Politics

[CoElkHunter]

I don't quite understand the pathos on the topic of fertility - in the United States, the birth rate is slightly higher than the Russian one (typical for Europe), but not much (about 1.6 births per woman), and lower than necessary for reproduction (2.2 births per woman). And it is clear at whose expense the population growth in the United States is taking place. What are you proud of? If you were a resident of Gabon or Afghanistan, then it would be a different matter. As for military affairs and losses, well, no one has yet figured out how to avoid losses in the war. And there is progress in military affairs, it turned out that tanks no longer play the same role as before. Therefore, most of the Abrams tanks delivered to Ukraine, there were 31 of them, have already been destroyed or captured. It's the same with the Leopards, and the Challengers didn't even reach the front, but they still suffered losses. Both Bradley and the Paladins are burning in the steppes of Donbass, and the troops armed with them are slowly retreating. And they will continue to retreat.
I'm not going to argue with all the theses of Western military propaganda here, their veracity is easily verified by the actual behavior of Western governments, which are not yet rushing into battle to check the quality of the Russian army and the state of its nuclear arsenal. I'm just explaining the position of the Russian side: yes, there was a possibility of reconciliation and even some kind of unification. Yeltsin even agreed to withdraw Russian missiles from the territory of Ukraine, without demanding retaliatory steps from the West (the so-called "Budapest Memorandum"). And in return, he received the expansion of NATO to the east. Naturally, Yeltsin was compromised and had to leave, and then it was as it was. And you would have already decided whether the expansion of NATO to the east is a threat to Russia or not. If it is not, then why should we be upset about Finland joining NATO?
I repeat: a peace agreement will not be concluded until the issue of Ukraine's non-aligned non-nuclear status is resolved (this is, by the way, a quote from the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine). Or it will be - but only in the event of a military defeat of Russia.
And the suspicion that Putin and Trump have some kind of alliance is speculation. And the fact that our soldiers rode on a captured M113 with Russian and American flags is just such a front–line humor, in order to tease opponents. Perhaps Trump is thinking about who really benefits from this war, and who pays for this banquet - but no more.

Well, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel rode in and addressed his troops in a captured US M2 half track after the disastrous Kasserine Pass battle of WW2. Maybe he thought it was humorous at the time until he got his ass handed to him at El Guitar via US General Patton. IMHO, there is no logical reason that Russia and EU/US/ NATO should be at this point involving Ukraine. This situation is only due to Putin’s mentally ill fantasy of restoring the USSR which will NEVER happen. He’s destroying what was once a fairly vibrant Russian economy in pursuit of his own unattainable fantasy world. Very sad and tragic for the hundreds of thousands of brave military troops, civilians and their families on both sides that have lost their lives.

 

[Tanks]

Ukraine has never had nuclear weapons. There were Russian weapons on the territory of Ukraine, and Yeltsin agreed to withdraw them.

You ignored the comment about the Budapest Memorandum signed by Russia. Why would Ukraine or any other country would take Russia on its word?

 

[skydiver386]

I know of no developed targeting system that could lock onto the wire while the drone was in flight in a timely fashion. Unlike the TOW, these things are hair thin.

That's why they are so vulnerable. They aren't much more in strength than mono fishing line, and easily cut with any sharp edge, especially one traveling at a few hundred fps.

It's also not necessary to "lock on" to the fiber optic cable, but simply aim in the path the drone has already passed, and you cut the cable. From the launch point to the drone itself, anywhere along that length the line can be cut and have the same effect.

Giving an individual soldier a weapon that can hit a drone at anything beyond 100 meters is going to be tough, and even the most basic guidance system will make it expensive What I'm talking about is fast, cheap and easy to do in any garage with a few hand tools

Use an RPG-2 launcher and rocket, remove the tail fins and replace with sharpened fins about 2.5ft long, remove the heavy shape charge from the nose and install a straight nose and you have exactly what I'm picturing.

Ukraine is removing the shape charges from old stockpiles of RPG rockets to use as warheads on FPV drones already, so they have piles of RPG launchers and rockets with no other purpose. Fast, cheap and easy.

Without the heavy shaped charge warhead, the velocity would probably go from 980fps to nearly 2,000fps.

What you end up with is a rocket and launcher Ukraine already has and it's soldiers are already trained on, with a 5ft cutting diameter travelling 2,000fps. Pvt Snuffy is instructed to aim just ahead of the drone. With that cutting width, we have a good chance of hitting the drone, or the fiber optic cable trailing behind it

Some of my sources claim the Russians use medium sized drones with several miles of fiber optic cable trailing behind them. That's several miles of potential opportunities to snip that cable.

I really think a directed energy weapon of some variety - laser and or microwave will be the eventual solution for tactical maneuver formations.

For us, this is a real possibility, but it doesn't help the UA right now. What they need is fast, cheap and in large quantities.

 

[Jeff505]

It really can get quite complicated. If the evidence showed say that the homeowner continued to beat the guy with a crowbar after he was unconscious I think charges make sense. Other than that, I would expect these charges to go nowhere over time.

But when the charges get withdrawn, that never makes the news.

Something to consider, with the death of each violent criminal the world becomes a better place. There should be only one story to tell, that of the victorious home owner. Your country is messed up.

 

[KJE81]

I know of no developed targeting system that could lock onto the wire while the drone was in flight in a timely fashion. Unlike the TOW, these things are hair thin.

Shotguns are being tried, but have been found to be of limited utility based upon the reduction of infantry equipped with assault rifles when one is forced to replace them with shotguns in a platoon or company to get any sort of coverage. And no, an infantryman can't be expected to carry both.

The German system seems to be one potential kinetic solution though low angle high velocity automatic 30mm fire within my perimeter would not be something I personally would care to experience. Because of such range fan concerns, I think such a system will have the most utility in base, assembly area, or perhaps convoy defense. Low angle fire deconfliction is one reason the Army hasn't jumped on the Vulcan ADA system (20mm gatling) with an updated radar as a solution.

I really think a directed energy weapon of some variety - laser and or microwave will be the eventual solution for tactical maneuver formations.

SAAB seams to have some anti drone weaponry aswell, I dont know if we have allready given them to Ukraine or if they remain not combat proven.

Counter-UAS solutions

Saab's modular family of counter unmanned aerial systems (UAS) solutions are proven and available.

www.saab.com

 

[skydiver386]

Good luck with that position and analysis.

With respect to your nation's current conundrum, if I accept everything you imply about NATO supplied weaponry, you are simply making my point. To repeat, Ukraine, not NATO and not the US, has destroyed the work of a generation of Russians attempting to modernize their conventional forces. That army simply no longer exists. Those trained officers are gone. The Russian air force has proven itself impotent. The Russian navy in the Black Sea was defeated by a nation without a navy. The remnants of that fleet now cower in port. Those are, however uncomfortable, facts.

How do you truly believe the Russian Army currently maneuvering in their Lauda automobiles, motorbikes, and afoot would fare in Ukraine against a NATO mechanized corps supported by a fifth generation fighter force and stealth bombers and waves of overwhelmingly accurate munitions?

I hasten to add this has nothing to do with the bravery and fortitude of the individual Russian soldier or his tactical leadership. I was a career soldier, and I have nothing but admiration for the burdens they bear under inconceivably incompetent strategic direction. My finger is pointed solely at the national leadership who took your country, its treasure, and its blood into a quagmire of its own creation. It is a leadership whose only answer to this crisis is to try to kill and destroy its way out. How much longer will the Russian people, and perhaps more importantly, its armed forces tolerate such waste?

I am sick to tears of the bullying of an angry paranoid child-state demanding things it can not on its own achieve. I only pray that my president is finally awakening to the true nature of Russia and its leader.

So rattle your nukes and demand non-alignment for Ukraine just as the Soviet Union and then Russia demanded it of Sweden and particularly Finland - both of which now make a mockery of your demands about Ukraine. Hopefully we will have the wisdom to supply Ukraine with the material they require to inflict another million casualties as you attempt to gain another 1% of Ukrainian territory. Perhaps then enough true patriots will arise in your country to fundamentally change its course.

I think you are an intelligent and informed enough person to know NATO represents no overt threat to Russia however many states join the alliance. Putin knows this. What he actually fears is a successful European oriented democratic state on his border that can be immediately compared to the destitution and hopelessness which characterizes the fast majority of the Russian Empire outside the old dutchy of Moscow. Is that a strategic position about which a citizen should be proud?

Eventually, I pray enough of your countrymen will awaken to the disaster precipitated upon it by the mafia-like dons currently in power in Moscow. The West would welcome a non-belligerent and non-paranoid member state to the developed world.

As I've heard so often from my Jewish friends:
"From your mouth to Gods ears."

 

[RLD]

Something to consider, with the death of each violent criminal the world becomes a better place. There should be only one story to tell, that of the victorious home owner. Your country is messed up.

You may suggest we are messed up, but we really don't have that many violent criminals compared to many other countries, particularly our neighbours to the south.

In that regard we are doing something quite well.

Something to consider.

 

[Red Leg]

You may suggest we are messed up, but we really don't have that many violent criminals compared to many other countries, particularly our neighbours to the south.

In that regard we are doing something quite well.

Something to consider.

Both Europeans and Canadians tend to make assumptions of that sort. The Fraser Institute, which is a Canadian public policy think tank published a study in 2024 "Comparing Recent Crime Trends in Canada and the United States." The study was very thorough in providing detailed comparisons of violent and property crime rates from 2014 to 2022 (At the time of the study, 2022 was the last year with complete results for both countries). The study was very careful to account for differences in crime definitions which vary between countries and even provinces and states.

While the murder rate in the US is indeed somewhat higher, the study concluded Canada's overall violent crime rate was 434.1 per 100,000 in population while the US was 380.7 per 100,000. Neither the study nor those numbers get a lot of attention because they do not fit the typical narrative about crime in the US.

Something to consider.

 

[Altitude sickness]

But the study did find Canadians criminals are more polite.

 

[RLD]

Both Europeans and Canadians tend to make assumptions of that sort. The Fraser Institute, which is a Canadian public policy think tank published a study in 2024 "Comparing Recent Crime Trends in Canada and the United States." The study was very thorough in providing detailed comparisons of violent and property crime rates from 2014 to 2022 (At the time of the study, 2022 was the last year with complete results for both countries). The study was very careful to account for differences in crime definitions which vary between countries and even provinces and states.

While the murder rate in the US is indeed somewhat higher, the study concluded Canada's overall violent crime rate was 434.1 per 100,000 in population while the US was 380.7 per 100,000. Neither the study nor those numbers get a lot of attention because they do not fit the typical narrative about crime in the US.

Something to consider.

Very familiar with both the Institute and the study.

We do have a property crime issue in Canada atm, but that is not violent crime.

They have also updated their data recently and here, specifically, is what the author of that study says:

"First, while violent crime rates were higher in the U.S. than in Canada, property crime rates were more similar. Second, while the highest violent crime rates were in U.S. urban areas, some of the highest property crime rates were in Canadian areas. Many U.S. urban areas are as safe—if not safer—than Canadian areas when it comes to both violent and property crime rates. And urban areas in Quebec often ranked at the bottom of crime rankings, demonstrating once again Quebec’s distinctiveness within the Canadian federation"

And the types of violent crime between the two countries is very different. The author had to play significant games with the numbers on violent crime to get them even close. For instance he left out rape entirely because the definition of sexual assault in Canada is different than the U.S definition(s) of rape. He also left out simple assault, because what we charge as assault in Canada, he claims is not a crime in the United States. Many studies show that the rape rate in the United States is 16X higher than that in Canada. Pretty convenient not to call that violent crime.

You are still significantly more likely to get shot, murdered or raped in the United States than Canada.

It's not narrative, it's fact.

 

[RLD]

Also to consider on the issue of crime rates in the United States, a statement by your current Vice President and apparently backed by the White House that:

“crime statistics all over our country were massively underreported.”

I believe he said that just yesterday.

 

[Red Leg]

434.1 per 100k / 380.7 per 100k

 

[LivingTheDream]

434.1 per 100k 380.7 per 100k

In his defense they also apparently, by his own admission, charge self defense as a violent crime.

 

[RLD]

434.1 per 100k / 380.7 per 100k

Yup. If you leave out rape, assault and many other crimes.

Are you suggesting that rape is not a violent crime?

Are you also suggesting that the VP and the current administration are wrong when they same crime has been massively underreported?

 

[Tanks]

There are lies, damn lies and then statistics.

 

[mdwest]

There are lies, damn lies and then statistics.

that was literally the first phrase uttered by my undergraduate statistics professor on the first day of class lol..

he spent the entire semester proving to us how you can manipulate statistics in manners that most people wont ever see or realize, to give you any solution set or data point that you desire...

I actually learned a lot in that class.. the first thing was... never trust a statistician lol...

 

[Newboomer]

that was literally the first phrase uttered by my undergraduate statistics professor on the first day of class lol..

he spent the entire semester proving to us how you can manipulate statistics in manners that most people wont ever see or realize, to give you any solution set or data point that you desire...

I actually learned a lot in that class.. the first thing was... never trust a statistician lol...

"Statistics" will just say what the author wants them to. The truth is something else.

 

[Scott CWO]

Yup. If you leave out rape, assault and many other crimes.

Are you suggesting that rape is not a violent crime?

Are you also suggesting that the VP and the current administration are wrong when they same crime has been massively underreported?

From my experience, Canada and the USA are fairly similar in rural areas. The cities are run by liberals and that’s where most of the problems are located. Once the USA gets rid of more illegal gang members and other desperate immigrants looking to survive by taking advantage of unsuspecting people, USA crime rates might drop.

 

[RLD]

From my experience, Canada and the USA are fairly similar in rural areas. The cities are run by liberals and that’s where most of the problems are located. Once the USA gets rid of more illegal gang members and other desperate immigrants looking to survive by taking advantage of unsuspecting people, USA crime rates might drop.

Canada actually has similar gang/drug related problems in some places involving illegal immigrant communities. The only difference in that regard is point of origin of those criminals.

In any event, I hope that governments in both countries can produce positive changes in the ongoing crime problems. I guess the big question is how to do that.

 

[Tanks]

Once the USA gets rid of more illegal gang members and other desperate immigrants looking to survive by taking advantage of unsuspecting people, USA crime rates might drop.

Majority of crime is not by illegals but inner-city youths gangs etc.. Do you think a lot of illegals are involved in murders at Chicago etc.?