War in Ukraine

Sure.

....didn't sound like a David Attenborough nature doc'y at all....

...politicians aren't parasites...

...it isn't taxpayer money they depend on and...spend....

...the Biden syndicate isn't corrupt...

....and only suckers--er, "a true idiot"--would believe anything to the contrary...

LMAO!!!

#ironymuch?

 

China helping Russia win the drone war by cutting supplies to Ukraine while increasing supplies to Russia. Seems like the western world needs to go after China for this.

How China Cut Off One of Ukraine's Most Important Weapons (msn.com)

Back in July, meanwhile, a Nikkei Asia report said China had been assisting Russia with the supply of drones, chips and other critical war-fighting components.
China's export controls were creating hurdles for Ukraine, which received $200,000 worth of drones from Chinese companies between January and June this year, according The Times. Russia received $14.5 million in direct drone sales from Chinese companies during the same period, the report said.

Several Ukrainian drone companies and pilots told the newspaper that Chinese companies had stopped supplying parts. Ukrainians were looking for alternative sources, they said. "We have to reinvent more and more complicated supply chains," Maria Berlinska, head of the Victory Drones project in Ukraine, told The Times.

While restricting drone equipment to Ukraine, China has supplied components used in Russia's unnamed aerial vehicle fleets since the beginning of the war, accounting for up to 67 percent of the parts the Kremlin's armed forces have sourced, according to a research report by the Kyiv School of Economics.

When it came to critical components, Chinese companies were the origin of 85-90 percent of parts delivered to Russia, the report said.

 

Maybe China needs a time out from selling drones in the US.

 

This is what I don't get. Why China is pushing their number 1 customer so much.

If we stop trading with them it is going to hurt them a lot.

 

Another story in the gullible Russian theme.

Ukraine was having mechanical difficulty with a T-72 tank, so they called a helpline . . . in Russia. He got all the help he needed, and then he told them to make better tanks and let them in on the secret.

A Ukrainian soldier called up Russian tech support when his captured Russian tank wouldn't start: report

Still, it's not quite as gullible as the elderly folks that Ukraine pranked into setting fire to Russian army recruiting centers.

 

Australia is providing Ukraine with a new drone killer gun that should prove useful in the war. It's a 30mm cannon mounted on a truck that can knock out drones within a half mile. It will be much cheaper to take out a drone than using a missile (less than $1,000 to take out a $20k drone vs. $500k or more for a missile).

An Australian 'drone killer' air defense system could make it much cheaper for Ukraine to shoot Russian drones out of the sky

 

^ I wonder if the drone killer gun could be mounted on an armored vehicle. That way, it could be kept closer to the front with less danger of being destroyed.

 

Ukraine hits Russian missile plant in Smolensk with three drones. The plant is used to make Kh-59 missiles that are used against military and civilian targets.

Ukrainian drones attack Russian aircraft plant producing Kh-59s

 

these gepard guns have been working well

The German-made anti-aircraft gun taking down Russian drones (forces.net)

Ukraine has been using the German-made Gepard anti-aircraft gun to shoot down Russia's Shahed-136 drones.

The Iranian-made Shahed loitering munitions have been implemented by Russia to strike Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

Airpower and military technology expert Justin Bronk, from the London-based defence and security think tank RUSI, told Forces News that the Gepard "is very effective against them... because it has air-bursting" 35mm ammunition.

 

makes me feel guilty for buying a dji recently. i will say that the minipro3 is an amazing little piece of equipment that delivered high resolution video and I was flying it in 30 + mph winds at times and the gimble stabilization gave butter smooth videos. double click to play the video. all under 249 grams so no license required

Quariang 2 by bluewaterfever, on Flickr

 

We don’t need to cut off trade with China and totally wreck our economy, just to hurt Russia. We could hurt Russia by flooding the oil markets and keep our profitable trade with China in tact. So long as we’re not being ripped off by the Chinese, a robust trade partnership with the Chinese serves as a decent war deterrent for both sides, without a single shot being fired. Imagine that.

 

We agree on a couple of things there. This Administration should absolutely shelf values for interest and maximize hydrocarbon production (along with food and munitions) for the duration of this war. The fuel is still going to get made and consumed, so we’re just helping Russia without impacting the environment one way or the other.

As to cutting off trade with China, I tend to agree that we shouldn’t. But it would be prudent to keep maneuvering into a position where we can with minimal pain. An increasing number of people with insight are forecasting war in the next couple of years, not because we want it, but because China insists.

I had an instructor the other day who — half jokingly — pointed out the significance of China pulling all of their pandas out of the United States. He said it was one step short of ordering the embassy to break its code machine and burn all correspondence.

Panda Diplomacy: The departure of DC’s beloved pandas may signal a wider Chinese pullback

 

Here’s where I disagree. It was established without a doubt during Covid that we were far too over-reliant on China and other countries to supply us with our daily consumables (other than food). We absolutely must, as a matter of national security, figure out a sustainable way to rod our reliance on offshore manufacturing and move manufacturing back to our shores.

I generally have no problem with trading US goods to China, but I have a huge issue with buying Chinese manufactured goods, when those goods MUST be made here.

 

We don’t disagree at all. That is a crucial part of the decoupling I would recommend.

 

Damn that scene from Tora Tora Tora is exactly what I thought of when I read about the Pandas

 

Things that are Nazis …

Trump, Putin and Russians, Matt Gaetz, Ron DeSantis, your mom …

Things that aren’t Nazis …

Waffen-SS

 

Many thanks for getting the reference.

 

The land gained by either side is fairly irrelevant at this point. Russia was given a major advantage by both the spring weather and the slow delivery of western weapons--they used that time before Ukraine could begin the counter-offensive to build massive defenses across their entire front. There were more mines in the battlefield than have ever been used in a single defensive network in the history of war. The relevant question is: how close is Ukraine to breaking through those defenses? And the answer is that they already have broken through the Russian defenses in at least one area, and they are making good progress in other areas. Once Ukraine has broken through and established a strong foothold or two behind Russia's front lines, then you can start asking about how much land each side has gained.

 

Major victory for Ukraine. It appears that the Russian navy is pulling out of Crimea and returning to a base in Russia on the eastern coastline of the Black Sea. No more launching missiles against Odessa from ships in Sevastopol, and no more shipping in military supplies and equipment through Sevastopol.

Not enough Bears: Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is pulling out of Crimea

 

A good article that talks about why Russia invaded Ukraine (hint: it wasn't about Ukraine joining NATO).

Opinion: Weakness is lethal. Why Putin invaded Ukraine and how the war must end