I'm going to go off on a tangent because the Abrams tank was mentioned. I don't want to get into specifics, but I used to work at GDLS in Detroit. I was only there 6 months because Future Combat Systems was cancelled and there were many layoffs.
Anyway, one day, some Iraqi Generals came to visit and to inspect some tanks because they were thinking of buying them. I don't think we ever sold them any, but that's another story. I had a coworker who was an Iraq vet and when he saw Iraqis standing atop an Abrams, he became furious. It took a couple of us to talk him out of going over and screaming about the insanity it would be to give the Iraqis the Abrams tank. I remember he said something like "If we give them our tanks, we will only have to fight our tanks in the future."
I agreed with him. The Abrams is very special and there are some aspects of it that are TS and should never be shared with foreigners.

quote:

Ironically, shortages last winter compelled the German government to increase coal fired power plant operations, yet they are still shutting down clean energy nuclear plants to make way for so-called renewables. If climate change initiatives don't seem to be making much sense these days, its because there is no logic behind them other than to create incremental chaos.

So... they will be burning wood in fireplaces and wood stoves to stay warm. And, of course, more coal-fired electricity.

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
This will lead to more German industry being forced to shut down.


Germany Closes Its Last Nuclear Power Plants - Electricity Bills To Spike Up To 45%

https://www.zerohedge.com/ener...icity-bills-spike-45

Germany (and the rest of the EU) are doing everything in their power to get into a shooting war which I think is planned. The will of the people is being ignored and those in power are pushing so that the people will have no other option but to go to war. They're blaming Russia for the energy price increase which the low IQ public will gobble up, but make no mistake, the German leadership is in full control of how this plays out. People need to pick up a history book to refresh their memories about how the world got to the point of a Second World War. Economic collapse, hyperinflation, and political resentment all led to what happened and we are seeing it play out again around the globe (especially here in the US and Europe).

Please don't mistake what I am saying to mean that all of this is Russia's fault. I believe they just played into the hands of a much bigger conspiracy cooked up by elitists that will never be held accountable for their meddling.

Meanwhile, the pragmatic Finns opened their newest nuclear plant this past weekend...

https://apnews.com/article/fin...e655a2a680e1b1130917

quote:

Europe’s most powerful nuclear reactor kicks off in Finland

Finland’s much-delayed and costly new nuclear reactor, Europe’s most powerful by production capacity, has completed a test phase lasting more than a year and started regular output, boosting the Nordic country’s electricity self-sufficiency significantly.

The Olkiluoto 3 reactor, which has 1,600-megawatt capacity, was connected into the Finnish national power grid in March 2022 and kicked off regular production on Sunday. Operator Teollisuuden Voima, or TVO, tweeted that “Olkiluoto 3 is now ready” after a delay of 14 years from the original plan.

It will help Finland to achieve its carbon neutrality targets and increase energy security at a time when European countries have cut oil, gas and other power supplies from Russia, Finland’s neighbor.

“The production of Olkiluoto 3 stabilizes the price of electricity and plays an important role in the Finnish green transition,” TVO President and CEO Jarmo Tanhua said in a statement. The company added that “the electricity production volume of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant unit is a significant addition to clean, domestic production.”

Construction of Olkiluoto 3 began in 2005 and was due to be completed four years later. However, the project was plagued by several technological problems that led to lawsuits. The last time a new nuclear reactor was commissioned in Finland was more than four decades ago.

The Olkiluoto 3 is Western Europe’s first new reactor in more than 15 years. It is the first new-generation EPR, or European Pressurized Reactor, plant to have gone online in Europe. It was developed in a joint venture between France’s Areva and Germany’s Siemens.

Primarily because of safety concerns, nuclear power remains a controversial issue in Europe. The launch of the Finnish reactor coincides with Germany’s move to shut down its last remaining three nuclear plants on Saturday.

Experts have put Olkiluoto 3’s final price tag at around 11 billion euros ($12 billion) — almost three times what was initially estimated. Finland now has five nuclear reactors in two power plants located on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Combined, they cover more than 40% of the nation’s electricity demand.

The conservative National Coalition Party, or NCP, which won Finland’s April 2 general election, wants to increase the share of energy that the country of 5.5 million gets from nuclear power still further.

NCP leader Petteri Orpo, Finland’s likely new prime minister, said during the election campaign that the new Cabinet should make nuclear power “the cornerstone of the government’s energy policy.”

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Originally posted by xd45man:
The Abrams is very special and there are some aspects of it that are TS and should never be shared with foreigners.

The export models of the Abrams tank have the best classified stuff removed (like the depleted uranium armor) and the capabilities downgraded. That applies not just to those sold to loosely connected countries like Ukraine and Egypt, but even those provided to our close allies like Taiwan and Australia.

We alone field the best versions of the Abrams with its full capabilities.


Also, Iraq did buy several hundred Abrams tanks from the late 2000s through early 2010s, equipping four armored battalions with Abrams. But your buddy's prediction did come true, partly. As many as 40 of the Iraqi Abrams were captured by ISIS during their resurgence in the mid-2010s and used against the Iraqis, with a few of them going on to be captured by Iran-backed militias who turned them against the Kurds.

https://jalopnik.com/americas-...desert-in-1823602893

But again, those are downgraded export versions.

Ukraine Official Demands Endless Streams Of Western Military Aid

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...western-military-aid

Several days after Republican lawmakers penned a letter to President Biden demanding that endless military aid to Ukraine be halted, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Melnik tweeted that Western nations need to do more.

"We are thankful to our allies for their military help. But: it is not enough," Melnik tweeted Saturday.

He said, "Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year." The official called on Western partners "to cross all artificial red lines & devote 1% of GDP for



Melnik's further demands come as the Biden administration approved a new weapons package Wednesday worth $325 million. So far, the US has supplied at least 36 weapons packages since the conflict began in February 2022, costing US taxpayers $35 billion.

Last week, Republican Senators and Representatives told the Biden administration in a letter that aid to Ukraine must be halted, warning that sending endless amounts of weapons without a clear strategy "will only prolong the conflict."

"We write to express concern regarding the US response to Ukraine. Over a year ago, Russia launched an invasion that has upended decades of peace in Europe. We are deeply concerned that the trajectory of US aid to the Ukrainian war effort threatens further escalation and lacks much-needed strategic clarity," the letter signed by 19 lawmakers reads.

They further argue that "unlimited arms supplies in support of an endless war" is not a viable solution adding, "Our national interests, and those of the Ukrainian people, are best served by incentivizing the negotiations that are urgently needed to bring this conflict to a resolution."

Meanwhile, leaked US intelligence documents have exposed Western disinformation about Ukraine winning the war.

"But it is not enough."

Apparently, there is no such thing as "enough" for you sons o' bitches.

"Thus we call upon our partners to cross all artificial red lines & devote 1% of GDP for weapons deliveries."

Uh, yeah, for the United States, that would be about 233 billion dollars.

Fuck

You

Enough is enough. I don't care if you lose. Hear me? I do not care if the Ukraine loses this conflict. Go the fuck away and stop draining the blood of the United States, you corrupt fucking vampires.

Melnyk was a Grenell-level clown when he was ambassador to Germany, and hasn't improved since he finally overstepped by denying the involvement of controversial Ukrainian WW II nationalist leader Stepan Bandera with the mass murder of Jews and Poles in an interview and was hastily promoted away to become deputy foreign minister last October; back this January he demanded German submarines for Ukraine to fight the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

He has his fans, and people cut him a lot of slack even when he insulted German politicians left and right for being too slow with military aid; he was representing a country in an existential fight, after all. Yet most breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone, because his antics were actually making it harder even for supporters of Ukraine to argue to the public for more help. Notably, the quality of German supplies has in fact increased since then.

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Originally posted by BansheeOne:
Yet most breathed a sigh of relief when he was gone, because his antics were actually making it harder even for supporters of Ukraine to argue to the public for more help.

This is not a matter of the wrong guy begging for more. No one, no matter what their position or standing in the Ukraine, should be asking for one single penny more, one single bullet or gallon of fuel more. Nothing is what they should be asking for and nothing is what they should get. They're going to lose and dumping more money down this bottomless pit will only delay the inevitable, and it is inevitable.

Do you know who would end up with any further funding, or tanks or planes or rifles any nation might send to the Ukraine? The Russians, that's who.

Enough is enough. I am beyond caring about these people and I don't care what anyone thinks about that.

quote:

Originally posted by wcb6092:
He said, "Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year." The official called on Western partners "to cross all artificial red lines & devote 1% of GDP for Ukraine weapons deliveries."

No. Fuck yourself.

How many pages ago did I say it? I'm not going to look it up. For months now, I haven't cared whether Russia wins this thing and now I wish for nothing more than Ukraine to not get enough aid to continue through the summer. I thought they were absolutely obliterating one of the world's superpowers?

Just a feeling, but I think we'll see a big Russian offensive before the year is out that ends this thing. They'll take half the country, leave a little bulwark between themselves and Poland (NATO) and Zelensky will continue to be the hero leader-in-exile who fought valiantly, but just didn't get enough support from the free world.

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Originally posted by BansheeOne:
Notably, the quality of German supplies has in fact increased since then.

From the looks of things on social media, Germany has given away it's stockpile of Free State of Brunswick flags.

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"Ukraine needs 10 times more to finish Russian aggression this year."

Yeah...Fuck Off!

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Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Just a feeling, but I think we'll see a big Russian offensive before the year is out that ends this thing. They'll take half the country, leave a little bulwark between themselves and Poland (NATO) and Zelensky will continue to be the hero leader-in-exile who fought valiantly, but just didn't get enough support from the free world.

The much-expected Russian winter/spring offensive which aimed to take all the territory of the two Eastern Ukrainian districts they annexed last year until 1 April just fizzled. They still haven't taken all of the city of Bakhmut which has been claimed to fall any day now for three months. They have committed 97 percent of their available combat units to Ukraine, of which 20 percent are reported combat ineffective.

They can draft more people, reach deeper into their depots to activate tanks from the 50s rather than those from the 60s they have already deployed to replace the estimated 2,000 they lost, but would have to train those troops up before they could use them, and need to watch out that popular support for the war doesn't crumble. If Ukraine is in bad shape, so is Russia, despite the overall difference in size. The next move is Ukraine's, anyway.

PM Orbán of Hungary Says US Cannot Push Hungary Into War, Rest Of Europe Be Wise To Follow His Policy

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...se-follow-his-policy

The relentless criticism by the Biden administration towards the incumbent Hungarian government is entirely disproportionate and unjustified, and does little to separate the current U.S. regime from the malign superpowers it seeks to distance itself from. Hungary’s leader recognizes this and is putting his own country’s interests ahead of those of the United States, a stance that Europe would be wise to follow.

Despite pressure from the U.S., Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said his country cannot be pushed into joining the war on the side of Ukraine.

“The United States has not given up its plan to squeeze everyone, including Hungary, into a war alliance, to go with the crowd,” Orbán told a press conference last week.

“But I have made it clear several times, and Hungarian diplomacy has also expressed this, that the will of the Hungarian people is clear, and our knowledge of history is quite solid, so we will not allow this.

“We will not allow them to squeeze us into a war. We will not send any weapons, and we will not be involved in a conflict that is not our war,” the Hungarian premier added.



Orbán made the remarks amid growing tension with the U.S. Recent disparaging remarks by David Pressman, Biden’s top diplomat in Budapest, have been dismissive of a country which, whilst remaining on many issues a conforming ally to the United States, has had the audacity to form its own view on matters unfolding on its doorstep, and opted not to become entirely subservient to U.S. interests when the two countries have vastly different worldviews and face inherently different geopolitical threats

“We have concerns about the continued eagerness of Hungarian leaders to expand and deepen ties with the Russian Federation, despite Russia’s ongoing brutal aggression against Ukraine and threat to transatlantic security,” Pressman told a news conference in Budapest last week after criticizing the Hungarian government for retaining its stake in Russia’s International Investment Bank (IBB) upon which the U.S. government imposed sanctions last week.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán berated the shortsightedness of the U.S. decision on state radio, explaining that the Russian-controlled financial institution based in Budapest “could have played a serious role in developing Central European economies,” and expressed concern that the United States simply doesn’t understand the geopolitical climate and should stop acting like it does.

The Hungarian government withdrew its membership of the IBB the day after the sanctions were imposed, with Orbán stating the U.S. action had rendered the bank’s operations impossible.

“It can’t serve its function,” Orbán said. “We decided that under these circumstances, Hungary’s participation in the bank’s further work has become pointless.”

It’s not the first time the Hungarian government has been frustrated by decisions made in far-away Washington without an understanding of the nuanced consequences for the region.



U.S. government officials have regularly criticized the Hungarian administration for not following suit with the U.S. approach to the conflict in Ukraine, criticism which the Hungarian premier considers to be misguided.

“When I hear about nuclear weapons, or that a Western European country is taking depleted uranium weapons to Ukraine, I think of Chernobyl,” Orbán said while referring to Britain’s decision to send depleted uranium tank ammunition to Ukrainian forces.

“An American would never think of this, but we know that if something happens in Ukraine it’s best if people don’t go out into the streets, so we know what happened then.

“Or if in America they hear that someone died on the Ukrainian-Russian front, they obviously sympathize because it’s a loss, but it is not the same feeling as ours, because I immediately think that the person who died could be a Hungarian person from Transcarpathia.

“Everything that happens there becomes a part of our lives that very day.

“The dimension of the Americans is quite different, so I say that we rightly expect the United States to take note of Hungary’s special situation, its proximity to Ukraine, and to understand that we are therefore on the side of peace and want to stay there.”

Given the continued animosity from the U.S. towards the Orbán administration, it could be assumed that Hungary was an active belligerent nation in the conflict, and yet Budapest has complied with every anti-Russian sanction approved by the European Union, despite voicing its opposition to these actions.

“We have never agreed with sanctions, but we do not dispute anyone’s right, including the United States to impose sanctions if they see fit. We acknowledge these sanctions and roll with them,” Orbán said recently.

Hungary has welcomed tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees and provided humanitarian aid to Kyiv and the affected areas, and it has denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine from day one.

As is its right, Budapest has maintained its neutrality with regard to military intervention and assistance, and has refused to change its stance despite U.S. protestations.

Orbán added that his administration is mature enough to retain the longstanding Hungarian-U.S. alliance despite a difference in approach to the conflict in Ukraine.

“The American-Hungarian friendship must endure this difference of opinion,” he stated last week.

Whether Joe Biden and his politically-appointed diplomat in Budapest is willing to accept a difference of opinion and move on remains to be seen.

However, if the recent anti-Russian poster campaigns dotted across Hungary with the support of the U.S. embassy are anything to go by, it is difficult to see a reconciliation in the immediate future between the two countries, at least not while Joe Biden’s Democrats remain in the White House.

quote:

Originally posted by BansheeOne:
If Ukraine is in bad shape, so is Russia, despite the overall difference in size.

Yeah, museum tanks and more drafts and all that. I keep seeing that stuff mentioned in the same breath as "they're almost finished." It could be as simple as they're using up their old inventory and throwing low-level conscripts at this thing to watch and learn for a bit. Tell me that's unimaginable. Shit, that's exactly what we're doing.

As for your percentages, I'd ask you to cite them, but honestly? I think it's all such suspect propaganda at this point that I believe you believe the claim to be valid, but I think it's probably complete nonsense.

quote:

PM Orbán of Hungary Says US Cannot Push Hungary Into War, Rest Of Europe Be Wise To Follow His Policy

Orban's been trying to play both sides off against the middle since this started. He may actually fear Putin, but he's also got Poland-style beefs with the EU over emigration from Syria and North Africa as well as Hungary's use of nuclear power. He clearly wants some kind of reciprocity from France and Germany for his efforts, and France and Germany have clearly spent the last 10-20 years trying to get the rest of Europe to simply shut up and do as France and Germany say.

IOW, he's gotta do a lot of fast talkin', not careful analysis.

It may also be working, in that the US, the UK Canada, Japan and France are forming a 'nuclear fuel (producing) alliance'. Orban wound up cutting a deal with Russia for nuclear reactors because he either couldn't get them or couldn't get an affordable deal on them from Western Europe. This alliance would, among other things, produce the fuel Orban would need for the reactor(s?) from Russia and that is currently only available from Russia.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/...d-france/ar-AA19Y7X7

As for Putin's holding the good stuff in reserve and launching a major counteroffensive soon, well, I think we're all waiting for him to show us the (more modern) weapons and the troop reserves.

Then again, if he had all of these goodies and could cut through the Ukrainians like a hot knife through butter, then why hasn't he done that already? It's not like dragging out this fight is doing anything good for Russia.

Il Cattivo

quote:

Then again, if he had all of these goodies and could cut through the Ukrainians like a hot knife through butter, then why hasn't he done that already? It's not like dragging out this fight is doing anything good for Russia.

Or Russia is beefing up it's defensive lines and creating cauldrons such as Bakhmut, the Ukrainians are pouring reinforcements in that are getting destroyed. It is now a war of attrition and Ukraine will lose that war a lot faster than the Russians will.

Russia is also seeing the West deplete it's treasure and weapons. The longer the Russians keep up this strategy, the weaker Ukraine and the West become.

Meanwhile, all the sanctions have done very little to deter Russia, but have had a very big impact on the European economy

Russia may very well hope that the war drags on, as long Ukraine keeps throwing it's dwindling forces and equipment at it's fortified positions.

^^ It's funny that you say the Russians claim to be using Bakhmut to suck Ukrainians into getting killed in mass quantities. That's exactly what the Ukrainians say they are doing to the Russians by fighting in Bakhmut. Oh, well. Russia will theoretically carry out a counterattack soon (see above), and Ukraine keeps saying it'll carry out a counterattack soon. I guess we'll see who took a relatively bigger hit once the ground dries out in more of the country and one or the other counterattacks actually happens.

As for Russia depleting the West's treasure and weapons, that was the point of my response to P220 Smudge - there seems to be an awful lot of Russian equipment losses that Russia doesn't seem to be replacing very quickly, if at all. In the meantime, Russia doesn't seem to be able to attack, or even move, anywhere in Ukraine besides Bakhmut and Akhiivka (if I spelled that right) where they gain and lose ground all the time but haven't managed to complete the job since July of last year. That sure makes it look like all the Russians are doing there is losing people and equipment.

Given enough time, the Russians will replace those losses. But if they aren't able to do so soon, and aren't able to launch a massive counterattack (or two) soon, then it makes sense to back the Ukrainians in kicking them all the way out of Ukraine, including Crimea, along with inflicting all the losses in Russian soldiers and equipment that would go with chasing the Russians out. Otherwise Russia will be free to take a couple or three years to make up for its losses and use whatever foothold they have left in the country to launch yet another invasion. That is, after all, precisely what they did in Chechnya.

By the way, there don't seem to be too many Europeans complaining about the Russia sanctions' effects on Europe. More conservative Europeans (relatively speaking, anyway) have consistently been for both riding out the problems for Europe associated with the sanctions and backing Ukraine, and even the German Green and Danish Red parties support continuing to supply Ukraine against Russia. Nor - and for European governments, this is a shock - have there been any widespread calls in Europe for caving in to sanctions. No, instead they grouse about some European countries continuing to buy oil and gas from Russia. All in all, I'd say the Europeans are more concerned about Putin than they are the sanctions.

Anybody else see the irony of German tanks in Ukraine?