Even the Vikings knew it didn't pay to smash everything up: what you didn't know about the economics of war
From Genghis Khan giving us a first taste of globalisation to the consequences of over-estimating Russian power in the war in Ukraine, Duncan Weldon gives us an original and sharp take on the forces that have shaped our world
Today at 21:30
From early empires to modern superpowers, the pursuit of wealth and the waging of war have rarely been separate endeavours. Battles have been fought not only over territories and beliefs, but also over resources and the hope of prosperity.
Economic ambition has driven conquest just as often as conquests have reshaped economies. It is this complex entanglement of war and money that is studied deeply by Duncan Weldon in Blood and Treasure: The Economics of Conflict from the Vikings to Ukraine.
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Irish Examiner
38 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Russian military losses top 1m in three-year-old war, Ukrainian military says
The number of Russian troops killed or wounded in Ukraine has topped one million, military officials in Kyiv said on Thursday, describing the huge price that Moscow has paid for its three-year-old invasion. The claim by the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces is in line with Western intelligence estimates. Russia has suffered 1 million combat losses in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. This is the devastating human cost Putin is inflicting on his own people. This invasion is a betrayal of his people who are bearing the true cost of this war.#StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 — Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 12, 2025 The UK Ministry of Defence also said in a statement posted Thursday on X that Russia has suffered more than one million casualties, including roughly 250,000 killed since it launched the full-scale invasion on February 24 2022. On June 3, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said Russia would likely hit the mark of one million casualties this summer in what it called 'a stunning and grisly milestone'. Russia last reported its military casualties early in the war when it acknowledged that about 6,000 soldiers had been killed. Earlier this year, the General Staff of the Russian armed forces claimed that Ukrainian military losses had topped one million. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last spoke of Ukrainian military losses in February, when he said in an interview that 45,100 troops had been killed and about 390,000 injured. The mutual claims of the other side's losses could not be independently verified. A rescue worker evacuates a woman from a building which was damaged by a Russian strike in Kharkiv (Ukrainian emergency services via AP/PA) The casualty estimates came as Russian forces pummelled Ukraine with drones and other weapons, killing three people and injuring scores of others despite international pressure to accept a ceasefire. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 63 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said that air defences destroyed 28 drones while another 21 were jammed. Ukrainian police said two people were killed and six were injured in the past 24 hours in the eastern Donetsk region, the focus of the Russian offensive. One person was killed and 14 others were also injured in the southern Kherson region, which is partly occupied by Russian forces, police said. The authorities in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, said 18 people, including four children, were injured by Russian drone attacks overnight. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said Russian drones targeted residential districts, educational facilities, nurseries and other civilian infrastructure. 'Kharkiv is holding on. People are alive. And that is the most important thing,' Mr Terekhov said. Rescue workers put out a fire of a building which was damaged by a Russian strike in Kharkiv (Ukrainian emergency services via AP/PA) Russia has launched waves of drones and missiles in recent days, with a record bombardment of almost 500 drones on Monday and a wave of 315 drones and seven missiles overnight on Tuesday. Ukraine responded to the Russian attacks with drone raids. Russia's Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 52 Ukrainian drones early on Thursday, including 41 over the Belgorod region that borders Ukraine. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said three people were injured by Ukrainian attacks. The recent escalation in aerial attacks has come alongside a renewed Russian battlefield push along eastern and northeastern parts of the more than 1,000-kilometre (over 600-mile) front line. While Russian missile and drone barrage have struck regions all across Ukraine, regions along the front line have faced daily Russian attacks with short-range exploding drones and glide bombs. A building is seen on fire after a Russian strike in Odesa, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Services via AP) On Thursday, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed its troops captured two more villages in the Donetsk region, Oleksiivka and Petrivske. The Ukrainian military had no immediate comment on the Russian claim. The attacks have continued despite discussions of a potential ceasefire in the war. During their June 2 talks in Istanbul, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators traded memorandums containing sharply divergent conditions that both sides see as nonstarters, making a quick deal unlikely. In Rome, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte commended US President Donald Trump for his 'crucial' move to start direct peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, Mr Rutte criticised Mr Putin for appointing his aide Vladimir Medinsky as the top negotiator for the talks in Istanbul. Mr Medinsky ascended through the Kremlin ranks after writing a series of books exposing purported Western plots against Russia and denigrating Ukraine. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte commended US President Donald Trump for his move to start peace talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) 'I think that the Russians sending this historian now twice to these talks in Istanbul, trying to start with the history of 1,000 years ago and then explaining more or less that Ukraine is at fault here, I think that's not helpful,' Mr Rutte said. 'But at least step by step, we try to make progress.' Also on Thursday, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit, noting the stepped-up Russian attacks send a message from Moscow that it has 'no interest in a peaceful solution at present,' according to German news agency dpa. Mr Pistorius said his visit underlines that the new German government continues to stand by Ukraine. 'Of course this will also be about how the support of Germany and other Europeans will look in future – what we can do, for example, in the area of industrial co-operation, but also other support,' he said.
Extra.ie
an hour ago
- Extra.ie
Putin is plotting attack on Nato territory, warns top spy chief
Russia is plotting an attack on Nato territory to test the Western alliance's unity, a spy chief warned on Wednesday. Bruno Kahl, outgoing head of Germany's federal intelligence service, the BND, said it had 'concrete' evidence that people around Vladimir Putin no longer believe Nato's Article 5 will be honoured. This is the clause which guarantees that if one member is attacked, all the others will come to its aid. Bruno Kahl, outgoing head of Germany's federal intelligence service, the BND. Pic: Omer Messinger/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock In a rare interview Mr Kahl told the German podcast Table Briefings: 'We see that Nato is supposed to be tested in its mutual assistance promise. There are people in Moscow who don't believe Nato Article 5 still works.' He said: 'We are very sure, and we have intelligence evidence to back this up, that [Russia's full-scale invasion of] Ukraine is only one step on Russia's path towards the west.' But Mr Kahl was quick to add: 'This doesn't mean that we expect large tank battalions to roll from the east to the west.' Russian president Vladimir Putin. Pic: Contributor/Getty Images Russia did not need to do this because it could send 'little green men to Estonia to protect supposedly oppressed Russian minorities', the spy chief said. During Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms and civilian clothes occupied key buildings. They were known as the 'little green men' when Moscow denied knowing who they were. Mr Kahl said that Moscow's ultimate aim was to push Nato back to its 1990s borders, 'kick out' the US from Europe and aggressively expand Russia's influence. 'We need to nip this in the bud,' he said. Key to Nato co-operation, he pointed out, was the US and its army. Mr Kahl said his contacts with US counterparts had convinced him they took the Russian threat 'as seriously as us, thank God'. Russian president Vladimir Putin. Pic: Alexander Kazakov/Pool/AFP via Getty Images Meanwhile, Ukraine's former foreign minister warned that British mothers must accept their sons have to die defending Europe if they want Nato's protection. Dmytro Kuleba, who was in office between March 2020 and September 2024, told the UK's Metro: 'Many people believe the real test for Nato is whether the US is going to fight for Europe. 'The real test will be whether British mothers will actually accept that their sons have to die for Finland or Estonia or Poland. If they don't, there is no Nato.' He accepted that Europe was spending money on weapons, but said it has to do so much faster and asked: 'Who is going to tell the voters the threat of the war is real?'
The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Britain is our enemy number one, Russians say as new poll puts UK above even Ukraine as Moscow's top foe
BRITAIN has been declared as Russia's biggest national threat - even beating out Ukraine and the United States. A bombshell survey revealed that more than a quarter of Putin's Russia saw the UK as their most formidable opponent on the world stage. Advertisement 7 Putin's state TV mocked the UK after it was declared public enemy number one Credit: East2West 7 The UK and Keir Starmer have been declared as Russia's arch nemesis Credit: Getty 7 A survey taken by a pro-Putin agency showed that more than a quarter of the public saw the UK as their top opponent Credit: AP 7 The UK has been dubbed one of Ukraine's toughest allies throughout Putin's horror invasion Credit: AP Some 28 per cent of Russians named Bizarrely, Ukraine - which Moscow has been at war with for over three years - was seen as the prime foe by only 22 per cent of the public. The shocking poll was unveiled on Russia Day, June 12, which marks the country's separation from the dissolving Soviet Union 35 years ago. The new rating for the UK comes from a pro-Kremlin polling agency called INSOMAR. Advertisement It is the latest in a long history of jabs taken at Britain by Putin's propaganda machine, which has consistently branded the UK as one Ukraine 's staunchest allies since In one recent broadcast on Russian state television, leading Putin mouthpiece Vladimir Solovyov said: 'I can't understand why the British have gone mad [with the new UK defence review]. 'Where do they want to clash with us? He rambled on: "Do they think that we have already landed, entered the Thames somewhere and are now storming Westminster Abbey?" Advertisement Most read in The Sun Breaking Exclusive Solovyov made the baseless claim that the UK had staged clandestine undercover operations against Russia. The Putin yes-man said: "Actually, the attack on Russia's cyber security system was carried out by the British. New footage of Op Spiderweb shows drone blitzing Putin's burning aircraft "Then, let me remind you that the water threat [to Russia] came from the British, when they were trying to figure out who Crimea belonged to. He also claimed that British reconnaissance aircraft were "flying through our airspace". Advertisement Solovyov - who is decorated by Putin for his work as a propagandist - also said: 'Most importantly, I would like to say something separately to Starmer.' He said in a mocking English accent: 'Scottish people, you have to fight for your independence.' Reverting to Russian, he told viewers across his country's 11 time zones: 'Scottish brothers, you must fight for your independence. Right? "These English colonisers have no business on Scottish soil." Advertisement Another propagandist named Andrey Sidorov then suggested the Welsh should "break free" too. Sidorov has frequently advocated using the untested Russian Poseidon unmanned submarine to sink Britain under a tidal wave. 7 Leading Putin TV propagandists made threats to the UK following the poll Credit: East2West 7 Leading Putin TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov [R] pictured with Vladimir Putin Credit: East2West Advertisement 7 Firefighters work on a fire after a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv, June 12 Credit: Getty He mocked Starmer who "has never served in the army ". The talking head jibed: "He had no basic military training at school." Sir Keir Starmer's new Strategic Advertisement The Prime Minister put the UK on a war footing earlier this month as he ordered the biggest investment in the production of guns and bombs since the Cold War. Writing in The Sun on Sunday, Sir Keir said Britain was facing a 'more dangerous world' and the time has come to 'transform how we defend these islands'. Read more on the Irish Sun The declaration of the UK as Russia's main enemy also came as Putin's state media announced that the US would be competing in its rip-off Eurovision song contest. Bitter tyrant Putin announced the Advertisement
