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Mason Thames: ‘I’ve always wanted to play a villain’

Post author By Mike Nova
Post date September 1, 2026

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Mason Thames plays a villain for the first time in “Idiots” but — “it could be worse.”

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Israel’s air war skills in the Russo-Ukrainian war https://share.gemini.google/bEPkOlZ5hBEK

While Israel is not a direct combatant in the Russo-Ukrainian war, its air warfare capabilities intersect with the conflict in two distinct ways: through the tactical involvement of Israeli veterans volunteering in Ukraine, and as a strategic benchmark used by military analysts to evaluate Russia’s aerial failures.

## Direct Involvement: Israeli Expertise on the Ground

Several Israeli special forces veterans have volunteered their operational skills to assist Ukraine’s defense, particularly in intelligence gathering and drone warfare.

* **Drone Innovation:** Israeli veterans have designed high-capacity batteries that significantly extend the flight time of Ukrainian reconnaissance drones, enabling deeper surveillance behind Russian lines.
* **Targeting Iranian Assets:** Leveraging fluency in Persian, Israeli operatives within Ukrainian marine intelligence have successfully identified and guided artillery strikes against Iranian military advisors and drone testing sites operating in occupied Ukrainian territory.
* **Tactical Reconnaissance:** Israeli volunteers have conducted covert reconnaissance on Russian airfields (such as the strikes near Chornobayivka), feeding real-time coordinates to Ukrainian missile units. This intelligence directly contributed to the destruction of dozens of Russian helicopters, which helped stall the Russian advance on Odesa.

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## The Strategic Contrast: Israel vs. Russia

Military planners frequently contrast Russia’s failure to achieve air superiority over Ukraine over the past 3.5 years with Israel’s rapid success in gaining control of the skies during its recent conflicts, such as the June 2025 campaign against Iran.

The fundamental difference lies in military doctrine and integration. Israel treats air superiority as a joint national campaign, whereas Russia relies on isolated, attrition-based air force operations.

| Capability | Israel’s Approach | Russia’s Approach in Ukraine |
| — | — | — |
| **Operational Integration** | Seamlessly combines cyber operations, intelligence, and ground special forces to degrade air defenses before jets even arrive. | Largely siloed. The air force operates independently without adequate intelligence preparation of the battlespace. |
| **SEAD Focus** | Rigorous, continuous training heavily prioritizing the Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). | SEAD was never prioritized in pilot training. Russian jets act as “flying artillery,” launching glide bombs from safe airspace to avoid being shot down. |
| **Intelligence Edge** | Months of mapping enemy air defenses and embedding operatives to destroy radar and launchers at close range. | Attempted early decapitation strikes but lacked the precise intelligence mapping required to dismantle Ukraine’s integrated air defenses. |