Professor of War & Strategy in East Asia | FRHistS | @warstudies | @kcl_CGS | Postwar Japan as a Seapower. Naval affairs. Strategy. Indo-Pacific. One ping only.
London, England
Joined March 2013
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The Strategic Significance of the Maritime Theatre in the Russia–Ukraine War - good morning X.
Delighted and honoured this piece Dan Hallett and I penned is out with @RUSI_org flagship publication- a short thread about our argument: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Very sad news. @TRSkerritt, who served in the @USAirforce 1951-1956 before taking up acting, famously playing @USNavy Commander Mike 'Viper' Metcalf in @TopGunMovie, among many other roles over a remarkable 60 year career, has sadly passed away aged 93. #RIP
US actor Tom Skerritt, who starred in Picket Fences, Mash and Alien, dies aged 93 bbc.in/3W4llxZ
Alessio Patalano retweeted
The GRU hacked into Jared Kushner's iPhone. Dutch military intelligence (MIVD) then recruited a GRU spy who gave them access to the hacked phone. What MIVD discovered was that Kushner had access to two bank accounts --one Azerbaijani, the other Israeli --where Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati ruler Mohammed bin Zayed deposited money. It sounds like a slightly far-fetched episode of "Slow Horses," but it's real. And it proves just how eye-poppingly corrupt this administration was and continues to be as its "special envoy" decides the fate of tens of millions in Europe in the Middle East. Simply incredible reporting by Matthew Cole, drawn from his new book on Kushner. vanityfair.com/story/jared-k…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Wer noch immer den Blödsinn glaubt, die Nato-Osterweiterung habe mit den Ursachen dieses Krieges etwas zu tun, sollte einfach mal Putin zuhören.
Der sagt ganz offen nach imperialistischer Manier: Ich sehe das als mein Land, deswegen greife ich an und hole es mir.
Putin on Ukraine:
The lands lost by Kyiv are not "their territory"; they are historically Russian lands.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Kyiv predates Moscow by centuries, and southern/eastern Ukraine was ruled by the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate long before 18th-century Russian Imperial annexation. In 1991, every Ukrainian region voted overwhelmingly for independence, recognized by Russia 1994.
britannica.com/place/Ukraine/…
treaties.un.org/Pages/showDeta…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
在日フランス大使館は、現代日本文学を代表する村上龍先生の訃報に接し、深い悲しみを覚えています。
村上先生の多くの作品はフランス語に翻訳され、世代を超えてフランスの読者を感動させました。
謹んで哀悼の意を表します。
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Harriet Cross, the Conservative member for Gordon and Buchan, warned of a "dangerous escalation" in attacks on the Scottish defence sector. Click image for more.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/?p=7…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
A search and rescue mission is underway in the Black Sea after an incident with the Comoros flagged cargo ship "Khoryv", reportedly a Russian drone attack, about 13 nautical miles east of Constanta, Romania. One person is dead and three are missing, Romanian authorities said. The Romanian Naval Authority says it was reported around 10 a.m. local time. Video has surfaced online showing a life raft and response vessels near a capsized ship, purportedly from the attack this morning.
The Interior Ministry says the ship suffered major damage and capsized. Another commercial vessel recovered 10 people, nine alive and one dead. The vessel had 13 crew on board. Data from MarineTraffic shows the ship left Turkey Oct. 21 headed for Romania’s Sulina port. Authorities said a helicopter could not be deployed because of weather and low visibility.
Multiple Romanian media outlets reported it was struck by a drone, AP reports. The incident follows drone attacks on at least seven cargo vessels off the Black Sea coasts of Romania and Bulgaria in October this month alone and Romanian pilots shot down two drones over Romanian territorial waters on Saturday.
Source: apnews.com/article/black-sea…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Exclusive: General Lord Sanders has intervened on John Healey’s maiden budget, telling @telegraph it’s “incredible” that the Chancellor - who resigned as Defence Secretary over a lack of money for defence - would not use next week’s Budget to explain how the UK will get to 3% by 2030.
Lord Sanders told me that you can’t expect industry to prepare the nation for war when it has no idea how the gov intends to get to its NATO target of 3.5% by 2035 when it can’t even set out the initial steps of getting there.
Lord Sanders was speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on rearmament, which is running an inquiry into the state of the military and whether it needs to rearm (short answer: Yes.)
He stressed the Army has some of the best people in the world serving, but they don’t have the money or capabilities to back this moral component up. So while the UK could fight day 1 of a war, without adequate stockpiles etc being able to hold the fight on day 30/day 90 is not a sure thing.
Mike Martin, @ThreshedThought
who chairs the APPG told telegraph: “We heard today in our inquiry that the UK is effectively unable to deter our enemies on land and we are taking grave risks as a nation.
“For the Government not to set out a credible path to 3 per cent of GDP next week in the budget beggars belief.”
V interesting conversation where Lord Sanders also told those gathered in Houses of Parliament that he was deeply concerned about lawfare, the Troubles Bill in its current shape and how soldiers HAVE to feel that the country “has their back”. How can they be expected to fight for king and country if they fear they will be hung out to dry by the very institution they dedicate their lives to?
telegraph.co.uk/politics/202…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Britain stands thirty-first out of thirty-two NATO countries on rearmament promises, with only Iceland lower, according to a report by the Defence Committee. Click image for more.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/?p=7…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Is the Red Sea safe?
An accelerating return of container shipping to the Suez Canal, Red Sea and Bab El Mandeb, amid an escalating and widening conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen-based Houthis is raising industry concerns. Are crew and cargoes at risk?
seatrade-maritime.com/contai…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
The Ministry of Defence does not want to extend the life of the Type 45 destroyers and would rather spend the money on new technology, according to evidence given to the Defence Committee. Click image for more.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/type…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
1/5 With the House of Commons Defence Committee issuing a report revealing the loss of under ice operational skills in the much diminished Submarine Service of the Royal Navy – at the very wrong moment, when the Russian undersea threat is rising again – it’s worth recalling that even when the RN had only diesel-electric boats (SSKs) it went under the ice. This was in the early Cold War when other nations dared not do it so much with SSKs (including the Americans). Proof of British daring is provided by this early 1960s periscope shot from HMS Auriga, by a young Rob Forsyth (future SSK and SSN CO) of a polynya (necessary for the submarine surface through).
ALT Periscope shot from HMS Auriga, by a young Rob Forsyth (future SSK and SSN CO) of a polynya (necessary for the submarine to surface through). His copyright.
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Good to see the UK Defence Journal cited during a Defence Committee evidence session. Our coverage was based on a fairly routine announcement from the defence company that had secured the work. It shows, though, why reporting on industry activity matters and how it can feed into wider debates on national security. Plus, for our small (but growing) team, it's still pretty cool to hear our publication mentioned by name in sessions like this. A nice reminder that our work is having an impact on the defence conversation.
Alessio Patalano retweeted
The more China applies ‘grey zone’ pressure to Taiwan and other neighbours in N.E. Asia, the tighter it draws the first island chain together. Taiwan’s response is what @nntaleb called ‘anti-fragile’ - when repeated low level shocks actually makes the object more resilient.
Reuters: The Philippines said on Wednesday that it is exploring deeper cooperation with Taiwan to protect undersea cables and address so-called gray-zone activities, despite its one-China policy. What’s China’s response? Does Beijing consider such cooperation a violation of the one-China principle?
Mao Ning: There is no gray zone on the Taiwan question. The Philippine side should abide by the one-China principle with concrete actions. External interactions of China’s Taiwan region should be handled in strict accordance with the one-China principle.
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Pete Hegseth reportedly wanted Dwight Eisenhower's globe in his office, but did not want to wait for historians to move it and went rogue.
Hegseth's staff then attempted to move it themselves and broke the historic globe.
This is remarkable. This type of journalism is vital in open societies to help develop an understanding of what attribution looks like and what’s needed to ensure it’s applied to create political costs. Bravo to the team.
🚨EXCLUSIVE🚨This has been an incredibly long and painstaking piece of work, led by @GazTheJourno who spent months looking at maps, an ungodly number of digital tracking data websites and plotting where various Russian ships had been and how that corresponds to the network of undersea cables.
It’s also one of the last stories I played a part in during my time at @Telegraph.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10…
🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Glasgow's Kelvingrove Museum has removed Egyptian mummies from display because there was no 'informed consent from the deceased individual'👇
mol.im/a/16227743
#Exclusive #Scotland #Glasgow #Museums #EgyptianMummies #Woke @MailOnlineScot
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Recommissioning 14 Dock at Devonport will allow legacy submarine defuelling to restart, paid for from the £7 billion going into the naval base over the next decade under Project Royal Oak. Click image for more.
ukdefencejournal.org.uk/?p=7…
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Trafalgar Day is a moment to remember the @RoyalNavy’s greatest victory, and to pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of Lord Nelson’s sailors and marines.
As we honour their commitment and courage, 221 years on, I want to thank every member of today’s Royal Navy for theirs.
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Implied hormuz flows have drifted down 25% from peak to 9.8 mbpd 7d avg. Some of this might get revised away as happened with my last update but I think it's real this time because PG loadings show a similar drift down. Today is also the lowest single reading since Sept 3rd
Alessio Patalano retweeted
Iran's Foreign Minister is getting a platform in Britain that his people are killed for in Iran.
He claims he wants “to give diplomacy another chance” and doesn't want escalation, but he is threatening our people and his IRGC bosses are murdering thousands across the Middle East, including recently civilians in Riyadh and Yemen.
No wonder @FT switched off the comments. His lies don't stand up to scrutiny.
Opinion: While Iran is firmly committed to seeking a dignified peaceful resolution to the conflict, we are also fully prepared to defend ourselves, writes Abbas Araghchi, the country's foreign minister ft.trib.al/NqUhFmq
ALT Abbas Araghchi speaks into a microphone at a press conference, seated at a table with a glass and water bottle.