Ukraine
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Oh dear, as if the Ukrainians haven't suffered already this year:
Is there a more insufferable bandwagoner? When I lived in Dublin, went to a U2 concert at Croke Park. The tragedy du jour was Aung San Suu Kyi and we all had to clap or something like that in support. Why doesn’t he give half his fortune (the fortune that he chooses not get taxed in Ireland) to Ukraine rather than a “look at me” singalong in Kiev. Ukrainians should make a prisoner swap with that US basketball player.
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@Billy-Tell The self-publicising, virtue-signalling arsehole jumps on every fashionable cause going. I'm old enough to remember when Bono was boasting of being pals with Putin himself. U2 can do the world a favour and make their next bandwagon cause paying all their fucking taxes.
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@Billy-Tell said in Ukraine:
Is there a more insufferable bandwagoner?
I forgot to mention Sean Penn
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@Victor-Meldrew I don't think anyone holds a candle to ol Bono. I mean no one even noticed when Angelina popped up in Ukraine last week.
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Listening to this podcast from The Economist.
Interesting section on West's stockpiles of weapons and ability to ramp up production, or not.
Interesting tidbit, that UK and France used up their supply of precision weapons within 2 days back when they intervened in Libya a decade ago.
I've read quite a bit on Russia 's likelihood of running out of precision weapons, but interesting to see relative problem also in NATO.
Edit. Oh, and to generate some replies, from the GOM demographic. I hear rumours Bono is going to sing at the Lockheed Martin factory in an attempt to improve work culture and increase production .....
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Listening to this podcast from The Economist.
Interesting section on West's stockpiles of weapons and ability to ramp up production, or not.
Interesting tidbit, that UK and France used up their supply of precision weapons within 2 days back when they intervened in Libya a decade ago.
I've read quite a bit on Russia 's likelihood of running out of precision weapons, but interesting to see relative problem also in NATO.
Edit. Oh, and to generate some replies, from the GOM demographic. I hear rumours Bono is going to sing at the Lockheed Martin factory in an attempt to improve work culture and increase production .....
I remember Thatcher having to borrow weapons from the US because they didn't have enough to wage the Falklands War
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I remember Thatcher having to borrow weapons from the US because they didn't have enough to wage the Falklands War
Interesting. I'd never heard that.
Pentagon officials spoke of extraordinary coordination between the American and British services. The United States supplied 12.5 million gallons of aviation fuel diverted from U.S. stockpiles, along with hundreds of Sidewinder missiles, airfield matting, thousands of rounds of mortar shells and other equipment, they said.
Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger played a "bold" and "daring" role, some Pentagon officials said. Both he and the U.S. Navy high command feared that Britain could be sailing into a disaster and that a military defeat at the hands of Argentina would be a severe setback to the deterrent quality of the entire North Atlantic alliance, they said.
The magazine reports that Weinberger got the approval of President Reagan for his efforts. But it suggests that those efforts were not aired before the full White House National Security Council and that former secretary of state Alexander M. Haig Jr., who was seeking to negotiate a settlement between Britain and Argentina for the first month of the crisis, also may have not been fully informed about the extent of U.S. help to the British.
From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/03/07/us-aid-to-britain-in-falklands-war-is-detailed/6e50e92e-3f4b-4768-97fb-57b5593994e6/Those sidewinders made a huge difference. Allowed the sub-sonic Harrier to outfight the supersonic jets of the Argentians.
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The possibility of a stalemate is fuelling concerns that Ukraine may remain a deadly European battlefield and a source of continental and global instability for months, or even years, to come.
US officials, starting with US President Joe Biden, seem to agree, even after Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin raised eyebrows by saying after a visit to Kyiv last month that Washington’s goal is not only to help Ukraine defend itself but to “weaken” Russia to the point where it does not pose a threat.
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@taniwharugby Biden's administration thinking this is their opportunity to overtly reprise Operation Cyclone. Meanwhile Ukrainians continue to suffer under this proxy war.
Great opportunity for Congressmen to make money though.
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I was doing some reading about the power of Skylink and how that tech is driving changes. Russia can't intercept as the signals go up! It has supported a change or evolution in artillery strikes, rather than calling in fire from a battery (or more) they can tap into a net and call fire from anything that is in range. So the Russians are getting hit (TOT styles) by a mix of weapons, coming in from different sources and trajectories. Has huge benefits for how swiftly Ukraine forces can call for and receive a fire order.
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so is Finland and NATO basically waving a red flag at Russia?
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@taniwharugby said in Ukraine:
so is Finland and NATO basically waving a red flag at Russia?
Sweden also
It's bloody interesting. Wonder if they feel like with Russia so immersed in Ukraine there will never be a better time?
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Massive own goal from Vlad the Bad. Finland have been wary of offending Russia and Sweden have been neutral since the Napoleanic Wars - when they lost Finland to Russia.
Finns have a modern, well equipped army and can mobilise hundreds of thousands trained in arctic warfare.
Meanwhile Putin's Ukraine misadventure has him cast as the big bad wolf faced with the brick house. All huff. No puff.