Bullet Points:
** Thoughts on Tomahawks used in the American Revolution. They’re every bit as effective today, and in many places where it’s illegal to own a firearm or a knife, an axe is still legal. Don’t rule out war clubs.
** Editorial Note: My mother-in-law died on December 2. I’m dealing with that in addition to other matters. Please be patient with the blogging. She’s been in and out of the hospital for a month. She passed at home.
** Life in the Worker’s Paradise – The recent residential structure fire in Hong Kong killed at least 128 people. Still, if anyone dares to criticize the HK government for ignoring residents’ warnings over the past year, they might be viewed as a national security threat. (No social credit for you) The PRC’s move to silence criticisms of the Hong Kong Government’s handling of the Tai Po Fires aftermath is in full swing. A spokesman for the China Central Government’s National Security Office in Hong Kong is now saying that anyone who “maliciously” criticises the HK Government would be considered to be using the disaster to destabilise Hong Kong and endanger national security, and that harsh punishments would be imposed for such acts. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength, “It’s that endless Long March.
** How to eat like an Assyrian soldier. Next week we’ll take up walking like an Egyptian.
** Only a Democrat as extreme and radical as Senator Mark Kelly could think that striking drug cartels that seek to poison Americans is a “war crime.” He’d look more ‘himself’ by adopting the whole Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky facial hair style.
** The entire West needs to abjure the PRC altogether. (h/t Claudio) I know that I refer to the PRC as termites, but that is precisely how I see them. We have seen the first tentative signs of CCP China trying to quietly back off on the verbal assaults on Takaichi and Japan in general. China seems concerned that Japanese companies may desert the Chinese market. “Takayuki Kobayashi, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said in a television program on Sunday that Japan should work on making its economic structure self-reliant, advocating for breaking away from dependence on China.” Economic security for Japan demands eliminating any vulnerability that the CCP China still holds over critical items or sectors. Japanese companies, which have been slashing new direct investment into China for a few years now, should quietly accelerate their planning for the future with Takayuki’s comment in mind.
** We have discussed letters of marque and reprisal repeatedly on VM. CDRSAL (finally) came to the table, of the same mind. He discusses it on his blog here. Ukrainian naval drones hit two oil tankers from Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” as they travelled through the Black Sea, Ukrainian officials have said. Footage verified by the BBC shows waterborne drones speeding through the waves into the vessels, before detonating into a ball of flame, sending black smoke into the air. Turkish authorities named the targeted tankers as the Kairos and Virat, both flagged to the Gambia. Both were hit off the Turkish coast on Friday, with the Virat reportedly struck again on Saturday. No casualties were reported. The attacks appear to be an escalation by Kiev as it tries to hit Russia’s oil revenues, which are critical for funding its war in Ukraine.
** According to reports, Tim Walz’s administration is refusing to release the records of Medicaid providers accused of fraud. According to Minnesota DHS whistleblowers, the fraud could exceed $6.5B since Walz has assumed office – yet only $2B has been uncovered so far. “Only $2B in fraud, as if that was chicken feed.”
Communism Explained
A journalist interviews a farmer: “If you have two bungalows, are you willing to give one to the country?”The farmer, without hesitation, said, “Sure! For communism!”
Journalist: “If you have two tractors, will you give one to the country?”
Farmer: “Of course! For the better development of our country!”
Journalist: “If you have two million bucks, will you give one million to the country?”
Farmer: “Yes! For the livelihood of our comrades!”
Journalist: “If you have two cows, will you give one to the country?” The farmer keeps silent, looking at the journalist, so the journalist asks again: “Will you?” The farmer answers firmly, “No”. The journalist is confused: “You are so generous about money and houses and tractors, but why do you draw the line at cows?”
“Because,” says the farmer, “I’ve actually got two cows”.
Horse Cavalry
The limitation of cavalry on the Western Front during World War I was not firepower but barbed wire. A man on a horse does not present a massively larger target than a man on foot, but a horse can cross ground much more quickly. The real issue is that the entire front was wired in, and barbed wire was explicitly invented and designed to stop farm animals from moving. And what is a horse but a farm animal? Once static warfare set in, it became challenging for commanders to use their cavalry.
The set-piece nature of Western Front battles meant that road space behind the front was at a premium, and priority had to be given to the infantry and artillery. Thus, cavalry would have to travel off-road, meaning a ‘cavalry track’ would need to be prepared.
A commander had to decide days in advance where the most likely opportunity for cavalry exploitation would occur. For an arm whose main advantage is timing and opportunism, this was a severe handicap. To make matters worse, a commander had difficulty finding out what was actually happening in the fighting. Confused, contradictory reports would pour in from a variety of sources, each out of date by the time it arrived. For a commander to detect the right moment to launch his cavalry was impossible, so cavalry would often remain unused.
Authoritarianism
(h/t Claudio) The paradox of authoritarian power is that it accumulates strength while generating conditions for its own collapse. Authoritarian regimes often project an image of monolithic power—coherence, discipline, control. But these systems carry within them a structural flaw that democratic societies tend to underestimate: they are high-entropy political organisms, burning legitimacy and resources faster than they can be replaced.
Their stability is not institutional. It is psychological. The regime survives as long as three fragile equilibria hold:
1) The resource equilibrium. The state must maintain sufficient military, economic, and administrative capacity to sustain coercion and patronage. Once the resource burn rate exceeds the replenishment rate, decline becomes irreversible.
2) The legitimacy equilibrium. Legitimacy in an authoritarian system is never genuine—it is performative. Citizens and elites participate not because they believe, but because they assume others believe. When that belief-in-belief weakens, the regime loses its cohesion from the inside out.
3) The shock equilibrium. Authoritarian systems lack redundancy. A single strategic shock—military, economic, or symbolic—can cascade through the system because all power is concentrated and unbuffered. In democracies, shocks disperse. In autocracies, they amplify.
Russia and China illustrate all three dynamics simultaneously. On the surface: a strong state. Underneath: a brittle one.
The regime cannot admit weakness, cannot adapt, and cannot innovate without threatening its own hierarchy. It accumulates short-term power at the expense of long-term resilience. In complex-systems language, it becomes critically unstable.
And when systems like this fail, they do not fail incrementally. They fail all at once.
China in Zambia
To put it crudely, is Zambia becoming China’s bitch, or is it the other way around? Grab your popcorn and stand by. China’s renewed diplomatic offensive across Zambia and the surrounding region has entered a decisive phase, anchored by the $1.4 billion modernization of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority—a landmark upgrade to the 1,860-kilometer line first built by Beijing in the 1970s and now central to its strategy for securing critical minerals.
I might know a little more than the average person about this because I was approached by front people from China at least 2 years ago about this topic. The project, which aims to increase transport capacity from roughly 100,000 to 2.4 million tons per year under a 30-year concession granted to China Railway Construction Corporation, represents far more than an infrastructure investment: it is a deliberate counterweight to the Western-backed Lobito Corridor and a reaffirmation of China’s long-term commitment to logistical dominance in southern and eastern Africa.
Before I go further, there is nothing to secure the $1.4 billion investment. The US has boots on the ground in neighboring Tanzania that the Chinese can’t match (secretly) – ok, back to the story.
Zambia, seeking to raise annual copper production from 800,000 tons to 3 million tons by 2031, sits at the heart of this calculus, as its copper, cobalt, nickel, and manganese are indispensable for electric vehicles, energy transition technologies, and China’s broader industrial ecosystem. Tanzania, for its part, emerges as the indispensable maritime gateway, with Dar es Salaam poised to absorb the surge in mineral exports and integrate more deeply into Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
This assertive expansion is accompanied by growing friction. Chinese-linked mining companies in Zambia have faced significant allegations, including a catastrophic toxic spill from a tailings dam that contaminated water and soil and affected an estimated 300,000 households—an incident now tied to an $80 billion lawsuit. Accusations of unsafe working conditions, labor exploitation, and weak transparency continue to complicate China’s image, even as some analysts note that part of the problem stems from Zambia’s own fragile regulatory institutions.
In parallel, Beijing is quietly intensifying political outreach in Lusaka, Dar es Salaam, and other regional capitals, balancing promises of development financing with an unmistakable push to secure mining rights, port access, and long-term operational concessions. Headline: This combination of diplomatic courtship, strategic infrastructure, and mineral-centered partnership is reshaping the geopolitical configuration around Zambia and reinforcing China’s role as a regional power whose influence now extends far beyond trade into governance, regulation, and strategic connectivity. But is it true? Or will the Africans boot the termites once they’ve dumped all the funds they intend to dump into Zambia and embrace Trump? I can tell you how this will end, but it’s more fun to read the tea leaves yourselves.
Identify the Ship
1
She was the last cruiser to be completed by this navy during WW2 and was regarded as the most effective anti-aircraft cruiser in the fleet.
2
This ship went through a TRUMP. I don’t think that less-than-friendly nation would call it that today.
Identify the Aircraft
3
In service in South America currently. Turboprops retrofitted, new avionics, and sensors—most notably FLIR night vision pods.
Parting Shot
End
(1) HMS Superb, Minotour class CL.
(2) HMCS Athabaskan, Iroquois class DDH – this photo being pre-TRUMP.
(3) Basler BT-67, Columbian gunship version.
– Kle.
Exactly, the Columbians still use them as brush cutters.
1 is HMS Swiftsure one of three Minotaur-class light cruisers.
2 is Canadian HMCS Athabaskan
3 Douglas C-47 Skytrain upgraded as mentioned by LL
Very good, RCC.
Off topic, but still, it may interest the movie buffs amongst us, given that Christmas is fast approaching.
Came across a full-length version of the film “The Professionals (1966)” with Lee Marvin and Burt Lancaster, which could be viewed for free on the internet. Good picture quality but the soundtrack was not so hot. Could not get it as loud as I would have preferred. Had not seen this film in years and it still, in my opinion, rates as one of the best westerns ever made. Claudia Cardinale, who played the female lead, was a bit wooden I thought though. I much preferred Maria Gomez who played the part of Chiquita.
Having known a number of “Chiquita’s” in my time I would still, even at my advanced age, probably, as James Stewart said in “How The West Was Won” as he followed the river pirate girl into the cave, prior to his being knifed in the ribs, “go to see the varmint”.
Another three films which I rate highly, and please feel free to disagree if you wish, are “Tombstone (1993” with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer (Kilmer’s portrayal of John Henry “Doc” Holliday was, I think, superb), Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch (1969)” with William Holden, and “Twelve O’Clock High 1949)” with Gregory Peck. I have never seen a better film which epitomises leadership than this last one.
After watching “The Professionals” I binge watched/listened to, again on the internet, several of the full-length concerts of Emmylou Harris, some dating to the 1970s and 1980s. She has the most beautiful singing voice I have ever heard. It is a pleasure to sit, listening to her, with one’s eyes closed, and just drift.
De gustibus non est disputandum and all that, but I maintain there is something wrong with a person who does not appreciate Russell and Kilmer’s Tombstone.
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So far as movies on the internet goes, I think it’s wonderful that so many are available in one form or another. Over the weekend I was in a shop buying some crap I don’t need. The register clerk ringing me up was one of those contemporary modern 20-ish guys with pink hair who talked in a “swishy” voice that would have gotten a kid bullied mercilessly when I was young (though I don’t think this young man was a homosexual). Anyway, he had been chatting desultorily with the similar-looking clerk at the adjoining register, when he suddenly looked me in the eye and said, “I’m going to watch some Lee Van Cleef movies when I get home.” This took me aback, chiefly because neither he nor the other clerk had even really acknowledged their customers (though they were ringing stuff up fairly efficiently), and because it was a complete non sequitur. Hmmm. Maybe it was some game he and the other clerk were playing, to mess with customers? BUt what the hell, I took the bait and offered up that I liked Van Cleef’s portrayal of “Angel Eyes” (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, 1966 — note my insertion of the Oxford comma, sorry — because I don’t know much about the actor, hence my decidedly pedestrian effort at Van Cleef conversation.). The clerk was delighted and launched animatedly into a spiel about his favorite Van Cleef roles. If they were playing some “weird out the customers” game he REALLY did his prep. But I think he was genuinely a Van Cleef fan (for whatever reason) and decided to tell some totally random guy (me) about it (for whatever reason). In any case, how wonderful that some kid, or nearly anyone else, has such access.
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[inevitable political comment inbound:] Great as network access is, I am a big fan of “hardcopy”, or at least downloading your own digital versions. How long before these old movies are altered to remove “objectionable stereotypes” and such? We used to laugh about how the Soviets sent known owners of their encyclopedia printed pages of a vastly expanded section on the Bering Sea, with instructions to literally cut out the article on (Bloody) Beria after he fell from power and became an embarrassment, and replace it with Bering-Sea lore. Considering the remarkable developments in AI imagery, changing old movies is actually economically feasible now.
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Emmylou Harris. Yes and yes. I also like her duets with Mark Knopfler “Love and Happiness”, and with Don Williams “If I Needed You”.
If I ever find a set of encyclopedia from the late 80s I’m going to pick it up, there is history in those books that can’t be changed because you want it changed.
Another great one for the Anecdote Anthology…never boring Mike_C.
And ‘Absolutely!’ regarding Emmylou Harris…her and Alison Krauss sing like angels.
I’m fond of Diana Krall…..
I was watching Yancy Derringer, an early tv western series. I recognized Lee Van Cleef as a bit player bad guy in one episode.
I’ll also point out that Yancy Derringer was a nattily dressed southern gentleman and a great shot. He also used the term, “I’m your huckleberry.”
I’m convinced Val Kilmet saw it.
X1 on The Professionals and The Wild Bunch, IMHO two of the best films from the Mexican Revolution period.
A song Emmylou wrote about her father, who flew Corsairs, with a little help from Guy Clark (R.I.P).
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfu75INiqKg&list=RDlfu75INiqKg&start_radio=1
X2
That leads to one of my favorite movie quotes . “That, gentlemen, is the whirlingest dervish of them all!”
My condolences on the loss of your mother in law. Both my wife and I were blessed with wonderful mil’s. Not everyone is. Both were taken too soon.
My condolences also to you , your wife and kids on your loss.
Sincere condolences for her family and loved ones.
May she wake up with the Lord.
🙏🏻
Juan
1 –Royal Navy HMS Swiftsure light cruiser
2 – Canadian HMCS Athabaskan Iroquois-class destroyer
3 –Colombian Air Force AC-47 T Fantasma gunship – Modified Douglas C-47 Skytrain
May our Heavenly Father receive your beloved mother in law into His loving embrace and grant her eternal peace – We wish Grace and Peace unto you and your family at this time of loss
Amen
Amen.
‘Amen’ as well.
Condolences on your family’s loss, LL.
– Kle.
IDS:
1. HMS Swiftsure, a light cruiser of the Royal Navy.
2. Canadian destroyer HMCS Athabaskan, which was an Iroquois-class helicopter-carrying, guided-missile destroyer with the hull number 282.
IDA:
3.Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft, which were military transport planes developed from the civilian DC-3 airliner.
STA LETHAL
My condolences about your mother-in-law.
>Tai Po fires
Lieber Gott. I didn’t even know about this. How terrible. But not unexpected, alas. Neither the fire nor the political response. Decades ago I stayed in the infamous Chungking Mansions (in Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong) briefly. Tiny, airless interior room up on the 9th or 10th floor accessed through a literal warren of corridors. Though our room lacked windows or a private bathroom it did come with hot and cold running vermin, so there was that. Once inside the room, girlfriend and I looked at each other and said, “Literal firetrap. There is NO WAY we could possibly get out of this in an emergency.” The proximity of the Chungking Mansions to The Peninsula (famous 5-star hotel) was SO Hong Kong. Anyway, adherence to safety protocols and similar stuff we take for granted in the US are not a mindset, much less way of life, in China. [obvious anti-immigration comment withheld as unnecessary since only a dolt would fail to see the connection]
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On a Mandarin-speaker vs Cantonese note: the fires happened in a place called “Wang Fuk Court”. Seriously? It’s an ugly-sounding language to begin with, and the Romanization/transliteration somehow manages to make it even worse. Plus, being a native Cantonese speaker tends to mess up your English in a very distinctive style (choppy speech in general and especially cutting off terminal consonants “CUH off terminal CONsoNAN”) quite differently from how Mandarin messes up your English.
Bamboo ‘scaffolding’ caught fire is what I read. Tight buildings, inside and out (the ‘maze’ you speak of). Old homes here were often subdivided when the parents had another kid, creating these death traps from already tight floorplans.
Mike_C, Paul: I read that the fire was promoted by the protective wrapping used on the scaffolding to control dropped objects. Documents showed that the construction company had gone cheap and used non-fire-rated wrap instead of fire-retardant wrap. When notified of upcoming inspection, rewrapped the bottom floor with compliant wrap and bribed the inspector to not look and test the wrap above that level. Shocked, I am. Sarah Hoyt’s shocked face is on fire.
LL: Condolences on the loss of your MIL. We (“collective we”) are here for you in spirit if not in person.
Sorry for your loss. Losing a family member is always hard but it’s always worse around the holidays.
My condolences to you and your family on you loss.
** Only a Democrat as extreme and radical as Senator Mark Kelly could think that striking drug cartels that seek to poison Americans is a “war crime.”**
TDS explains it.
may she rest in peace
So sorry about your mother-in-law. Prayers up for peace, comfort and strength to you all left behind.
This, 12/3, is my blue day. Lost my husband and my (closest – but don’t tell the others) brother on this date within the last few years.
I was blessed with a very sweet mother-in-law and am sorry to hear of the loss of yours.
Deepest sympathy to you and your lady on the loss of your mother-in-law. May she rest in peace.
Horse cavalry: I submit that while barbed wire undoubtedly played a role in its demise, by far the greater cause was the widespread introduction of magazine-fed rifles and machine-guns. In 1914, at the outset of World War I, both British and German cavalry units were almost wiped out when they tried to charge well-armed infantry formations. The latter had no wire defenses at all (trench warfare not yet having begun), but were well armed and fully trained in the use of their weapons (i.e. experienced soldiers, few recruits). I recall one Uhlan unit that suffered over 90% casualties in horses and men while charging one of the British Expeditionary Force battalions during the retreat to Ypres. The charge only had to cover 200 yards, but never reached the British lines.
The TanZam railway: I have not-so-fond memories of looking down at it through binoculars from convenient terrain features during the years of the so-called “Border War”. Rhodesia targeted it during the late 1970’s as a preliminary to the Lancaster House talks, and South Africa kept a watching brief on it for many years thereafter in case it became necessary to neutralize it to prevent an influx of conventional weapons to open a new front in the war over South West Africa (today Namibia). A dozen key points had been very carefully examined and targeted, and the necessary weapons, demolition material, etc. was permanently stockpiled and waiting to go. If Zambia had been foolish, it would have been effectively cut off from the rest of the world (economically speaking) in about 48 hours from the “Go” order.
Updated C-47’s: Again, this brings back memories. In the 1980’s South Africa was the world’s largest operator of C-47’s, with over 50 in service. They formed the light transport backbone of the military. I’ve covered thousands of miles in those things (shivering my tuchus off in the process – no heating or A/C). South Africa basically copied the Basler conversion to produce its own TP-47’s, installing two Pratt & Whitney turboprops, extending the fuselage, and considerably increasing the speed and range of the aircraft. There’s still a squadron of the TP-47’s in service down there, largely used for coastal maritime reconnaissance. (Thanks to the contemporary arms embargo, the SAAF couldn’t replace the old C-47’s, and given that they still provided reliable service, was in no hurry to do so.)
God bless.
Barbed wire…reminds me of two movies: Open Range and Seabiscuit…both referenced when barbed wire started ‘closing off’ lands. This was especially evident in the opening scene of Seabiscuit when Tom Smith (Chris Cooper) rides up in open country only to be stopped by new barbed wire fencing, dismounts and walks up to the fence and fiddles with the barb, then looks on like “what the hay?”. Mounts up and rides down a ways to an open area so he can cross and be on his way.
I am reminded of the movie “War Horse”.
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When we lived in Chico, CA we had line of sight to the airport, which was also a CDF air attack base. Over time, got to watch their S-2 Trackers transition to turboprops. Vive la différence!
I’m not gainsaying you on the point of magazine-fed rifles. Cavalry started having trouble once they were expected to charge infantry with Brown Bess/Charleville Muskets in receive- cavalry formations. The Mauser/Enfield rifles made things more difficult for them. My thesis on wire was that area denial tech, whether it was an abatis or barbed wire, nailed the lid on the coffin.
Totally off Topic:
It appears (to me only?) that the more money we pour into government, education, and medical care, the more monolithic structures are being built (Soviet, not necessarily Russian style); not just the architecture, but the staffing structure as well.
Are WTP expected to dash our strength on/against these bulwarks or are they building for extended sieges?
Sincere condolences to your wife, and family from Central Texas.
Correct punctuation was always beyond my capabilities.
Condolences and prayers on the behalf of you and your wife’s family.
Mark Kelly – too bad no one can convince him to stop being such a bellhead. The Dem party has an overabundance of those.
I had great in laws—RIP to your MIL! I could score great on the free beer in Eagle but that would entail a trip to Boise which would be for you like taking a trip down to the Valley. I’m surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of Old Mexico and loving it because I’m in the USA. Used to live on the border and frequented the other side often, but that’s when it wasn’t so dangerous.
My sincere condolences to you and your family.
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Another excellent western movie is “Hombre” with Paul Newman (and an outstanding cast).
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Here is a wonderful piece on the making of “The Wild Bunch”.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iFT7hTZCMk
Condolences LL. Take care of your family.
*
Lobito corridor… very short but now I know more about it versus the termites coming from the east coast inland.
https://crossboundary.com/lobito-corridor-africas-new-trade-route/
*
Chiquita’s. “Why have you not been upstairs?”
“Twelve O’Clock High” and my (very) thin connection.
—
Partner and I had an alternator repair shop in Chico, CA. One day, a leathery old farmer walks in. He spots the small collection of live rounds I have along the back of my work bench, points at the 20mm round, and says, “I’ve had plenty of those shot at me”. Do tell. He also remarked that he had a copilot who had gotten the Congressional Medal of Honor, but couldn’t recall the man’s name at the moment.
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The old farmer was Fred Rabo. His copilot was John C. Morgan–
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Morgan
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From Wiki–
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“Second Lieutenant Jesse Bishop (played by Robert Patten), who belly-lands in the B-17 next to the runway at the beginning of the film and was nominated for the Medal of Honor, had his true-life counterpart in Second Lieutenant John C. Morgan.[7] The description of Bishop’s fight to control the bomber after his pilot was hit in the head by fragments of a 20 mm cannon shell is taken almost verbatim from Morgan’s Medal of Honor citation. Details may be found in The 12 O’Clock High Logbook. Patten had been a USAAF navigator in World War II, the only member of the cast with aircrew experience.”
The shoot down.
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/482ndPathfinders/permalink/3586794251362089/
LL, please accept my condolences in your Mother in Law’s passing. May God grant your family peace during this time.
*****
All of us who have had parents and in-laws pass understand the loss and the complications of working out estate issues and the physical cleanup. If you can, remember the good and funny times bringing them up when others are despondent.
Mark Kelly needs to shut the hell up.
I’m sorry about the loss of your mother-in-law.
Have a fabulous day and rest of the week. :)
Mark Kelly got too many rads when he was an astronaut. Already a bit of a douche, he went full douche after his trips upstairs.
–
He really needs to be locked up.
Minnesota, since e their government refuses to abide by national law and is defrauding the citizen of 49 other states, should be reverted to territorial status and their senators and representatives in congress expelled. Trump can appoint a territorial governor.
“…Tim Walz’s administration is refusing to release the records of Medicaid providers accused of fraud.” How is this legal? It’s Medicare, a Federal program. Time for the DOJ to put Mr. Spirit Hands in the hot seat and apply some serious pressure on this nudge who likely got stuffed in a locker during Junior High gym class…as an obvious weakling he’ll fold like a cheap umbrella in a Wyoming breeze, while crying how unfair his prosecution is under ‘the tyranny of this president’ in typical Democrat fashion. The hubris of these people, beyond self importance…maybe Walz can share a cell with ‘How Dare You Kill Narco-Terrorists!’ Kelly.
ProTip: When a Democrat is going down in flames use Newsom’s approach of ‘no water allowed’ to fight the fire.
***
Parting Shot: Works for me.
I’m very sorry to hear about your mother in laws passing. You have my sincere condolences.
LL, my condolences to you and your family over the loss of a mother, a grandmother and a mother-in-law. May God give you all peace during your grief.
Deepest condolences to you and MRSLL.
Horse cavalry was a part of England’s not-used Plan 1919 to break the German lines.
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Heavy Armor up the middle, supported by infantry and tracked artillery carriers (SPGs based on the Mk Vs.)
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Medium Armor up both sides, to surround the center being attacked by the heavy cohorts.
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Light Armor on the outside, using the holes the mediums punch, and then running for heck to get behind the lines and attack supply depots and command centers. To be followed by light cavalry and motorized cavalry, for the exploit and hoping to rout and destroy the German army.
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So, yeah, horse cavalry not good in a semi-fixed battlefield, but it had its place in a semi-mechanized army, for scouting and exploitation sweeps not able to be achieved by the lack-of-quality wheeled vehicles.
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If you don’t have enough wheeled vehicles, well, horses are a decent filler. Until they aren’t. And, no, would not want to be on a horse past the introduction of smokeless powder and quality repeating or bolt-action arms.
Regarding privateers and letters of marque, Cmdr Sal makes a valid point. A very valid point. Especially if the Ukes go full Yo-ho-ho right off the Russian coast, or even in Russian harbors.
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Though the media backlash of all those sinking ships and the, gasp, ecological horrors of all that loose crude oil floating everywhere may be what’s holding the Ukes back from state-sponsored privateering. Be better if they could capture them and just sail them to some friendly neutral harbor to turn the profits over to the Ukes.