Ukraine was known for corruption before the war and the idea that so much money is being pumped into the country now with NO oversight just invites EVEN MORE corruption. I don't care what your stance is on the war, you should want accountability.Ukrainian media report that the wife of former MP Kotvytskyy tried to take $28 million and 1.3 million euros out of #Ukraine via #Zakarpattya.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) March 20, 2022
The money was found by the #Hungarian border guards and forced to declare it. pic.twitter.com/ZCjDlIxdwB
Sunday, July 03, 2022
Maybe Ukrainian troops should be barking at their leadership rather than the EU/NATO
1st ID is sending tanks to Europe
I believe that the doctrine of "forward presence" & "reassuring allies" will go down as the most idiotic/self serving concept ever developed.
Too many units in too many places - exposed.
Tripwire forces work against a reasonable enemy. I fear that our potential foes either aren't reasonable or having done the calculations and believe that if they can't outright win against us they can at least bloody us badly.
It has begun! Libyans burn down Parliament over living conditions
Remember all the unrest I've predicting in the Middle East/Africa due to the sanctions?
This looks to me like it's begun.
Strap in folks. The protests by the Dutch farmers, this action in Libya, all the distractions we're seeing in the US to keep the public's attention off skyrocketing prices, the Germans buying wood stoves to stay warm this winter, stock markets all over the world in trouble....
That's just the tip of this huge iceberg.
Add to all of the above the long overdue correction that we should have seen in our markets (no way in HELL any company can post double digit earnings year after year without shenanigans) and you're gonna see a damn near complete shut down in discretionary purchases with the added friction of people being pissed off beyond belief.
The 2020's are gonna make the 60's & 70's look like quiet times in the world.
I say again. Cooler heads must prevail. We need wisdom from our leaders , not doing the same idiotic thing over and over again hoping this time it works.
They won't but I wish they would. Till we get new people in office we're screwed.
Saturday, July 02, 2022
Algerian T-62 modernized with the Berezokh Turret (w/ 2A42, Kornet and AGS)
It's quite a bit "cleaner" than it was the last time I saw it. They've improved the integration of the turret onto the vehicle. Is this a low cost Terminator? Perhaps even a bit more practical for the conditions that the Algerians deal with. I would imagine a large caliber tank gun is over kill...BUT...the protection would be essential. Seems like a good middle ground for that force.
Is Belarus about to become an active combatant in the war between Ukraine & Russia?
Wow.#BREAKING Lukashenko accuses Ukraine of firing missiles on Belarus, state media reports pic.twitter.com/74zxbHNVCX
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) July 2, 2022
Poland would luv this. They want the fight so bad they can taste it. Would Belarus joining the fight cause Poland to attack? Could they draw the rest of NATO into a fight?
That's what I hate about this "alliance".
One tiny country could end up involving the rest of the alliance in a shooting war. But on the other hand, we did it to them in Iraq/Afghanistan so I guess its our turn in the chair.
Dutch farmers are spraying manure all over govt buildings...
What a shitty situation.🚨🚨⚠️⚠️
— Keean Bexte (@TheRealKeean) July 2, 2022
The Dutch protesters are pouring manure on government offices, flooding streets, and becoming all together ungovernable. This uprising is in response to the WEF controlled government shutting down farms to "save the planet." You have to see this: https://t.co/YTyax7uagm pic.twitter.com/mXgufQfkRM
Sat Strange. Woman is raising a monster and doesn't know what to do...
Sounds like she's actually scared of a 5 year old. This is a case of a child being raised by a child. Of course this could be an undercover appeal to support abortion. We live in wicked, decietful times. Nothing is to be trusted. Not even pleas for help.What do you think about this? pic.twitter.com/qyWes28nRb
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) June 29, 2022
Germans preparing for a winter without Russian gas...
JUST IN - Fear of freezing: Wood stoves and firewood are in short supply nationwide in Germany.
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) July 1, 2022
"The market is empty," Gerd Müller, head of the office of the German Firewood Association, tells dpa.
Stand-In-Forces is the maritime equivalent of insurgency forces...AGAINST the Chinese?
via USNI
As conceived, stand-in forces are a modern, maritime version of a previous, successful COIN force: the Marine Corps’ Vietnam-era Combined Action Platoon (CAP) program.4 The similarities between SIF and CAP are striking: Both aim to restore respect and credibility of the rule of law; emphasize maintaining contact with the adversary; place U.S. forces forward to live with and around local forces and populations; empower allies and partners by complementing their capabilities to counter adversary malign behaviors; and help local forces defend the integrity of their own sovereign territory. Should matters escalate from the day-to-day status quo into higher-end conflict, both position forces to help defend that sovereign territory and facilitate the introduction of reinforcements to defeat aggression against U.S., allied, and partner interests.
-----
A force tasked to undertake maritime counterinsurgency in the South China Sea or elsewhere must be able to accomplish four essential goals to defeat the insurgency short of war or prevail against enemy conventional forces in the event of kinetic escalation. First, it must seek and support efforts that incentivize compliance with the provisions of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Second, it must deter escalation to armed conflict while responding to harassment or punishment of U.S. regional allies and partners. Third, it must empower those allies and partners to defend and exercise their own territorial sovereignty. Last, if deterrence fails and the situation escalates, it must facilitate the introduction and employment of additional forces and capabilities to help defend U.S. friends and allies against aggression. This is precisely what SIF are designed to accomplish, and the AIMD2 effectively positions SIF to succeed:
Amazing.
From my chair we're acting like the "insurgent" force with this plan against a larger, better organized military force.
This isn't Vietnam. We're playing the role of the Viet Cong against the bigger stronger force (US at that time, the Chinese during this scenario).
The fourth layer, composed of large, standoff, legacy forces outside the weapons engagement zone, provides critical depth to the defensive posture, designed to back up the three advanced layers by surging forward at opportune times and places to mitigate adversary sea-denial capabilities and, if required, bring decisive combat power on target.
So in other words, the US Marines are now recon/counter recon forces with the US Army rushing in to provide decisive combat power on target?
But this part is the thing that has me spinning.
Some may suggest that “virtual presence,” enabled by emerging technologies, is just as effective as physical presence. But with insurgents physically present to threaten, harass, intimidate, and coerce civilian compliance with Beijing’s will, allies and partners reasonably consider U.S. virtual presence to be actual absence.
It's pie in the sky to believe that many nations in the Pacific would happily allow the US to simply flow thru their countries or even sit off shore if the US/China were to partake in activities even below the threshold of war.
Who would want to get in the middle of two superpowers? We're talking about the Pacific! Ukraine this ain't!
I've done a terrible job explaining my misgivings. Go here and read the article for yourself.
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