You can be forgiven for forgetting about the little guy, and for that matter, Donald Trump’s “I’ve got a bigger button” dick-joke to end humanity. And yet there he was, sending some 23 intercontinental missiles through South Korean airspace earlier this month. …

The 4717 is not a political newsletter, focused as it is on the intersection of finance, the economy and geopolitics — the new Great Game. It was historically easy to ignore Washington’s industrial policy for the simple reason that we didn’t have one. With the November 8th midterms approaching, the…

On Friday, Russian defense minister, Sergei Shoigu announced that the politically disastrous ‘partial mobilization’ is over. With the people giving him such blowback, Putin seems to realize that the only way to get out of his corner isn’t force, but terror, Which explains Shoigu’s recent round of phone calls to…

You don’t have to spend too much time in conflict zones to see that a small, out-gunned, local force fighting for its very existence versus a large, well-armed army that can’t articulate why it’s fighting is a recipe for a protracted conflict. …

To take a glancing look at Vladimir Putin, even back in his KGB days, is to behold the face of a gangster. To look at his Washington counter-part is to think that someone needs a nap. To look upon the image of China’s once and future president Xi Jinping is…

Mobilizing Markets for War All wars have an economic element, but it’s hard to think of one where the markets and economies have been mobilized and sent into battle with the gusto as with the current scrap. …

Memphis, Tennessee — aside from Elvis, the blues, barbeque and FedEx — is one of those cities where people get elected to office — usually on the weight of their successor’s fourth DUI or some Machiavellian racial calculus — and then they stay put. The elections aren’t rigged, understand, upsets…

Independence Day Fireworks “The Ukrainian armed forces treated the Russians to a magical evening.” Wrote Seriy Khlan, a member of the disbanded regional council of Kherson last week on Facebook. To hear Kyiv and Western intelligence source murmur, they’ve been planning the show for months. And why not? …

The Black Orchestra Mission to Kill Hitler Part II: Valkyrie [Part I: Spark] By August of 1943, the was a real sense among the schwarze kapelle that time was running out if there was going to be much of post-Hitler Germany to salvage. Operation Citadel, the final German offensive on…