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Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:11:56 AM EST
[#1]
In on 420 like some russian official in a shit hole.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:17:04 AM EST
[#2]
In case anyone wants to see what the heads of MI6 and the CIA had to say.
CIA director Bill Burns and MI6 chief Richard Moore talk to FT editor Roula Khalaf
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:24:17 AM EST
[#3]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By Lieh-tzu:

Archive link This is a good read.

Post-WWII was an age where America dominated in all places in all things. That era is over. In the new era, China will be the one dominating in all places and in all things. The age of the American Empire is ending. Our leaders don't seem to have a comprehensive plan to effectively manage America's decline.

I'm not saying this to be negative, and it should not be taken that way. All empires end, there is a rise and fall to every civilization & nation in world history, there are no exceptions. For better or worse, we live in the time of transition from the era of America to the age of China. You can try to argue that I'm wrong, but good luck making a case that will hold up over the next five years.
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Originally Posted By Lieh-tzu:
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
FT Article: China’s new back doors into western markets

Archive link This is a good read.
An intensifying rivalry between China and the US-led west is driving a fragmentation in the world’s economic order. Beijing, Washington, Brussels and other capitals have imposed a range of tariffs, export controls and other measures to protect their domestic markets and stymie competitors’ technological progress.
...
China’s emergence as an economic superpower over the past four decades has been propelled to a large degree by globalisation.
Open markets and free trade underpinned China’s long export boom and helped facilitate huge transfers of capital, knowledge and technology from the west to Chinese companies.
Many have gone on to become world leaders in their sectors: examples include BYD and CATL in electric vehicles and batteries, Huawei in telecoms and ByteDance in social media.

Post-WWII was an age where America dominated in all places in all things. That era is over. In the new era, China will be the one dominating in all places and in all things. The age of the American Empire is ending. Our leaders don't seem to have a comprehensive plan to effectively manage America's decline.

I'm not saying this to be negative, and it should not be taken that way. All empires end, there is a rise and fall to every civilization & nation in world history, there are no exceptions. For better or worse, we live in the time of transition from the era of America to the age of China. You can try to argue that I'm wrong, but good luck making a case that will hold up over the next five years.


This is the natural order of things, as the genesis of America's economic hyper-dominance was brought on by the two World Wars (and the fact we were latecomers to both militarily).  However, the natural hubris of being #1 for so long made much of our leadership lazy and non-reflective, falling into the rut of mechanicalistic "checklist-style" thinking to address non-linear issues, and ceasing to make the citizens of the country they served their priority.  Combined with the fact we necessarily kept getting sucked into Kipling's "Savage Wars of Peace", the outcome was inevitable.  That is one reason we can never hold anyone accountable; "Sure, they collectively made a hash of things, but they followed the checklist and complied with the prevailing theories and policies of their bettors, so they are not really responsible".  Most great empires; Roman, French, Austrian, several of the Chinese dynasties, etc, all trod this path before us.  One of the byproducts of this process is that the "core citizens" of said empire is that the citizens eventually get tired of being exploited to maintain an empire that seems only to serve the "elites", particularly the lower orders.  Think the replacement of the Roman lower equestrian and "noble plebian" classes by slaves and the "bread and circuses" crowd, the liquidation of the remaining parts of the British empire post WWII by the "Now Let's Win the Peace" domestically-focused Labor Governments, and so on.   This is not to say that America's long-term decline is inevitable in the medium term, irreversible, or even imminent; as Bismarck put it, "God takes care of small children, drunks, and the United States of America!"  What it does mean is that our government and societal "leadership" needs a hard reset, and citizens need to be reengaged, if we are to overcome our current miasma.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:34:51 AM EST
[#4]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:38:29 AM EST
[#5]

Long thread of images below












Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:42:39 AM EST
[#6]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:43:46 AM EST
[#7]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By Capta:

Agree with most there.
All the warning bells are ringing but as a society we’re still fat, dumb, and happy.  I personally don’t think either of our “choices” can remotely handle it.  Desantis was probably the best bet, but that’s not gonna happen.
IMO our likely cases are
A)Most likely is Harris getting elected and we have to live with a jumbled and contradictory mess of foreign policy wins and losses.  Domestic policy is likely to be bad.
B)We live with whomever and limp along until the polarized stupidity burns itself out and the next election presents us better options.  That’s not out of the realm of possibility.
C)Way down the probability list, the Russians or Chinese (most likely the Russians) execute a successful decapitation strike and CoG kicks in with a competent successor like a SoH.
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Originally Posted By Capta:
Originally Posted By Saltwater-Hillbilly:
Originally Posted By NEXT23:
Originally Posted By ITCHY-FINGER:

Go deep state! Fuck that constitution! Yeah.


I'd much rather vote for Rubio or Cruz.....


I would as well, as in better times than these, those two would be ideal presidential material.  Unfortunately, we do not live in those "better times".  IF we wish to be recover as a Nation, we need some SoBs who are willing to do the needful, which involves a serious enema to the entire FedGov and restoring accountability, as well as some really hard decisions.  As stated earlier, the next President will be a wartime President; that cake has already been baked and is just waiting for the frosting. We can also expect, at best, a major Economic Recession as a best-case scenario going forward, with potentially a LOT worse coming down the pike.  Budget deficits combined with the necessary increase in Defense spending will require both a serious haircut to benefits AND the liquidation of entire departments within the government.  Then there is the matter of mobilizing a nation that has essentially demoralized itself over decades to both fight and fix a mountain of existential problems that have been allowed to fester. On top of that, this will also require massive reform of the defense procurement system as well as rebuilding domestic productive capability and the logistic infrastructure to support it for a war whose first battles are already being fought in Ukraine and the Levant, with the Philippines and potentially Taiwan fixing to go hot as well.  In short, the next President has to be willing to come out swinging BEFORE Day 1 and have vision and an iron will.  While we WANT intelligent people who are relatable policy wonks that understand 2nd- and 3rd-order effects (of which both Rubio and Cruz are prime examples), we NEED a couple of Sons of Bitches who are driven by will and are not put off by the massive amounts of Scheiß that is going to be flying into the rotational single-stage ventilation system (which describes both Trump and Vance).  Otherwise, we are stuck in a spiral of "half-rude" foreign policy notable for folding like an accordion in the face of adversarial opposition and an increasing level of domestic repression as we skate toward complete moral, political, and economic collapse.  Oh Well...

Agree with most there.
All the warning bells are ringing but as a society we’re still fat, dumb, and happy.  I personally don’t think either of our “choices” can remotely handle it.  Desantis was probably the best bet, but that’s not gonna happen.
IMO our likely cases are
A)Most likely is Harris getting elected and we have to live with a jumbled and contradictory mess of foreign policy wins and losses.  Domestic policy is likely to be bad.
B)We live with whomever and limp along until the polarized stupidity burns itself out and the next election presents us better options.  That’s not out of the realm of possibility.
C)Way down the probability list, the Russians or Chinese (most likely the Russians) execute a successful decapitation strike and CoG kicks in with a competent successor like a SoH.


Most Americans were "Fat, Dumb, and Happy" on 6 December 1941 as well.  Family picnics, a day at the park, etc.  Tomorrow, they were planning to go to church then tune in their radios to one of the three pro-football games for the exciting regular-season finale.  When they woke up on December 8th, they were in a different world.  
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:50:38 AM EST
[#8]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:55:14 AM EST
[#9]
Destruction of Russian equipment during an attempted assault in the Liman sector
Video from the soldiers of the 63rd separate mechanized brigade
(coordinated interaction of aerial reconnaissance and artillery)



Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:55:43 AM EST
[#10]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:56:18 AM EST
[#11]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By Lieh-tzu:

Ukraine was never going to get a lot of ATACMs, because there just weren't that many in the first place. Ukraine needed to maximize their effect by choosing targets carefully. The US was dumb to restrict them so severely. And more importantly, the US should never have said anything out loud about them at all. Either when they were delivered, what the restrictions were, or when the supply ends. The Biden administration is working hard not only to restrict Ukraine but also to make the US a party to the war, and they should stop on both counts.
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Originally Posted By Lieh-tzu:
Originally Posted By GoldenMead:
SecDef today said the US won’t allow deep strikes into Russia with US weapons.  Also people at the Pentagon and White House were hinting that Ukraine was going to get a lot less ATACMS in the future due to a limited number available.

Saddest part of all of this is we say it out loud so Russia knows what we are doing.

Ukraine was never going to get a lot of ATACMs, because there just weren't that many in the first place. Ukraine needed to maximize their effect by choosing targets carefully. The US was dumb to restrict them so severely. And more importantly, the US should never have said anything out loud about them at all. Either when they were delivered, what the restrictions were, or when the supply ends. The Biden administration is working hard not only to restrict Ukraine but also to make the US a party to the war, and they should stop on both counts.


Totally agree.

Again, just like ARFcom, buy shiny new weapons, forget to budget for new ammo.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:58:11 AM EST
[Last Edit: Prime] [#12]


















Link Posted: 9/7/2024 6:59:50 AM EST
[#13]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:02:52 AM EST
[Last Edit: jwnc] [#14]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By spydercomonkey:
This was a real Terminator one, Russian fiber optic FPV (ghetto TOW) stalks then flies into a mostly sealed building, traveling through an open door to get a group of Ukranians resting inside.

Nets/ barricades on all entranceways needs to be SOP

View Quote


How the heck does a fiber not get tangled in the brush on an FPV?  TOW's go so straight and fast that the line doesn't have a chance to droop, but FPV's don't.   This one was up/down/around buildings.  Also, the expense seems to be high for a use once weapon.

EDIT:  Aha, should have Googled before commenting.  The spool is on the drone and can be 6 miles long.  Even though the thinnest, cheapest fiber can be used for one HD video link, it would still be very fragile.  Also, it would reduce the explosive payload and be a lot more expensive than a wifi link.  Interesting tradeoffs.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:08:34 AM EST
[#15]
nsfw
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:10:34 AM EST
[#16]
Attachment Attached File
Attachment Attached File
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:23:57 AM EST
[#17]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
/media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/boom-denzel-824.gif /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/boom-denzel-824.gif
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These rounds don't seem to be suffering from GPS jamming issues.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:24:11 AM EST
[#18]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:36:37 AM EST
[#19]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:37:09 AM EST
[#20]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GW3xQepW8AAjpD4?format=jpg&name=medium
View Quote



Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:44:31 AM EST
[#21]

Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:45:20 AM EST
[#22]

Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:47:04 AM EST
[#23]


ATESH discovered the command post of the 7th Artillery Brigade of the Russian Air Force in Donetsk Oblast Our agent identified the command post in Yevgenovka where numerous antennas were recorded indicating a deployed communications system. The entrance through the barn indicates an attempt to hide the object All information was transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine




Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:47:54 AM EST
[#24]

any time soon.
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Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:50:26 AM EST
[#25]

Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:55:30 AM EST
[#26]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 7:58:12 AM EST
[#27]









Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:00:35 AM EST
[#28]
NSFW battlefield pickup.

Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:02:59 AM EST
[#29]



Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:04:15 AM EST
[#30]

Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:05:00 AM EST
[Last Edit: Prime] [#31]
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
MI6 and CIA warn of 'reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe' being waged by Russia | Sir Richard Moore and Bill Burns did not list examples but there has been a spate of mysterious sabotage and arson attacks on infrastructure in the UK, Germany and in the Baltics.https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GW2uNIgXsAArhyZ?format=jpg&name=900x900

Link to FT article from the heads of the CIA and MI6
View Quote


CIA and MI6 heads make unprecedented joint public appearance in London

By Nick Paton Walsh, Sophie Tanno and Radina Gigova, CNN

5 minute read   Updated 8:46 AM EDT, Sat September 7, 2024




London (CNN) — The heads of the United States’ CIA and the UK’s foreign intelligence service, known as MI6, spoke at length about the key security issues plaguing the world in an unprecedented joint public appearance in London on Saturday, in a wide-ranging discussion that covered Russian aggression, the threat from China and the war in Gaza.

The event – a discussion at the FT Weekend Festival chaired by the newspaper’s editor Roula Khalaf – marked the first time the two men – Richard Moore of MI6 and CIA chief Bill Burns – have appeared on a public stage together.

The two men spoke of the significance of the partnership between the US and the UK, particularly in the face of Russian aggression. Burns cited the run-up to the war in Ukraine, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022, as one of the best examples.

“Going back to the fall of 2021, the two of us together, our services together, were able to provide credible, early, accurate warning of the invasion that was coming, which was not a small thing at the time, because almost all of the other services around the world, our intelligence counterparts, thought this was a bluff on Putin’s part,” the CIA chief said.

“I think that good intelligence enabled our leaders, our political leaderships, to mobilize a very strong coalition to counter Putin’s aggression.”

Burns said that this helped the Ukrainians to defend themselves. He also spoke of a “novel approach” to declassify some secrets in that period as a way of denying Putin the chance to peddle false narratives. This put Putin in the “unaccustomed and uncomfortable position of being on the wrong foot,” Burns said.

Speaking on the threat from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, Moore said there was a lot of “pragmatic cooperation” between these countries.

“You can see it, of course, sadly, on the battlefield in Ukraine. You can see North Korea, North Korean weaponry. You can see Iranian drones. You can see the sort of help that the Chinese have provided through sort of dual-use type material. You see all of that playing out in our world.”

Adding to this, Burns said that there has not yet been any “direct evidence” of China providing weapons and munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine. However, he said: “We see lots of things just short of that, as Richard said, in terms of dual-use items, the kind of things that have enabled Putin over the course of the last 18 months or so to significantly rebuild his defense industrial base and that poses a real danger.”

Asked about concerns over potential Russian escalation in response to the West’s supply of weapons to Ukraine, Burns said: “I think there was a moment in the fall of 2022 when there was a genuine risk of the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons. I have never thought, however, this is the view of my agency, that we should be unnecessarily intimidated by that. Putin’s a bully and he is going to continue to saber-rattle from time to time.”

US President Joe Biden had sent him to speak with “one of our Russian counterparts, Sergei Naryshkin, at the end of 2022 to make very clear what the consequences of that kind of escalation would be,” Burns added.

Denting Kremlin’s narrative

Speaking on Ukraine’s surprise offensive into Russia’s Kursk border region, Burns said that said that such developments help to counter Putin’s “cocky and smug attitude.”

According to Burns, Putin’s approach to the war in Ukraine has been that it is “only a matter of time before the Ukrainians are going to be ground down, and all of their supporters in the West are going to be worn down,” allowing the Russian president then to dictate terms for a settlement.

Developments such as Ukraine’s Kursk offensive help to “put a dent” in that narrative and raise questions among the Russian elite about “where all this is headed,” Burns said. The offensive last month saw Ukrainian forces storm into Kursk in a cross-border incursion that caught even American officials by surprise.

Burns described the Kursk offensive as a “significant tactical achievement” that has served to boost Ukrainian morale as well as expose some of the vulnerabilities of Putin’s Russia and his military. Last year’s short-lived insurrection carried out by former Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin also helped to dent this narrative, Burns said.

The CIA chief does not, however, see Putin’s grip on power weakening. “He does one thing really well, and that’s repress people at home.”

Gaza ceasefire efforts

Speaking on the negotiations to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza, Burns said that the US was “working very hard” with mediators Egypt and Qatar to refine a framework proposed by Biden in May and put it “in a good enough proposal” that both the Israeli and Hamas leaderships will see the value in moving ahead with it.

He stressed that in his experience with Middle East negotiations, “perfect is never on the menu,” adding that he could not say for sure that “we’re going to succeed in that,” nor how close the US and mediators might be to a deal right now.

A lot is at stake for Palestinians and Israelis, as well as strategically in the region, Burns said. But above all, what’s at stake is “in human terms,” he said, pointing to the hostages taken by Hamas-led militants who are still alive and living in “hellish conditions,” as well as the “countless mothers and fathers in Gaza who are dealing with their own terrible losses” and the worsening humanitarian situation in the strip.

Biden first announced the framework for a peace plan between Israel and Hamas on May 31 – to which he said Israel had agreed. The three-phase proposal paired the release of hostages with a “full and complete ceasefire.” The plan envisioned the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops eastward from Gaza.

Since then, both sides have pointed to what they see as glaring holes in the framework, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting that Israel’s forces will never leave the stretch along the Egypt-Gaza border known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

The hostage release efforts gained new urgency earlier this month with the discovery of the bodies of six hostages in a tunnel beneath the southern Gaza city of Rafah, including the Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

The conversation with Moore and Burns was preceded by a jointly-penned editorial in the Financial Times newspaper in which they stressed the international world order was “under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/07/uk/cia-mi6-heads-appearance-london-intl-gbr/index.html


Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:07:02 AM EST
[#32]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By GoldenMead:


SecDef today said the US won’t allow deep strikes into Russia with US weapons.  Also people at the Pentagon and White House were hinting that Ukraine was going to get a lot less ATACMS in the future due to a limited number available.

Saddest part of all of this is we say it out loud so Russia knows what we are doing.
View Quote

The messaging IS directed towards Russia. "sorry, we will tighten the leash, won't happen again"...

If, as stated by Z, one of the main objectives of the Kursk offensive was to disprove yet another Russian "red line" then it backfired. The West, specifically the USA is managing this war to get a draw, maintain the status quo, and have been made to look foolish and probably pissed some pants due to Kursk. I can only imagine the frantic messaging back and forth in DC "fuck, the Ukrainians invaded Russia, call Vlad to apologize right fucking NOW!!"

They would much rather have seen a Russian offensive go deep into Ukraine rather than the opposite. I believe they will reduce aid shipments, especially for the stuff Ukraine is begging for, as punishment but also to keep any more surprises from Kyiv from happening. This was basically like the UAF flying their first F16 to Moscow and taking shots at oil refineries on the day they were delivered! I think something similar happened after the Patriot ambush on a bunch of Russian aircraft.

This alone may prove the Kursk Op was a brilliant military Op and a huge political blunder. Cowards, crooks and pacifists cannot be swayed by bold violent actions.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:11:28 AM EST
[#33]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By Saltwater-Hillbilly:


This is the natural order of things, as the genesis of America's economic hyper-dominance was brought on by the two World Wars (and the fact we were latecomers to both militarily).  However, the natural hubris of being #1 for so long made much of our leadership lazy and non-reflective, falling into the rut of mechanicalistic "checklist-style" thinking to address non-linear issues, and ceasing to make the citizens of the country they served their priority.  Combined with the fact we necessarily kept getting sucked into Kipling's "Savage Wars of Peace", the outcome was inevitable.  That is one reason we can never hold anyone accountable; "Sure, they collectively made a hash of things, but they followed the checklist and complied with the prevailing theories and policies of their bettors, so they are not really responsible".  Most great empires; Roman, French, Austrian, several of the Chinese dynasties, etc, all trod this path before us.  One of the byproducts of this process is that the "core citizens" of said empire is that the citizens eventually get tired of being exploited to maintain an empire that seems only to serve the "elites", particularly the lower orders.  Think the replacement of the Roman lower equestrian and "noble plebian" classes by slaves and the "bread and circuses" crowd, the liquidation of the remaining parts of the British empire post WWII by the "Now Let's Win the Peace" domestically-focused Labor Governments, and so on.   This is not to say that America's long-term decline is inevitable in the medium term, irreversible, or even imminent; as Bismarck put it, "God takes care of small children, drunks, and the United States of America!"  What it does mean is that our government and societal "leadership" needs a hard reset, and citizens need to be reengaged, if we are to overcome our current miasma.
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Originally Posted By Saltwater-Hillbilly:
Originally Posted By Lieh-tzu:
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
FT Article: China’s new back doors into western markets

Archive link This is a good read.
An intensifying rivalry between China and the US-led west is driving a fragmentation in the world’s economic order. Beijing, Washington, Brussels and other capitals have imposed a range of tariffs, export controls and other measures to protect their domestic markets and stymie competitors’ technological progress.
...
China’s emergence as an economic superpower over the past four decades has been propelled to a large degree by globalisation.
Open markets and free trade underpinned China’s long export boom and helped facilitate huge transfers of capital, knowledge and technology from the west to Chinese companies.
Many have gone on to become world leaders in their sectors: examples include BYD and CATL in electric vehicles and batteries, Huawei in telecoms and ByteDance in social media.

Post-WWII was an age where America dominated in all places in all things. That era is over. In the new era, China will be the one dominating in all places and in all things. The age of the American Empire is ending. Our leaders don't seem to have a comprehensive plan to effectively manage America's decline.

I'm not saying this to be negative, and it should not be taken that way. All empires end, there is a rise and fall to every civilization & nation in world history, there are no exceptions. For better or worse, we live in the time of transition from the era of America to the age of China. You can try to argue that I'm wrong, but good luck making a case that will hold up over the next five years.


This is the natural order of things, as the genesis of America's economic hyper-dominance was brought on by the two World Wars (and the fact we were latecomers to both militarily).  However, the natural hubris of being #1 for so long made much of our leadership lazy and non-reflective, falling into the rut of mechanicalistic "checklist-style" thinking to address non-linear issues, and ceasing to make the citizens of the country they served their priority.  Combined with the fact we necessarily kept getting sucked into Kipling's "Savage Wars of Peace", the outcome was inevitable.  That is one reason we can never hold anyone accountable; "Sure, they collectively made a hash of things, but they followed the checklist and complied with the prevailing theories and policies of their bettors, so they are not really responsible".  Most great empires; Roman, French, Austrian, several of the Chinese dynasties, etc, all trod this path before us.  One of the byproducts of this process is that the "core citizens" of said empire is that the citizens eventually get tired of being exploited to maintain an empire that seems only to serve the "elites", particularly the lower orders.  Think the replacement of the Roman lower equestrian and "noble plebian" classes by slaves and the "bread and circuses" crowd, the liquidation of the remaining parts of the British empire post WWII by the "Now Let's Win the Peace" domestically-focused Labor Governments, and so on.   This is not to say that America's long-term decline is inevitable in the medium term, irreversible, or even imminent; as Bismarck put it, "God takes care of small children, drunks, and the United States of America!"  What it does mean is that our government and societal "leadership" needs a hard reset, and citizens need to be reengaged, if we are to overcome our current miasma.


I agree that the US has become soft and corrupt (although politicians have always been corrupt, it's just at a new level).

However, it is amazing how resilient we still are, we are nowhere near the EU in terms of decline.  Considering the damage that the "fundamentally change America" Obama puppets are doing with the MSM and tech oligarchs' help, we are by far the world's number one military and economic power (on a GDP/capita basis).

The article is standard pro-China pablum, like Gates funding the NYT, Bezos owning WaPo, Disney with ABC, I have no illusions that FT isn't also dependent on Chinese ad money or direct payments.

They neglect to mention that all economic data out of China is propaganda, and even considering that, China admits that it's growth rate is declining (they will never admit an actual recession).  They have a huge demographic problem with the previous decades one child policy (not that the US is quietly following their path with a disastrous 1.6 birth rate). They have very little technology infrastructure if they can't steal Western tech, and people forget that if they have 1.3B people, they have more people with an IQ below 90 that the US has people (NOT corrected for the 20M new illegals who skew far below average - just another cold hard fact not covered by the MSM) that are either not very productive or unproductive and need support.  They are not supermen.

The rank 72 in the world for GDP/capita, around Mexico, Belarus, Columbia and Thailand.  But again, their demographics are worse, per Mark Stein's book on China, "they will grow old before they grow rich."

Whitewashing their communist record with business deals has been common for quite some time (see the NBA).  The question is: why do they have to do it?  Because they are a communist country with sanctions for stealing IP and human rights violations.  The article mentions sanctions, but the only reason that they state is because of "protectionism", which is the least objectionable (to China) reason for the sanctions.  Nope, no mention of a totalitarian communist state and the state owning a significant percentage of all of the businesses mentioned.

I heard the same nonsense 20 years ago.  While they have made progress, we have decades before they overtake us, assuming that Obama's commie puppets can be stopped.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:12:16 AM EST
[#34]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
except for Hungary giving all those Russians visas to enter Europe ‘immigrants’…
View Quote

I think Hungary wants to soak up some of the educated tech fleeing Russia. They said basically that anyone leaving Russia now is against the Putin regime, wants to escape like in the Cold War days, and should be helped, given asylum or whatever.

Knowing Orban's pro-Russian positions, this is probably bullshit but I don't think Hungary is actively trying to help Russia spy or subvert Europe. Probably something else at play.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:22:38 AM EST
[#35]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:



These rounds don't seem to be suffering from GPS jamming issues.
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Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By AlmightyTallest:
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
/media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/boom-denzel-824.gif /media/mediaFiles/sharedAlbum/boom-denzel-824.gif



These rounds don't seem to be suffering from GPS jamming issues.

Welcome home  🏡
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:28:45 AM EST
[#36]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By planemaker:


Russia doesn't have 4 years to end this war. Either the war will end long before then or Russia will end long before then.
View Quote

Sarcasm. Responding to Capta who believes Russia is all in for Trump...Honestly, if I were serving in the Russian army, I'd vote for Trump if I could just to get it over with either through negotiated peace to a flood of US weapons to end my suffering.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:29:03 AM EST
[#37]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
View Quote


This is the outskirts of the Argentine residence in Caracas, protected by Brazil. More patrols and hooded and armed SEBIN and DAET officials have arrived and are besieging the diplomatic headquarters, protected by international law.

September 6 10:20PM.

Video






"We Argentines are determined not to let our embassy be seized or interfered with"
I spoke with the Minister of Security of Argentina @PatoBullrich and sent this audio to all Venezuelans and the international community.
It confirms that Maduro revoked the authorization for Brazil to guard the Argentine embassy in Ccs, currently under siege by the SEBIN and the DAET.



🚨#NOW | This is how the headquarters of the Argentine embassy in Caracas dawns, surrounded by hooded and armed regime agents, who - in addition - prevent access to journalists although the street is not closed.



Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:31:37 AM EST
[Last Edit: doc540] [#38]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By jwnc:


I agree that the US has become soft and corrupt (although politicians have always been corrupt, it's just at a new level).

However, it is amazing how resilient we still are, we are nowhere near the EU in terms of decline.  Considering the damage that the "fundamentally change America" Obama puppets are doing with the MSM and tech oligarchs' help, we are by far the world's number one military and economic power (on a GDP/capita basis).

The article is standard pro-China pablum, like Gates funding the NYT, Bezos owning WaPo, Disney with ABC, I have no illusions that FT isn't also dependent on Chinese ad money or direct payments.

They neglect to mention that all economic data out of China is propaganda, and even considering that, China admits that it's growth rate is declining (they will never admit an actual recession).  They have a huge demographic problem with the previous decades one child policy (not that the US is quietly following their path with a disastrous 1.6 birth rate). They have very little technology infrastructure if they can't steal Western tech, and people forget that if they have 1.3B people, they have more people with an IQ below 90 that the US has people (NOT corrected for the 20M new illegals who skew far below average - just another cold hard fact not covered by the MSM) that are either not very productive or unproductive and need support.  They are not supermen.

The rank 72 in the world for GDP/capita, around Mexico, Belarus, Columbia and Thailand.  But again, their demographics are worse, per Mark Stein's book on China, "they will grow old before they grow rich."

Whitewashing their communist record with business deals has been common for quite some time (see the NBA).  The question is: why do they have to do it?  Because they are a communist country with sanctions for stealing IP and human rights violations.  The article mentions sanctions, but the only reason that they state is because of "protectionism", which is the least objectionable (to China) reason for the sanctions.  Nope, no mention of a totalitarian communist state and the state owning a significant percentage of all of the businesses mentioned.

I heard the same nonsense 20 years ago.  While they have made progress, we have decades before they overtake us, assuming that Obama's commie puppets can be stopped.
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Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By jwnc:
Originally Posted By Saltwater-Hillbilly:
Originally Posted By Lieh-tzu:
Originally Posted By HIPPO:
FT Article: China’s new back doors into western markets

Archive link This is a good read.
An intensifying rivalry between China and the US-led west is driving a fragmentation in the world’s economic order. Beijing, Washington, Brussels and other capitals have imposed a range of tariffs, export controls and other measures to protect their domestic markets and stymie competitors’ technological progress.
...
China’s emergence as an economic superpower over the past four decades has been propelled to a large degree by globalisation.
Open markets and free trade underpinned China’s long export boom and helped facilitate huge transfers of capital, knowledge and technology from the west to Chinese companies.
Many have gone on to become world leaders in their sectors: examples include BYD and CATL in electric vehicles and batteries, Huawei in telecoms and ByteDance in social media.

Post-WWII was an age where America dominated in all places in all things. That era is over. In the new era, China will be the one dominating in all places and in all things. The age of the American Empire is ending. Our leaders don't seem to have a comprehensive plan to effectively manage America's decline.

I'm not saying this to be negative, and it should not be taken that way. All empires end, there is a rise and fall to every civilization & nation in world history, there are no exceptions. For better or worse, we live in the time of transition from the era of America to the age of China. You can try to argue that I'm wrong, but good luck making a case that will hold up over the next five years.


This is the natural order of things, as the genesis of America's economic hyper-dominance was brought on by the two World Wars (and the fact we were latecomers to both militarily).  However, the natural hubris of being #1 for so long made much of our leadership lazy and non-reflective, falling into the rut of mechanicalistic "checklist-style" thinking to address non-linear issues, and ceasing to make the citizens of the country they served their priority.  Combined with the fact we necessarily kept getting sucked into Kipling's "Savage Wars of Peace", the outcome was inevitable.  That is one reason we can never hold anyone accountable; "Sure, they collectively made a hash of things, but they followed the checklist and complied with the prevailing theories and policies of their bettors, so they are not really responsible".  Most great empires; Roman, French, Austrian, several of the Chinese dynasties, etc, all trod this path before us.  One of the byproducts of this process is that the "core citizens" of said empire is that the citizens eventually get tired of being exploited to maintain an empire that seems only to serve the "elites", particularly the lower orders.  Think the replacement of the Roman lower equestrian and "noble plebian" classes by slaves and the "bread and circuses" crowd, the liquidation of the remaining parts of the British empire post WWII by the "Now Let's Win the Peace" domestically-focused Labor Governments, and so on.   This is not to say that America's long-term decline is inevitable in the medium term, irreversible, or even imminent; as Bismarck put it, "God takes care of small children, drunks, and the United States of America!"  What it does mean is that our government and societal "leadership" needs a hard reset, and citizens need to be reengaged, if we are to overcome our current miasma.


I agree that the US has become soft and corrupt (although politicians have always been corrupt, it's just at a new level).

However, it is amazing how resilient we still are, we are nowhere near the EU in terms of decline.  Considering the damage that the "fundamentally change America" Obama puppets are doing with the MSM and tech oligarchs' help, we are by far the world's number one military and economic power (on a GDP/capita basis).

The article is standard pro-China pablum, like Gates funding the NYT, Bezos owning WaPo, Disney with ABC, I have no illusions that FT isn't also dependent on Chinese ad money or direct payments.

They neglect to mention that all economic data out of China is propaganda, and even considering that, China admits that it's growth rate is declining (they will never admit an actual recession).  They have a huge demographic problem with the previous decades one child policy (not that the US is quietly following their path with a disastrous 1.6 birth rate). They have very little technology infrastructure if they can't steal Western tech, and people forget that if they have 1.3B people, they have more people with an IQ below 90 that the US has people (NOT corrected for the 20M new illegals who skew far below average - just another cold hard fact not covered by the MSM) that are either not very productive or unproductive and need support.  They are not supermen.

The rank 72 in the world for GDP/capita, around Mexico, Belarus, Columbia and Thailand.  But again, their demographics are worse, per Mark Stein's book on China, "they will grow old before they grow rich."

Whitewashing their communist record with business deals has been common for quite some time (see the NBA).  The question is: why do they have to do it?  Because they are a communist country with sanctions for stealing IP and human rights violations.  The article mentions sanctions, but the only reason that they state is because of "protectionism", which is the least objectionable (to China) reason for the sanctions.  Nope, no mention of a totalitarian communist state and the state owning a significant percentage of all of the businesses mentioned.

I heard the same nonsense 20 years ago.  While they have made progress, we have decades before they overtake us, assuming that Obama's commie puppets can be stopped.

Well stated.   With no intention to slide the thread, what if anything could "stop" the puppets, media, tech, and academia?
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:31:46 AM EST
[Last Edit: lorazepam] [#39]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:34:08 AM EST
[#40]
Article about those hawks from Spain https://www.kyivpost.com/post/38629
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:40:43 AM EST
[Last Edit: Prime] [#41]
Зупинили броню мінами та FPV, а піхоту допрацювали скидами


Border Guard takes prisoners, says Russians inserted on foot 11km out.
«Затрехсотиться и попасть домой» хотів окупант зі «шторм-v», але здався @luhanskdpsu


Kursk Battle. War Footage & Updates. Why has Ukraine invaded Russia''s region?


KRAKEN UNIT Against Russians: Dangerous Assaults and Night operations. Day with @SpecialAssault


National Guard Spartan Brigade
Два роки відваги та рішучості у боротьбі з російськими окупантами: Бригада «Спартан»


Autocannons and trench clearing with the National Guard 13th Brigade
Хартія штурмує окупантів на Харківщині


DIU recruiting video.
Від сутінок до світанку ми полюємо на звіра. На землі, на воді й у небі.


Третя штурмова у віртуальній реальності: перевіряємо збройові симулятори


Pokrovsk Faces Looming Russian Assault. Civilians Flee the City as 🇷🇺 Close In On Tough Frontline
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:48:13 AM EST
[Last Edit: HIPPO] [#42]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Originally Posted By ITCHY-FINGER:

I think Hungary wants to soak up some of the educated tech fleeing Russia. They said basically that anyone leaving Russia now is against the Putin regime, wants to escape like in the Cold War days, and should be helped, given asylum or whatever.

Knowing Orban's pro-Russian positions, this is probably bullshit but I don't think Hungary is actively trying to help Russia spy or subvert Europe. Probably something else at play.
View Quote
Maybe… but Orban is Putin’s strap-on.

Hundreds of GRU/SVR/FSB assets got PNGd and Russia has to re-seed their intel operative base across Europe. Hungary kicks open the front door. Bob’s your uncle.

Come on dude.

Edit — I’m just bustin balls and mean no disrespect.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:51:51 AM EST
[#43]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:53:27 AM EST
[#44]
~1:40 video in tweet. The Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence “GUR” released a video showing operations far behind enemy lines. Their places are in Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine such as Sevastopol, but also deep inside Russia itself. Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, Smolensk, Kaluga, Oryol, Belgorod etc. the message is clear:

The GUR is everywhere.
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 8:59:24 AM EST
[#45]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 9:02:44 AM EST
[#46]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 9:06:14 AM EST
[#47]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 9:10:45 AM EST
[#48]
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 9:12:03 AM EST
[Last Edit: michigan66] [#49]
NVM
Link Posted: 9/7/2024 9:12:27 AM EST
[Last Edit: HIPPO] [#50]
❗️JUST IN: Ukraine continues its offensive in the Kursk region of Russia

Russian military bloggers complain about the advance of Ukrainian forces along the Sudzha-Kursk, Sudzha-Lgov and Sudzha-Rylsk routes. According to the AFU, by the end of August they controlled 1,294 square kilometers and 100 settlements in the region.

CIA Director Burns called the AFU offensive a "significant tactical achievement" and noted in an interview with the FT that it had exposed the vulnerabilities of the Russian army.
Page / 622
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