Ian Kummer

I'm a former US Marine fire support specialist, and also worked for about 10 years as a public affairs specialist in the US Army National Guard and Reserves. For that reason I will mostly opine about the "information operations" aspect of current events. Please see my "about" page for more information. If you would like to reach out, you can email me at ian.michael@readingjunkie.com

News From Crimea #1

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I kept my travel plans private until after we left, but I am now writing from Crimea! I have uploaded some notes and photos from our stop in Kerch. I am typing all of this from my phone so won’t repeat myself, but you can view it on my substack here. I will now be … Read more

Trump and Putin May Meet Soon While Drone War Continues

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Yesterday TASS and other Russian media reported Trump’s statement that he and Putin may meet in the near future. For now Trump is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar until May 16. American and Russian presidents have not met since June 2021, and avoiding communication with the Russian side was an openly stated Biden policy. … Read more

The Real Reason For Ukrainian Failure

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This article from Newsweek is a classic example of western journalists abandoning journalism and instead using their platforms for blatant political advocacy. And it exposes something I have been talking about a while, the attempt to shift the blame for military failures off NATO’s shoulders onto Ukraine’s.

Would American-Russian Relations Have Still Gone Bad Without the Communist Revolution?

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American-Russian relations deteriorated after the October Revolution, normalized, transitioned to an outright alliance against a common enemy in 1941, then went bad for good after WWII. So it might be tempting to argue that in an alternate timeline with no communist revolution and no Soviet Union, the adversity wouldn’t have happened. But logically, if the … Read more

Opposition To an Idea Is Not an Idea

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At the end of May 2023, Ukraine officially moved Victory Day from May 9 to May 8, making it consistent with the USA’s VE Day, but mostly just to be different from Russia. Now in 2025, Zelensky is asking European leaders to Ukraine… on May 9. Of course Zelensky could have asked them to come … Read more