too long ago the C.I.A released a video targeting Russian's for information.
Seems like he was a leader, not just a commander. Or at least, was a commander smart enough to recognize his force's own shortcomings. Very insightful interview, I was actually surprised when he admitted and pointed out areas the US comes up short in.
General Hodges is such a bright minded and knowledgable person, who can see the bigger context as well as the details in every situation. Always a pleasure to listen to his analyses.
Ben Hodges impresses me every time I see him. The fact you had to donate to a charity in leu of him taking a fee? Kinda says it all after that interview. Truly a quality human being. A general who listens to sergeants and looses sleep over the wellbeing of privates? You’ll never do better.
Every likewise General has to to make the tough decisions but also values the integrity and willpower of his men, for they are just as important as the men behind the frontlines, and we do well to remember that
So you're ok with this guy using Germany as an example on how to defeat Russia? Never mind how they were sadistic evil Nazis, and how many UAF soldiers use thier SS symbols today, how about they got utterly defeated and their country is still occupied by foreign forces today. Is this your idea of 'defeating' Russia, really???
Gen Hodges opening statements shows how considerate he is. Refreshing to see (ret.) top military brass being thoughtful and so willing to see things from Ukraine's position.
@@dirgsuite5546 Really, and how exactly is that going to happen? Because the Russian perspective calls for the complete subjugation of Ukraine and at the very least the annexation of 4 of its Oblasts and Crimea. And for what exactly? "Assurances" from the Russians? We tried giving the Russians what they wanted with Crimea, It didn't work. There is no reason whatsoever, given Putin's explicit rhetoric, to suppose that giving him what he wants now would make any difference, or result in anything more than a pause in the war. In what parallel universe does Ukraine have any security whatsoever if it "disarms" and relies on Putin's word for their security. You're either disingenuous or out of your mind.
@@dirgsuite5546Russia's perspective? Nobody's interested in lies and excuses. Nevermind every post-USSR NATO member perspective on why they asked to join. It's exactly why Ukraine wanted in NATO in the first place, and Russia just guaranteed Ukrainian resolve to do so in 2022, if they hadn't already in 2014. If Russia wants their perspective considered, they should consider that of their smaller neighbors first.
@dirgsuite5546 Leave that kind of stuff to the Ukrainians. Half of them are native Russian speakers and their special forces, partisans and Russian opposition are hiking all across Russia as if were the Russian Civil War.
Impressive interview! I hope that some decision makers in the US listen to this man. He seems to be more humble and considerate than many US military guys.
you can hope - but the people supporting the Kremlin are doing so because they are pro russian (simply because Biden isn't) so they will not see this as anything other than an enemy talking about how to defeat their friends in moscow.
Usa lost 2 wars under his leadership, he got fired as a cia director after having the shorte st serving the history and he said that ukraine would be in crime by august, this guy is a yes man who will say anything for popularity. And i forgot he is the owner of a British government sponsored think tank
Thank you Perun for another highly informative and interesting interview. And my thanks to General Hodges, both for this interview in particular and for his continuing articulate and well reasoned support for Ukraine in general. Slava Ukraini!
It just clicked how great it is that you two did this. That Gen.Hodges knows & trusts you enough to give you a candid interview, is a tribute to you both. Thank you very much! I'd love to see you & fellow Aussie Mick Ryan have a similar chat. Like Gen.Hodges, he too is a retired high ranking officer & tireless proponent of 🇺🇦.
Ben Hodges has been one of the best talking heads of this conflict. He's obviously qualified and a very thoughful man. His ideas about victory conditions seem pretty logical and thought out. We need to cross our fingers and hope that the current and future leadership political and military are as astute.
@@huntergatherer7796The whole world greatly overestimated the state of the Russian army...nobody could have known fur sure that it was all just hype and propaganda because nobody could correctly verify the official Russian informations.
He's been full of shit from start to finish. He's part of the problem. Clowns like him have encouraged Ukraine towards a path which is destroying the country.
He's darn good on Ukraine. Though, he's very myopic on the core issue of US National Defense- that is, he focuses disproportionately on the Russia threat over the much larger threat actively killing more US citizens per year than Ukraine is losing in combat per year, three years running now, and he isn't very attentive to the larger threat posed by China. The US has allies in the EU/NATO alliance that should, if they ever took Russia seriously (they still aren't doing so yet, outside of the UK, Poland, Finland, Baltics), be able to handily support Ukraine to it's full requirements without any further US assistance beyond some satellite and ELINT assets. The EU is the party threatened by Russia currently, not the USA in any kinetic and direct sense, so they should be footing the bill, and thus far, most of them simply are doing a lot of talk and not a lot of the work, as per usual in NATO. He completely ignores US domestic security and actively works to talk well outside his area of expertise by blaming Republicans for actually caring about US national defense where -actual American Lives- are being lost, and the very stability of the Republic are being undermined by ignoring the ballooning messes in Latin/Central America, from that neglect. I do not know his views on the Middle East, where the USA has suffered almost 100 major attacks against US forces, and only minimal response of any kind has been mounted- to growing casualties and deaths, quietly swept under the rug by the political administration and party he clearly supports/prefers. However, his analysis on Ukraine, those other elements aside, are quite solid. I just wish he'd demonstrate the big-picture competence he is lacking in, which he -clearly- has a high level of small-picture, theater competence in thought and analysis.
Wow, Perun, you've really 'made it'... General Ben Hodges is the quintesential guest and one of the most qualified spokespeople on this set of War Crimes. Congratulations on getting him back again.
Perun is an idiot. You dont need power points slides and 2 hours to explain Ukraine lost the war. I said this same thing back in 2022 while he was claiming that Russia was incompetent.
This is such a change from the "oh look at this stupid thing the ruski's are doing!" BS you see in so many places that I then have to block or ignore. Denigrating and underestimating your enemy is about the stupidest thing you can do. It gives me a lot more confidence when someone points out what the enemy is good or smart at.
Well, all russian war machine is rotten and corrupted, more care about money then "patriotic war". But its vast country, has big mobilization resource with a weapons left from soviet times, so no need to underestimate them....
@@sergiyrospysdiyenko6224 Ukraine is entirely dependent on their draft and foreign aid. Also huge corruption problems. Ukraine and Russia are more alike than people like to think....
More alike maybe, but their is larger difference on the will and way of a country defending their land than marching with pride to liberate the country of supposedly righteous reasons
And Hodges was one of the main characters underestimating the Russians. According to his statements this spring, the Ukrainians should have reconquered Crimea by now.
This is a great video among many great videos. I am very grateful for General Hodges’ and your own advocacy for Ukraine and attempts to bring real analysis and information to a disillusioned and mistrustful Western audience. I only wish my own government (United States) and those in Europe would also hear you both out. I’ve been watching your PowerPoint for almost two years now, and try to see what General Hodges is doing on RU-vid when I can. I wish you both good luck and further success in fighting the good fight, and for all you do. 🇺🇸 🇺🇦
Thank you very much for this interview! Your channel is truly one of a kind and I rely on you more than practically anyone else when it comes to strategic assessments of this war. It's not something I say lightly, so take it as a huge compliment!👍 I agree with General Hodge's assessment and am pleased that an expert like him confirms it here. Thanks to you too, sir!
General Hodges is a very smart man who has the almost unique ability among his peers to set ego aside, admit to his mistakes, and never stop learning. His hunger for knowledge and eagerness for problem solving are personality traits that contribute a great deal to his success. IMHO. 😊
The main lesson is probably that with 40 leopards and 80 Bradleys without aircraft, you cannot penetrate the defense line that has been built for more than six months
Especially when those minefields are 1\2 km deep or more. Even a fully functional combined arms western force would not like to assault the Russian defensive line you would have to gain air superiority & do thousands of air strikes to assault through without horrific losses.
What a wonderful way to make the most of an interview. What a breath of fresh air. Excellent pace, logically organized for maximum comprehension. Watching one of your episodes is like taking a history class from a really gifted teacher. Well done Perun. Did you ever see anything this in your future when you were covering video games?
As a cold war air force vet, I really, really appreciate not only the insight into the care and feeding of ground forces and the changed nature of soviet training and mindset from my period to now.
Consumption rate of ammunition in a sustained war has been a shock to the system since records began. Every time there's a period of peace, that lesson has been forgotten and no balance has yet been found.
How does a Chief of Staff of the Army convince a politician to convince their incumbent party to convince the entire nation to accept the insane costs of production needed to churn out artillery rounds and PGMs at the rate demanded by a sustained war during peacetime? A "peace dividend" is worth fuck-all to society if you spend it all on ammo.
I think it's also so alluring to see absolutely massive stockpiles of ammo measured in acres, only to realize that supporting artillery operations puts that on a weeks-to-months limit without production. SK has gotta be on another level in terms of my munitions, I would imagine.
May I ask who exactly gave YOU the authority to decide which country "needs" it and which does not? We have a lot of wars and civil wars raging. Today as well as 10 years ago. And in 10 years we will have other wars. Why do YOU decide in which war we should engage? Why did we not do anything when the Hutu and the Tutsi killed each other by the millions? Did you care? To not care about Ukraine is completly legit and there is no reason why I should pay with my tax euros for this war, just as there was no reason why I had to pay with my tax euros for intervention in the war that Hutu and Tutsi fought against each other. You can vote for parties that want to engange in the war of course, that is totally fine. But you should accept the simple fact that not everybody views the world the same way you do.
I truly do believe some are against aid because they truly feel it's to the detriment of the U.S. military and that the border is in an awful state (it is) and being neglected (it is.) BUT some are against it just because the Dems are for it, and sabotaging free people trying to protect their homeland just because your political rivals support them is despicable.
It’s nice to see some of them finally acknowledging that Urban combat training is not exactly relevant for what is mostly vast open areas, filled to the brim with mines and drones constantly watching from above for movement over those open fields
Part of the reason why urban combat was de-emphasized was that Ukraine could not depend on Russia to make a “ good will gesture “ in Kherson and to withdraw to the left bank. This was a very savvy decision allowing them to give up land in exchange for a more defensible line of contact and to devote resources to improving defensive structures in the land bridge. This was not a foregone conclusion however especially considering the level of political oversight from Putin of the military process.
I listen to nearly every interview Gen. Hodges gives on various media outlets. He has complemented Perun on several occasions for his insight and educated analysis. I am not surprised that he is enthusiastic about speaking to your audience. That is a very high complement. Thanks for having this humble but brilliant Texan on your channel once more.
Something really reassuring about Hodges'es accent and delivery. Reminds me a lot of the brass during my military service in the Finnish army. I guess that calming demeanor is just something found on many career officers regardless of nation.
I appreciate your interview style where you ask open ended questions and allow your guest the time to expand on their thoughts. Very informative as always.
Perun yes ! Ben Hodges ?? No ! .... he's just another ignorant general in the pot of ignorant Generals in the US and Europe ..... they've already made so many mistakes in this Ukrainian war and they are not even doing the fighting ..... and they are learning from this war ????? What ? What do you mean learning ????? ....they are the ones who are supposed to know !!!! ..... thats what I mean by ignorant Generals
Thanks a bunch. Whilst public interest in this terrible war and subsequent views of your videos decline a bit - you keep the quality up. Thanks, you rock
Was comfortable clicking "Like" even BEFORE watching because not only has this site NEVER failed to impress... ...but I could say the same for interviews with Gen. Hodges.
Awesome interview, thanks, Perun. And amazing Ben Hodges gave so much of his time. He clearly cares. Great to see a proper long form interview on Ukraine rather than all of the mainstream media's endless short sound bite coverage. We can only hope that the rest of America wake up and really support Ukraine to their fullest. Please keep helping and supporting Ukraine.
I did a double take when he casually said it. Realistically, there are plenty of people out there who know who he is. I’d just add: respect the man’s privacy. Purely entertainment-oriented RU-vidrs get their houses fire bombed for throwaway comments. Don’t help the weirdos by publishing anything that isn’t commonly acknowledged in the channel content.
Thanks guys always happy with what you guys bring to the table as far as good and bad with the way this is going thanks Ben for giving us your Insight wish the both of you a happy Christmas Slava Ukraine
*That is the best interview I've seen with Ben Hodges. Fantastic questions, and follow up, with enough time given for fulsome answers. As always, this channel does not disappoint.*
Another quality production Perun. I dropped a like on this at around 250 and 3 hours later it's at 5.2k. The fact that you are able to get such a person as GA Ben Hodges to interview shows that the quality and respect for the content you produce is worthy of such a persons time.
As a former American soldier I am truly shocked at the constant slow role of the American government. I fully understand why the US has trickled in equipment at times but there has to be a working schedule to when we turn the fountain on full blast. I understand that to the Americans we want to bleed Russia to the point it cannot go further after this campaign but by slow rolling our equipment we are the reason Ukraine could not break the southern front to either enter Crimea or put pressure on Crimea. I also do not understand why we have not given Ukraine the ability to close down their sky completely. I am also really sick of my fellow Americans who believe we are Argentina or Mexico that can solely focus on ourselves or go into a self imposed economic and social revolution when the world relies on us not for their sake but for ours overall. The price of leadership and power is the responsibility of using it wisely and for the benefit of those who seed that power and leadership to you. We do not have the privilege to say, “yeah, I don’t want to be the boss anyomore, I’m too busy playing with myself.”
Im an American. A vet of Iraq wars. I don't want Putin to succeed. But I want Europe to pay for it. Not Americans.For years we were told how superior Europe and Europeans were to Americans. Now is the time for Europe to show it's quality.
I couldn't agree with you more. The isolationists mentality doesn't understand that it's not just about doing the right thing. It's about preservation of our way of life. We are at war with Russia. They attack us everyday over the Internet with Russian propaganda and we are losing that war.
@@rikertvonfulton16 I wouldn’t disagree that Europe needs to do more but at the same time the reason the US keeps troops in Europe is because we know just like the USA, these states do not and never have agreed on anything. They are greedy, petty, self absorbed, short sighted and constantly at odds about who they are in the modern world because they are predominantly 1 ethnically dominant group trying to deal with a changing world. Pretty much like most American states. They all know the value of their freedom but have strong constituencies that advocate for more internal issue importance rather than external and if we think the 2 party system of the US is bad theirs is even worse. They have always been this way. The US is in Europe because the Europeans know they need America to lead. The Europeans should give more but nobody has the stock of material like we do. As for the idea that they or someone talks a big game, they might, but when bodies are piling up, when people are being displaced, when your rival/ enemy is telling its people that it’s at war with you. You better understand that it doesn’t matter who cleans up the broken eggs on the floor, someone has too and your enemy is making it known that he is daring you to meet him outside because he does mean harm and just because your buddies talk you either whip some ass or you walk away. You clean up the mess or cry with everyone else about the mess. We are Americans and we are better at doing something than crying. The question is really are we doing the right thing most of the time.
Thanks for this Perun . This has to be for me one of if not the best post you've done. Outstanding guest in General Hodges. He's so articulate and full of knowledge , I can listen to him adnauseum. 🇦🇺
Thanks to both of you and anyone that helped produce this, The zenith of open source media military logistics and strategy power point interview in the milblog RU-vid space. Also the best military education source in the world. No one is educating the public about modern conflict on such a macro scale while remaining concise and funny as fuck…the throw away , ice cold, insight you drop is sometimes the best most context dependent humor I have ever heard. You are a talent and I would be Proud. In fact I think it is time that youtube recognizes the value you provide in combatting the garbage propaganda that slips through and put you on everyones feed every Sunday. I just love history and learning and history just happened …then and a modern context is invaluable in thinking deeply on many topics. What a time to be alive for an artist thinker,all the experiences (38M) all the time, with access for me?!
So glad to see you getting an interview with Gen. Hodges. He's been a consistent and clear voice to understand this conflict better and highlight the problems with Western point of view.
Seconded - I'd personally love to see a collab with someone like Oleksandra Tsekhanovska or Vlad Vexler, as their fields tend more towards analysing propaganda, political manoeuvring and information warfare. 🙂
One thing that I'd not want to argue is NATO training, it's perfect and very effective I was being trained by them during my time in military experience, Germany, UK, Finland and Sweden which will join soon, absolutely great I got alot of tactics and knowledge that helped me in my life time and battlefields. Perun much appreciated for offering and continuing such amazing podcasts, my favorite our hero perun from Australia.
@@OniksR Yes, the same efficiency in afghanistan that squatted there for 2 decades after completely taking over and rebuilding the country, who "fled" because getting shot for 2 decade straight rebuilding a country who refuse to rebuild isnt fun. And indeed, the ukranian farmers are very effective, who knew farming tractors are good towing vics for tanks? The same ukraine who are still holding more than 75% of the country despite fighting the neighbouring said to be "5th largest military". 🤡🤡🤡
@@davidshea6272 I am Russian. Russia fought there for 10 years with the Taliban and after the Afghan government left, it held out for another 4 years, well, not 5 minutes.
@@OniksRand you achieved your objectives while you were there? Or did you pull out your soldiers and watch the proxy government you'd spent years propping up collapse like a souffle?
These interview videos give great insight and a different perspective on the conflict. A great addition to the other video types. Thank you for all your hard work, Perun.
Wonderful interview. Would certainly be interested in seeing more interviews on your great channel in addition to your (pretty much unique on RU-vid) in depth discussions of geo political/economic topics. Keep up the awesome work!
Perun the content is great especially for an Emutopian. I am impressed what a stand up guy you are along with general Hodges. Doing this and putting in the work and donating the money because it is the right thing to do. Much appreciated.
I need some US general to answer me this. If the "counteroffensive" was organised by the USA either they knew it was gonna fail and they sent men to their deaths and are evil or they are just completely incompetent
I think the latter is true. The US military is probably riddled with incompetence. That's what happens when you spend decades fighting nations that can't hold a candle to your military might; you get arrogant, hubristic, foolish, and ignorant.
It's really quite incredible what you're dong here. The quality of the information, the level-headedness of the analysis, and your ability to bring in expertise and have a meaningful, intelligent discussion with that expertise (whether by correspondence or as per this amazing interview) is - I don't know what word to use. Thank you for your outstanding efforts.
The part about erecting nets over trenches to protect from FPV drones immediately reminded me of torpedo netting. Using a net to protect against a low-velocity vehicle carrying an explosive, such low velocity that it can't punch through the net.
Well Hodges is blacklisted from major news shows since he is always wrong and lies about the conflict. He stated Ukraine would be in crimea by end of 2023. 😂 He is a Ukraine shill.
Thank you Perun... Your content is always amazing. As an American, I would really like to see Ben Hodges running for the presidency in the near future.
"Russian logistics is very vulnerable as it was never designed to support large scale operations outside of Russia" Ben doesn't understand that the distance between Russia and Ukraine from a logistics standpoint is 0. No wonder Ukraine had the most disastrous counteroffensive in history
It's not just logistics. Ukraine decided to go on the offensive against a well defended, highly entrenched, more numerous, and more capable army. This was a massive strategic mistake on their part on multiple levels and Clausewitz would be spinning in his grave. 1) They have a smaller army, but going on the offensive against a defended enemy means the Ukrainians would suffer at least 3:1 casualties. Hence , they rapidly attrited their smaller force against a more numerous enemy, making the conflict even more lopsided by the end of the counter-offensive. 2) All the time, energy, munitions, personnel, and equipment, Ukraine spent on the offensive was time, energy, munitions, personnel, and equipment NOT spent on building defenses against the Russian offensive that would inevitably come. Consequently, Ukraine is stuck trying to build such defenses while simultaneously trying to stem the Russian offensive. This creates a dangerous situation in which Russia can gain momentum by denying the Ukrainians time to dig in before continuing their drive, leaving the Ukrainians no option but to cede important tactical positions to buy space and time to construct fortifications. 3) The Ukrainian counteroffensive sharpened the Russian fighting skills while being more costly to the Ukrainians than The Russians. As a result, when the Ukrainian tide began to ebb, the Russian forces were ready to move on Ukrainian positions with well-coordinated, war-proven attacks. The counteroffensive taught the Russians what worked and what didn't. Now they are taking what worked into battle during their offensive. I don't thing most people understand how devastating for Ukraine their counteroffensive really was. It was an enormous strategic blunder that could have been avoided by paying attention to Clausewitz.
Perum might have jumped the shark with this interview, as Ben Hodges was the person predicting, in June 2023, that "Ukraine Could Free Crimea by End of Summer: Ex-U.S. General". This is the title of Newsweek article published on Jun 21, 2023. Is Hodges a useful perspective, having been so far off? 47:35 in not the correct summary, as this prediction was *after* the offensive has started (it was already clear what Ukraine possessed in terms of materiel), and the liberation of Crimea was supposed to happen in *two months*, not by the end of the year.
Wow, you got Gen. Ben Hodges back! I guess I'm not too shocked since he seemed to actually really enjoy your first interview, especially compared with the normal news folk he has to deal with. Glad you did though, he is great and always has a nuanced and complete view of the situation.
As a Cold War 80s 90s era Army guy, I’ve been very comfortable dealing with the Russians tactically/strategically during this conflict…because very little has changed in terms of the Rissian military since then. Once you properly factor in the role of drones…and remove an expectation that AirPower will be a significant advantage/asset for either side…this conflict is not a difficult one to understand or approach in terms of US/NATO doctrine from that era.
Advances in computer technology & satellite coverage have had a dramatic effect on the efficacy of missiles & PGMs. DEAD, I think, is dead. CAS is also gonna be tricky. That said, I think long-range precision ground-based fire can make up some of the difference. Think archers not dragon riders. 🙂
@@grahamstrouse1165Why is DEAD dead? I would have thought the better electronics and various standoff weapons with multiple guidance options would make US-led DEAD vastly better, not worse - especially when you look at an F-35 with its various sensors and then using things like SDBI/II to hit a SAM.
Ben Hodges has repeatedly been wrong in his predictions. Furthermore he publicly stated that this war was the opportunity to destroy russias military and international influence once and for all. Imagine if anyone said that about the US😂
