“An example from antiquity of the use of mercenary troops is the Carthaginians. They were almost overcome by their own mercenary soldiers after the first war with the Romans, even though they had their own citizens as officers” - Machiavelli [The Prince, XII]
On Friday, June 23rd through Saturday, June 24th, the first Friday night after solstice- while much of the Russian public was probably up all night drinking and celebrating White Nights- the leader of the Wagner Group private military contractor, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led short-live revolt against Russian President Vladimir Putin. As events unfolded we were treated to the sort of wildly irresponsible coverage you would expect from the Western “thinking” class, though a small cadre of responsible pe…
