beer_war posted:

https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1658111292928917505?s=20 Looking great

beer_war posted:

https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1658111292928917505?s=20 Looking great

tango alpha delta posted:

In 2005 I was a civilian contractor working for the United States Department of Defense. I can safely state with great confidence that you do not gently caress with the US Military unless you have no desire to continue existing.

Nelson Mandingo posted:

People genuinely don't understand how powerful the US military really is after it's reformations in the 80's. There have been a lot of military stomps throughout history but it always came with heavy losses on both sides. The 1990 Gulf War was two of the largest militaries in the world fighting one another. Even Germany's incredibly successful blitzkrieg of France resulted in 40,000 casualties on their side.

The United States lost 292 people. Literally half of that was friendly fire incidents. There just hasn't been a lopsided victory on that level when two large militaries fought, ever. Fighting the United States is less about winning on the battlefield and more about creating a successful insurgency that outlasts the occupation.


Edit: Why this relates to Russia is because the US has been overestimating it badly. US military planners default position in wargames against Russia is "We believe we'll win but we have to be on the top of our game to prevent a massacre on our side." and now it's clear that no they would lose very badly. And that's a bad thing because now all they have are nukes to get their way.

TulliusCicero posted:

Tbf, NO ONE who had any knowledge of geo-politics expected this utter dumpsterfire. Thr Russian military being in this shambling state shocked the world. I expected very much a very well armed insurgency/ opposition government in Lyviv, not "the Russian military traffic jams itself surrounding Kyiv for loving miles, gets picked off while the VDV parachutes into anti aircraft/ artillery fire/ OMON police are the only Russian forces to successfully enter Kyiv.

This is a bad loving joke. The greatest Russian State secret is that their military couldn't invade a Polish Walmart, let alone attack NATO and even gain ground.

Pot Smoke Phoenix posted:

Ukraine is saying, "gently caress you, gently caress your nukes, get the gently caress out of Ukraine!"

And that makes them pretty loving alright in my book.

TulliusCicero posted:

This kinda confirms what I always suspected: that the US is far and away the most powerful country militarily on the planet, and China is probably a far second.

Shame about the sheer dedication to militarism and weapons to make everyone dead, and not like, Healthcare or human rights, or UBI, but I guess.

I hate it here

TulliusCicero posted:

It's this^

This is not a dick wagging competition. This is a war for sovereignty and independence.

TulliusCicero posted:

This kinda confirms what I always suspected: that the US is far and away the most powerful country militarily on the planet, and China is probably a far second.

Shame about the sheer dedication to militarism and weapons to make everyone dead, and not like, Healthcare or human rights, or UBI, but I guess.

I hate it here

Tunicate posted:

that's kind of understating how surreal it is

He's a tv comedian who wrote and starred in a series where a normal guy's rant about political corruption went viral, and the disgruntled public gets him elected with over 60% of the vote.

That series went viral, which meant the disgruntled public got him elected with over 70% of the vote.

He's the only man this has ever happened to twice.

tiaz posted:

I realize that you're not saying this, and I don't mean to derail into uspol, but in the interests of the joke not becoming perceived as true: universal healthcare would be less expensive than what we are doing now and we could totally do both. it's discouraging that it hasn't become our priority in such a way it's made real (for all the times it's been attempted), but the military budget isn't why we don't get to visit the doctor.

thekeeshman posted:

If the US had universal healthcare on the level of other first world countries, we would have far better outcomes, and also save huge, huge amounts of money and be able to afford even more exciting explody things.

thekeeshman posted:

If the US had universal healthcare on the level of other first world countries, we would have far better outcomes, and also save huge, huge amounts of money and be able to afford even more exciting explody things.

Judge Schnoopy posted:

Ah I thought the carrier group, including the ships surrounding it with Patriot systems on all sides and shitloads of long range missiles to destroy attack platforms, would be enough to keep the thing safe against however many hypersonic missiles Russia has left.

Judge Schnoopy posted:

I totally get the "it's not worth risking the carrier for something so easily winnable" and "NOOOOKS" arguments. Just wanted to know if I was missing something in believing a modern air force and navy would roll this stupid conflict up in weeks if it became necessary.

mobby_6kl posted:

patrol footage

https://i.imgur.com/Kd6mJNS.mp4

mobby_6kl posted:

It's honestly pretty surprising that the healthcare lobby is somehow overpowering the MIC on this. Please fix your healthcare and build a few more carriers. An F-35 in every garage.

Deptfordx posted:

I wonder, and to be clear I'm not saying it is, but I wonder if he does have any doubles.

That seems pretty much a must-have fashion accessory for your absolute dictator.

beer_war posted:

https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1658111292928917505?s=20 Looking great

HonorableTB posted:

mobby_6kl posted:

https://i.imgur.com/N6SLQ71.mp4

This is the good russian gear

B-Rock452 posted:

That looks exactly like a wish.com "fuel filter" so lol.

Nelson Mandingo posted:

People genuinely don't understand how powerful the US military really is after it's reformations in the 80's. There have been a lot of military stomps throughout history but it always came with heavy losses on both sides. The 1990 Gulf War was two of the largest militaries in the world fighting one another. Even Germany's incredibly successful blitzkrieg of France resulted in 40,000 casualties on their side.

Stanley Goodspeed posted:

Is that something suppressors do if you shoot enough bullets out of them or did somebody sniper elite the last guy right down the barrel?

Klyith posted:

But besides that, Russia still has attack subs and those are what I'd be worried about even more than missiles.

jaete posted:

Someone claimed that the US has enough subs of their own that they would be able to just shadow all the Russian ones at all times. Now I dunno, but I'm gonna lol at that thought anyway

mobby_6kl posted:

Carriers in the Black Sea aren't going to happen as was mentioned but they wouldn't be necessary when Ukraine borders Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Here's a preview of how things would go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxRgfBXn6Mg

Except russia's remaining crap is from that era while the US has F-22s and F-35s and god knows what else now.

If there ever was a situation that needed another Desert Storm, this is it, but everyone is too scared of nooooks.

jaete posted:

Someone claimed that the US has enough subs of their own that they would be able to just shadow all the Russian ones at all times. Now I dunno, but I'm gonna lol at that thought anyway

jaete posted:

Do you have any details about these US military reforms in the 80s? Not doubting this, just curious. How were things before? What did they change?

TulliusCicero posted:

This kinda confirms what I always suspected: that the US is far and away the most powerful country militarily on the planet, and China is probably a far second.

Shame about the sheer dedication to militarism and weapons to make everyone dead, and not like, Healthcare or human rights, or UBI, but I guess.

I hate it here

Nelson Mandingo posted:

I can't name specific details and programs. But mostly it was many of the weapons and vehicles we see today were completed R&D and construction and the United States finished it's transition to a professional military and stopped using conscripts. Vietnam was the pressure cooker that proved that forcing people into the military for a war they don't want to fight is just going to significantly degrade effectiveness. Meanwhile many if not a majority of your average soldiers will grumble and might personally think that the Iraq war was a mistake (and lets be clear, it was). But they're going to do their job because they signed up for it and the check clears on payday every time.

Look no further than the Russians in this war for further proof of that.

sebmojo posted:

Can't think why

Runa posted:

If anything, seeing what's happening to Russia is going to cause some reevaluation of their abilities and how to improve, if only to avoid a public humiliation if in the future they ever decide to actually make a move militarily.

About the only thing I can imagine getting in that way is the chatter that Xi has a rep for being the kind of guy you don't want to give bad news to. Which is another one of those perfect conditions for corruption and incompetence to go unaddressed.

US General says Iron Dome ready for deployment in Ukraine posted:

The US has an Iron Dome system ready, US Army Space and Missile Defense Commanding General Lt.-Gen. Daniel Karbler told the Senate last week when asked whether Ukraine could use one.

Ukraine on Monday criticized Israel for sending high-ranking Foreign Ministry diplomats to Moscow. Jerusalem is “having business as usual with the Russian war criminals,” a Ukrainian senior diplomatic official said.

Last week, in a Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces session about missile-defense issues, Sen. Angus King (Independent-Maine) asked why Iron Dome had not been deployed in Ukraine.

“We helped pay for it,” he said. “We sent something like $3 billion to Israel to develop it… Wouldn’t this be a very important resource for the Ukrainians since their principal problem right now is missile defense?”

The Iron Dome air- and missile-defense system was developed by Israeli defense company Rafael and commissioned by the Israeli government, which initially funded its development and the deployment of the first two systems. The US contributed $2.6b. to the Iron Dome project since its deployment in 2011, allowing for the production of additional systems and interception missiles. Rafael and US-based Raytheon co-produce components of intercepting missiles for the US, which has two Iron Dome systems.

In response to King’s query, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said the US was aiding Ukraine in its war effort with “things we can supply from our own stock,” such as Patriot missile batteries.

“We made a significant investment in missile defense and encourage our allies to do the same,” he said. “I am not aware of an Iron Dome system being offered to Ukraine.”

Karbler said the US has “two Iron Dome batteries right now. One completed new equipment training, new equipment fielding. It is prepared for deployment. The other one is wrapping up its new equipment training right now. So the army does have one [Iron Dome battery] available for deployment if we get a request from it” from Ukraine.

A spokesperson for the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command clarified that Karber was referring to the availability of the Iron Dome system for US military combatant commands, if requested, and not to Ukraine.

As the main producer of Iron Dome systems, Israel would have to grant permission for the US to send it to any other country.

Asked whether Karbler’s remarks indicated that Israel has allowed the Iron Dome to be sent to Ukraine, the Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment.

Israel has not provided Ukraine with defensive weapons, despite requests from Kyiv. Jerusalem has generally said it opposes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it does not want to threaten its deconfliction mechanism with Moscow, which allows the IAF to strike Iranian targets near the northern border unimpeded by the Russian military, which maintains a presence in Syria. Israel has sent humanitarian aid and contributed and allowed the export of missile- and drone-attack warning systems to Ukraine.

Iron Dome has been the subject of mixed messages from Ukraine. Last year, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said: “We need Iron Dome... which will allow us to save our civilian women and children from the shelling of the Russian missiles in our territory.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said: “Iron Dome does not protect against cruise and ballistic missiles.”Iron Dome defends mostly against short-range rockets and artillery shells. There are about 12 batteries in the world, including an estimated 10 in Israel – the Defense Ministry does not divulge the exact number – and two in the US.

The 10 in Israel do not actually cover the entire country and are sometimes moved to different locations that might be attacked. Ukraine is 11 times larger than Israel, meaning that one Iron Dome battery would protect very little of it.

A Ukrainian senior diplomatic official on Monday sharply criticized Israel for a meeting on May 5 in Moscow attended by Foreign Ministry Deputy Director-General for Strategic Affairs Joshua Zarka, Deputy Director-General for Euro-Asia Simona Halperin and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

The sides primarily discussed the Iranian nuclear threat and diplomacy related to the currently defunct Iran nuclear deal, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Jerusalem confirmed that the meeting took place but would not provide further details.The Ukrainian senior diplomatic official said Kyiv was “deeply disappointed by the exchange of visits by the Israeli and Russian [Foreign Ministry] officials while Russia is butchering our citizens.”

“We are being attacked by terrorists that are steadily supported by the Russia-Iran alliance, and yet, Israeli officials keep having business as usual with the Russian war criminals,” the official said. “Israel has to decide if it is a part of the Western world and stands besides Ukraine or whether it embraces the world’s dark forces. Neutrality is not an option.”

“As a nation that is also attacked by terror funded by Iran, we expect Israel not to be the only Western country with strong ties with Russia,” the Ukrainian senior diplomatic official said.

The Foreign Ministry declined to respond to the Ukrainian remarks.