Lukas Mengelkamp

This new militarism for peace is unapologetically bellicose, dealing in visions of death, destruction and domination. I tried to get my head around this condition, in which defence tech features prominently, in a talk last year at the Vienna Digital Cultures festival www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k08...

Crazy thought: maybe this war was really not a good idea?

🧵Feels like shouting into the void, but it is essential to note that the Trump/Rubio gutting of the State Department and blowtorching of US diplomatic capacity and credibility is an accelerant to this spiraling war and will seriously undercut US/allied efforts to pick up the pieces after. 1/

Beyond Manoeuvre Theory for European Defence This article contributes to the debate about European defence in the light of the Russo-Ukraine war and growing doubts about US commitment to Europe. It argues that Europeans need to fundamentally re...

Finally found time to read this through-provoking paper on European defense by @lukasmengelkamp.bsky.social and @samvin.bsky.social. 📄💡

”A strategy reliant on operational level counter-attacking manoeuvre implies ceding territory. This is politically unacceptable and is also highly risky.”

"There is light at the end of the tunnel."

We killled everyone who controlled the weapons by mistake and now we don’t know who controls the weapons.

Zudem ist er explizit auf die französische Nukleardoktrin bezogen, die sich in den zentralen Punkten seit Erscheinen des Essays 1975 nicht verändert hat. Die Übersetzung von 1977 ist nur noch antiquarisch zu greifen, eine Neuauflage wäre jetzt sehr wünschenswert. www.zvab.com/978344612287...

Brossollets Essay ist einer der wenigen wirklich originellen und klugen Texte, der die Frage des Zusammenwirkens von konventioneller und nuklearer Abschreckung wirklich durchdenkt und daraus Schlussfolgerungen gerade auch für die konventionelle Strategie und Doktrin zieht.

Da es jetzt eine deutsch-französische Steuerungsgruppe zur Koordination der nuklearen und konventionellen Abschreckung geben wird, kann ich nur wärmstens die Lektüre von Guy Brossollets "Essai sur la non-bataille" (Essay über die Nicht-Schlacht) empfehlen. (Gibt es auch in deutscher Übersetzung.)🧵

a man in a suit and tie sits at a desk in a classroom Alt: GIF: Mr. Bean copies from his neighbor during an exam.

"Mal gucken was die anderen so schreiben..."

Ich bin schockiert, das hätte ja niemand ahnen können. Oh, wait...

Note to Europeans: The US is (once again) firing all these precious missiles that are also earmarked for use in a contingency in Europe.🙃
If you need further proof that US extended deterrence in Europe is becoming more and more porous by the day.

Dankeschön! Aber meinen lieben Co-Autoren Sam Vincent nicht vergessen! ☺️

Beyond Manoeuvre Theory for European Defence This article contributes to the debate about European defence in the light of the Russo-Ukraine war and growing doubts about US commitment to Europe. It argues that Europeans need to fundamentally re...

Erstklassiker Debattenbeitrag zur Gangbarkeit von Manoeuver warfare im Baltikum von @lukasmengelkamp.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Deep dive into historical defense thinking. Looks interesting!

Finally, we would like to thank the various experts and (former) military officers who agreed to be interviewed by us, as well as the two anonymous reviewers who provided us with very helpful and encouraging feedback.

We are well aware that this is a politically extremely unattractive message. However, it is a more than plausible scenario that a direct conflict with Russia could turn into a war of attrition, which is why – precisely in order to prevent this – appropriate preparation is necessary.

We emphasise that, from a European perspective, positional defence is the most appropriate approach given the nuclear condition and, in particular, the political and geographical challenges that a defensive posture toward Russia must take into account.

In a third step, we outline alternatives, drawing on debates from the 1980s, when West German military analysts in particular developed models that boiled down to positional and attritional defence postures.

In a second step, building on existing manoeuvre-critical literature, we argue that, given the political, strategic and geographical conditions, manoeuvre theory does not provide a basis for genuine European strategic thinking.

In a first step, we analyse established military thinking within NATO and highlight the dominant influence of manoeuvre theory on it (this part also serves as an explainer of what manoeuvre theory is for those new to this debate).

The article argues that the Russo-Ukrainian war and doubts about US extended deterrence make it necessary for Europeans to develop their own strategic thinking. We criticise that the debate on the conventional European pillar in NATO so far "leaves out strategy and is almost
apolitical."

Beyond Manoeuvre Theory for European Defence This article contributes to the debate about European defence in the light of the Russo-Ukraine war and growing doubts about US commitment to Europe. It argues that Europeans need to fundamentally re....

Here it is! "Beyond Manoeuvre Theory for European Defence" by Sam Vincent (@samvin.bsky.social) and me. Give it a read. I promise you there's something in there for everyone to hate! And it is open access! Summary in thread:

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

It's peak German.

It's certainly ironic, that the title of the article is "Merz specifies plans for European nuclear deterrence" and then you read language like "denktheoretisch".

Atomwaffen: Merz konkretisiert Pläne für europäische Atomabschreckung Der Bundeskanzler hält es für möglich, deutsche Kampfjets mit französischen Atomwaffen zu bestücken. Die Beschaffung eigener deutscher Atomwaffen lehnt er aber ab.

www.zeit.de/politik/deut...

a cartoon of winnie the pooh with the words think think think Alt: a cartoon of winnie the pooh with the words think think think

He also said, it's "denktheoretisch" possible, that German jets could carry French nuclear weapons. Whatever that means...

I think we need to repeat this every day until this ahistorical and apolitical version of the history of the Cold War finally disappears.

Alles Gute nachträglich!