Politics

[PARA45]

How about this for Bidenomics.

 

[Red Leg]

Yes, definitely what I would call a potential fail mode that would require risk mitigation. And a complex one at that I'd think.

Not that hard. The key is the search area. We, the Germans, and French have fielded weapons with the technology to find and kill a target like a tank, IFV, or SP artillery since the early nineties. Typical are artillery munitions that are fired into the area of a known armor concentration and two or three submunitions are deployed by parachute that find, lock on, and fire an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) into the target.

These rounds have a relatively short period of time to find the target and attack as they descend by parachute. Still, the UA has been very successful using the French version against Russian armor.

Imagine a drone version, we call them loitering munitions, that flies itself to the same location but can remain on station searching for a target for an hour or more. Then multiply that by a hundred and launch them toward an assembly area. Add an AI chip, and the same munition can now distinguish between friend and foe.

Unlike the human controlled munition, these systems have no comms link to jam.

Sobering stuff.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Not that hard. The key is the search area. We, the Germans, and French have fielded weapons with the technology to find and kill a target like a tank, IFV, or SP artillery since the early nineties. Typical are artillery munitions that are fired into the area of a known armor concentration and two or three submunitions are deployed by parachute that find, lock on, and fire an explosively formed penetrator (EFP) into the target.

These rounds have a relatively short period of time to find the target and attack as they descend by parachute. Still, the UA has been very successful using the French version against Russian armor.

Imagine a drone version, we call them loitering munitions, that flies itself to the same location but can remain on station searching for a target for an hour or more. Then multiply that by a hundred and launch them toward an assembly area. Add an AI chip, and the same munition can now distinguish between friend and foe.

Unlike the human controlled munition, these systems have no comms link to jam.

Sobering stuff.

I'll take your word for it, but I'm not volunteering for the live ammunition test to be on the "friends" team.

 

[Doubleplay]

View attachment 607053

How about this for Bidenomics.

There's something called World Big Mac index to compare different countries.
Check it out, Mc Donald prices increased even more in some other countries, it has nothing to do with Biden,Trump or whoever.
It can even go higher during Trump presidency if he wins.
It's the result of very high inflation of raw materials since Covid all over the World along with supply chain issues.

 

[Red Leg]

w

I'll take your word for it, but I'm not volunteering for the live ammunition test to be on the "friends" team.

The point I am trying to make is that one employs them like any other area munition. The target area is restricted to one where there are no friendlies.

 

[Red Leg]

Another of these short clips that tells us quite a bit more. In this one a Russian soldier has published a video of an area around his fighting position. I have no idea, but he would be likely part of a new unit moving into the area. There are dozens of Russian dead left to rot on the battlefield.

I know of no Western military that would tolerate this. But it is this treatment of the dead that allows the poor misunderstood despot in Moscow to continue to hide the magnitude of Russian losses in this war. It also speaks to the apathy drilled into his population that his army continues to accept such mistreatment.

Such casual barbarism is also a reminder that not all cultures are the same.

As early as 1839, the Marquis de Custine wrote, "The Russians' morals are cruel, and despite all pretensions of those half savages they’ll remain so for a long time. It has not yet been a century since they were real Tatars."

Or as Churchill warned us almost exactly a century later, "It would be a measureless disaster if Russian barbarism overlaid the culture and independence of the ancient states of Europe."

https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineWarVideoReport/comments/1cxaks8

And to quote Churchill on Russia and Russians one more time, “The machinery of propaganda may pack their minds with falsehood and deny them truth for many generations of time. But the soul of man thus held in trance or frozen in a long night can be awakened by a spark coming from God knows where and in a moment the whole structure of lies and oppression is on trial for its life.”

Just perhaps this brutal unjust invasion will provide that spark.

 

[Tanks]

...

And to quote Churchill on Russia and Russians one more time, “The machinery of propaganda may pack their minds with falsehood and deny them truth for many generations of time. But the soul of man thus held in trance or frozen in a long night can be awakened by a spark coming from God knows where and in a moment the whole structure of lies and oppression is on trial for its life.”

Just perhaps this brutal unjust invasion will provide that spark.

I was in Antalya, Turkey for a Tango Marathon a couple of weeks ago. Among the 90 international couples that showed up there were plenty of Russians.
More importantly the resort was full of Russian families, mostly those with kids between a few months and 12 years or so. Now, the Mediterranean coast of Turkey is a popular vacation spot for Russians so seeing this was not unusual. However, it seems that the Ukraine war has had no effect on vacation plans of these military age families.

 

[CoElkHunter]

I was in Antalya, Turkey for a Tango Marathon a couple of weeks ago. Among the 90 international couples that showed up there were plenty of Russians.
More importantly the resort was full of Russian families, mostly those with kids between a few months and 12 years or so. Now, the Mediterranean coast of Turkey is a popular vacation spot for Russians so seeing this was not unusual. However, it seems that the Ukraine war has had no effect on vacation plans of these military age families.

Wow, a "Tango Marathon"? Who would have thunk it? And no less in Turkey. I guess better than a Disco Marathon in Tanganyika? LOL

 

[mdwest]

I guess better than a Disco Marathon in Tanganyika? LOL

Or a twerking marathon in Mississippi

 

[Tanks]

Wow, a "Tango Marathon"? Who would have thunk it? And no less in Turkey. I guess better than a Disco Marathon in Tanganyika? LOL

Argentine Tango is pretty popular all around the world, people hold weeklong festivals and marathons yearly. I was at another Tango Marathon in Cyprus (the island country) last year.

 

[WAB]

Or a twerking marathon in Mississippi

Dude!

 

[Vashper]

I was in Antalya, Turkey for a Tango Marathon a couple of weeks ago. Among the 90 international couples that showed up there were plenty of Russians.
More importantly the resort was full of Russian families, mostly those with kids between a few months and 12 years or so. Now, the Mediterranean coast of Turkey is a popular vacation spot for Russians so seeing this was not unusual. However, it seems that the Ukraine war has had no effect on vacation plans of these military age families.

Well, what's so surprising about that? I was there last year, but not for long. I played a little beach volleyball. Turks can even be said to be happy with the situation, because Western Europe has tightened visa policy for Russians, and it is difficult to get a tourist visa there, plus difficulties with bank cards. Accordingly, most of the tourist flow went to Turkey and South Asia. Tourism is an essential part of the economy there. Generally speaking, there are other states that have waged wars, and even now have hundreds of thousands of soldiers abroad, including in "hot spots" (I won't point fingers), but this did not interfere with tourism in any way.

 

[Vashper]

Dear Red Leg, well, what else could Churchill have written? He was the main organizer of the invasion of 14 powers into Russia, with completely incomprehensible goals. Did he want to change the government, or what? By the way, the 339th regiment of the US Army fought in my native places, it is on Wikipedia. My father saw the British and American military, he was 11 years old then. I also saw an old English overcoat with beautiful buttons. It is unclear why they came. Well, Churchill couldn't honestly write "I'm a fool." So he wrote "Russians are bad, Russians are nasty."

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

w

The point I am trying to make is that one employs them like any other area munition. The target area is restricted to one where there are no friendlies.

As so restricted, then that's safer. However that becomes a decision of the commander deploying the weapon. Not so sure all commanders would have the discipline to adhere to that.

Thinking there might be a Longshanks somewhere out there. Not exactly serious when I say that, but the scene crossed my mind.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Dear Red Leg, well, what else could Churchill have written? He was the main organizer of the invasion of 14 powers into Russia, with completely incomprehensible goals. Did he want to change the government, or what? By the way, the 339th regiment of the US Army fought in my native places, it is on Wikipedia. My father saw the British and American military, he was 11 years old then. I also saw an old English overcoat with beautiful buttons. It is unclear why they came. Well, Churchill couldn't honestly write "I'm a fool." So he wrote "Russians are bad, Russians are nasty."

Stalin was so misunderstood.

 

[Vashper]

Stalin was so misunderstood.

Dear PHOENIX PHIL, you are, as always, absolutely right. But in this case we are talking about the events after the First World War, when Churchill first undertook, so to speak, a foreign policy action as a statesman. At that time, Lenin was prime minister in Russia, and, in my opinion, Trotsky was minister of war, and Stalin was not yet a top politician.
Russians turned out to be both good and sweet, however, when "A Fried Cock pecked in the ass" (there is such a Russian expression), even for the same Churchill.
By the way, he did not allow personal attacks against Stalin, as far as I remember.

 

[Red Leg]

Dear PHOENIX PHIL, you are, as always, absolutely right. But in this case we are talking about the events after the First World War, when Churchill first undertook, so to speak, a foreign policy action as a statesman. At that time, Lenin was prime minister in Russia, and, in my opinion, Trotsky was minister of war, and Stalin was not yet a top politician.
Russians turned out to be both good and sweet, however, when "A Fried Cock pecked in the ass" (there is such a Russian expression), even for the same Churchill.
By the way, he did not allow personal attacks against Stalin, as far as I remember.

No Vasher, we were not talking about the Allied incursion in Russia at all. I was talking about the culture of a military that leaves its soldiers to rot on the battlefield, that has the medical support structure for its wounded more reminiscent of a 19th century army than a modern one, and a populace so cowed by its leadership that it tolerates such neglect. Of course, the proper care of battlefield casualties and acknowledgement of the scale of losses over the last two years might put the former KGB agent's grip on power at some risk - too paraphrase Marie Antoinette - so let them rot.

I offered a couple of quotations from Churchill and one from Custine that talked to the particular enigma that is Russian culture. Perhaps had Churchill been even more prescient he would have given his speech of 1946 instead in which he warned the American people and the greater West of Soviet expansion, saying that an “iron curtain” had descended across the European continent, “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic."

I am hardly alone in reaching the conclusion that the strategic genius residing in the Kremlin seems determined to resurrect that curtain. Unlike Stalin, who despite his murderous brutality had a strategic vision, the little man in Moscow has created a far different strategic paradigm for his country. Rather than creating a buffer zone, in just over two short years he has managed to add nearly 1500 km of mutual border with the NATO alliance. He has turned the Baltic into a NATO lake, and made Kaliningrad a strategic liability rather than an asset. He has even managed to accomplish something that Trump could not by causing Europe to again take its collective defense seriously.

During the same period he has manage to destroy a quarter of a century's worth of Russian Army modernization, caused his Navy to be perceived an incompetent laughing stock, and left questions about the actual capability of his surprisingly timid air force. About the only military skill set he seems to have retained is the capability of the army to rain high explosives indiscriminately. Oh yes, and also the ability to trot Dmitry Medvedev out periodically to threaten nuclear war.

Were this not bad enough, he has created an economic catastrophe that will haunt Russia for a generation. He has made himself beholding to the fat dictator in North Korea and the religious zealots in Iran. The latter are particularly dangerous for your people as Iran pursues its long term goals as a regional hegemon bound by a militant religion. Finally, he has gone from being a strategic partner of Xi and China to one of junior supplicant, with unknown eventual consequences for Russia's far east. He accomplished it all in just two years and three months.

And yet the Russian people "reelected" this strategic savant for yet another term.

 

[bowjijohn]

No Vasher, we were not talking about the Allied incursion in Russia at all. I was talking about the culture of a military that leaves its soldiers to rot on the battlefield, that has the medical support structure for its wounded more reminiscent of a 19th century army than a modern one, and a populace so cowed by its leadership that it tolerates such neglect. Of course, the proper care of battlefield casualties and acknowledgement of the scale of losses over the last two years might put the former KGB agent's grip on power at some risk - too paraphrase Marie Antoinette - so let them rot.

I offered a couple of quotations from Churchill and one from Custine that talked to the particular enigma that is Russian culture. Perhaps had Churchill been even more prescient he would have given his speech of 1946 instead in which he warned the American people and the greater West of Soviet expansion, saying that an “iron curtain” had descended across the European continent, “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic."

I am hardly alone in reaching the conclusion that the strategic genius residing in the Kremlin seems determined to resurrect that curtain. Unlike Stalin, who despite his murderous brutality had a strategic vision, the little man in Moscow has created a far different strategic paradigm for his country. Rather than creating a buffer zone, in just over two short years he has managed to add nearly 1500 km of mutual border with the NATO alliance. He has turned the Baltic into a NATO lake, and made Kaliningrad a strategic liability rather than an asset. He has even managed to accomplish something that Trump could not by causing Europe to again take its collective defense seriously.

During the same period he has manage to destroy a quarter of a century's worth of Russian Army modernization, caused his Navy to be perceived an incompetent laughing stock, and left questions about the actual capability of his surprisingly timid air force. About the only military skill set he seems to have retained is the capability of the army to rain high explosives indiscriminately. Oh yes, and also the ability to trot Dmitry Medvedev out periodically to threaten nuclear war.

Were this not bad enough, he has created an economic catastrophe that will haunt Russia for a generation. He has made himself beholding to the fat dictator in North Korea and the religious zealots in Iran. The latter are particularly dangerous for your people as Iran pursues its long term goals as a regional hegemon bound by a militant religion. Finally, he has gone from being a strategic partner of Xi and China to one of junior supplicant, with unknown eventual consequences for Russia's far east. He accomplished it all in just two years and three months.

And yet the Russian people "reelected" this strategic savant for yet another term.

He has also

… and it takes some doing…

Made Russia subservient to a culture with which it shares nothing in common

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Dear PHOENIX PHIL, you are, as always, absolutely right. But in this case we are talking about the events after the First World War, when Churchill first undertook, so to speak, a foreign policy action as a statesman. At that time, Lenin was prime minister in Russia, and, in my opinion, Trotsky was minister of war, and Stalin was not yet a top politician.
Russians turned out to be both good and sweet, however, when "A Fried Cock pecked in the ass" (there is such a Russian expression), even for the same Churchill.
By the way, he did not allow personal attacks against Stalin, as far as I remember.

My mistake. However, Lenin was much better? Is Russia not in the state that it is now, hardly better if not worse than it was when it switched from one dictator to another? Lenin put this into motion.

 

[mdwest]

He has turned the Baltic into a NATO lake

Some curious actions by the Russians this week regarding the Baltic (clearly they understand the mistake(s) made and that the Baltic is now a point of strategic vulnerability)...

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-ministry-proposes-revising-baltic-sea-border-2024-05-22/