World Politics

[python]

among the flood of the past weekend news, this one imo got under reported and frankly surprised me:

Polish government freezes controversial Holocaust law
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/02/24/Polish-government-freezes-controversial-Holocaust-law/4311519502498/

my own thoughts are multiple and in all, not necessarily tied directions..among the questions in my head:

1. the law was poor to begin with but how the zionist lobby was able to freeze it while the 'powerful' eu criticism was just ignored ?
2. wouldn't it be nice if the similar genocides (like the turkish against the armenians) get as much of much attention?
3. is poland's nationalist-leaning govt, refreshingly so imo, showing a welcome sensitivity to some of their 'independent' actions ?

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/poli...a-will-scrap-limit-presidents-term-meaning-xi

China will remove the constitutional restriction on the maximum number of terms the president and vice-president can serve, Xinhua reported on Sunday, paving the way for President Xi Jinping to stay on beyond 2023.

The official news agency said the ruling Communist Party had proposed removing the line that the president and vice-president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms” from the constitution.

Xinhua later released the full 4,480-word proposal in Chinese. The document, which will be considered by the legislature next month, was dated January 26 – a week after the party’s 200-strong Central Committee met to discuss revisions to the constitution.

Xinhua did not say why it took a month to release the document to the public.

Xi, 64, was re-elected as general secretary of the party in October and is expected to be handed a second term as president by the legislature during its annual full session starting on March 5.

The party has in recent decades largely observed an unwritten retirement age of 68 for its top leaders, but its charter does not have any limit on terms. That means there are no restrictions on the general secretary position, but the Chinese constitution does limit presidents to a maximum of two five-year terms.

unday’s announcement follows a Politburo meeting on Saturday and comes ahead of Monday’s three-day Central Committee plenum to discuss personnel and other proposed institutional changes to be tabled at the upcoming parliamentary gathering in Beijing.

Xinhua also reported that the party proposed to write Xi’s political theory – Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era – into the constitution.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/world/asia/china-xi-jinping.html

The timing of the announcement startled even experienced observers of Chinese politics: Mr. Xi completes his first term as president next month and could have waited until late in his second term to act. He also could have stepped down after his second term and run the country from behind the scenes, as some of his predecessors have.

The move alarmed advocates of political liberalization in China who saw it as part of a global trend of strongman leaders casting aside constitutional checks, like Vladimir V. Putin in Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey.

The Constitution now limits Mr. Xi, who became president in 2013, to two terms in that office, amounting to 10 years. But the party leadership has proposed removing the line that says the president and vice president “shall serve no more than two consecutive terms,” Xinhua, the official news agency, reported on Sunday.

By moving so early in his tenure, Mr. Xi, 64, is in effect proclaiming that he intends to stay in office well past 2023, overturning rules of succession in Chinese politics that evolved as the party sought stability following the power struggles to replace first Mao, and then Deng Xiaoping.

 

[djpbaltimore]

Interesting piece about one Russian political intellectual named Alexander Dugin. Considering that this is well read among the military elite of Russia, it gives a different angle to their interference with the 2016 election

The chief aim of Foundations is to revive Evola’s fascist idea of traditionalism, which calls for the eradication of any trace of modern, polyethnic, egalitarian, feminist, and democratic cultures—“American globalism”—in favor of a vast, Eurasian, authoritarian empire of racially pure regimes in which women are confined to the home and breeding. That empire would unite regimes across Europe and extend to the United States and Latin America.

“It is generally important,” Dugin wrote, “to introduce geopolitical chaos within the American daily experience by encouraging all manner of separatism, ethnic diversity, social and racial conflict, actively supporting every extremist dissident movement, racist sectarian groups, and destabilizing the political processes within America.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-far-right-book-every-russian-general-reads?via=newsletter&source=AMDigestOrig_ABTest

 

[Brullnux]

Re:

among the flood of the past weekend news, this one imo got under reported and frankly surprised me:

Polish government freezes controversial Holocaust law
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/02/24/Polish-government-freezes-controversial-Holocaust-law/4311519502498/

my own thoughts are multiple and in all, not necessarily tied directions..among the questions in my head:

1. the law was poor to begin with but how the zionist lobby was able to freeze it while the 'powerful' eu criticism was just ignored ?
2. wouldn't it be nice if the similar genocides (like the turkish against the armenians) get as much of much attention?
3. is poland's nationalist-leaning govt, refreshingly so imo, showing a welcome sensitivity to some of their 'independent' actions ?

In fairness, the holocaust did directly take place in Poland and is much more relevant to them than the armenian one is. That is an issue for turks mostly, whose govt still basically deny it happened.

What do you mean by 3?

 

[python]

Re: Re:

among the flood of the past weekend news, this one imo got under reported and frankly surprised me:

Polish government freezes controversial Holocaust law
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/02/24/Polish-government-freezes-controversial-Holocaust-law/4311519502498/

my own thoughts are multiple and in all, not necessarily tied directions..among the questions in my head:

1. the law was poor to begin with but how the zionist lobby was able to freeze it while the 'powerful' eu criticism was just ignored ?
2. wouldn't it be nice if the similar genocides (like the turkish against the armenians) get as much of much attention?
3. is poland's nationalist-leaning govt, refreshingly so imo, showing a welcome sensitivity to some of their 'independent' actions ?

In fairness, the holocaust did directly take place in Poland and is much more relevant to them than the armenian one is. That is an issue for turks mostly, whose govt still basically deny it happened.

What do you mean by 3?

lets be more accurate wrt to the bolded. the holocaust took place all over europe, including poland. fact. yet, to my knowledge , only poland (pls inform me better if i am wrong) passed a holocaust law absolving itself of the nazi crimes...no other nation in europe but poland decided to attach a criminal responsibility to what is widely understood was a horrendous nazi crime. while the crime was clearly a nazi responsibility, it is also widely known that many europeans locally engaged in both saving and betraying their jewish compatriots. i am not in a position to assign the numeric values to how many were low types vs. the noble-minded...but attempting to criminalize mentioning the local polish betrayals is what seems to excite the critics. i can associate with it b/c to me the nazi crime has never been associated with poland. sweden, russia etc. to put it shortly, the polish law was kicking a dead horse too blatantly as if the perceived guilt was real...too protective as too aggressive sticks out to preclude questioning..

the armenians were mentioned in no regard to poland but in regard to their own tragedy which is very similar yet far from the center of attention the jewish questions dominate the western media. all i question is the jews are unique in their human tragedy... and the antisemitic tag so readily attached if one isn't sensitive ENOUGH to the their tragedy. the israeli/jewish indignation, to put it mildly, is often misplaced or an overreaction. that the turks need to own up like the germans did i agree entirely.
re. the #3,i thought it was obvious i was welcoming the polish govt reflection by freezing the controversial law despite their hard stance on several other issues that have not caused a similar backpedaling. a refugee eu quarters would be an example that poland is adamant about to NOT respect. that is, the poles are more flexible than their public rhetoric and it's agood thing in the eu context when the eu sanctions against poland are a reality as a punishment for other issues. like the judicial power distortions....

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

among the flood of the past weekend news, this one imo got under reported and frankly surprised me:

Polish government freezes controversial Holocaust law
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/02/24/Polish-government-freezes-controversial-Holocaust-law/4311519502498/

my own thoughts are multiple and in all, not necessarily tied directions..among the questions in my head:

1. the law was poor to begin with but how the zionist lobby was able to freeze it while the 'powerful' eu criticism was just ignored ?
2. wouldn't it be nice if the similar genocides (like the turkish against the armenians) get as much of much attention?
3. is poland's nationalist-leaning govt, refreshingly so imo, showing a welcome sensitivity to some of their 'independent' actions ?

In fairness, the holocaust did directly take place in Poland and is much more relevant to them than the armenian one is. That is an issue for turks mostly, whose govt still basically deny it happened.

What do you mean by 3?

lets be more accurate wrt to the bolded. the holocaust took place all over europe, including poland. fact. yet, to my knowledge , only poland (pls inform me better if i am wrong) passed a holocaust law absolving itself of the nazi crimes...no other nation in europe but poland decided to attach a criminal responsibility to what is widely understood was a horrendous nazi crime. while the crime was clearly a nazi responsibility, it is also widely known that many europeans locally engaged in both saving and betraying their jewish compatriots. i am not in a position to assign the numeric values to how many were low types vs. the noble-minded...but attempting to criminalize mentioning the local polish betrayals is what seems to excite the critics. i can associate with it b/c to me the nazi crime has never been associated with poland. sweden, russia etc. to put it shortly, the polish law was kicking a dead horse too blatantly as if the perceived guilt was real...too protective as too aggressive sticks out to preclude questioning..

the armenians were mentioned in no regard to poland but in regard to their own tragedy which is very similar yet far from the center of attention the jewish questions dominate the western media. all i question is the jews are unique in their human tragedy... and the antisemitic tag so readily attached if one isn't sensitive ENOUGH to the their tragedy. the israeli/jewish indignation, to put it mildly, is often misplaced or an overreaction. that the turks need to own up like the germans did i agree entirely.
re. the #3,i thought it was obvious i was welcoming the polish govt reflection by freezing the controversial law despite their hard stance on several other issues that have not caused a similar backpedaling. a refugee eu quarters would be an example that poland is adamant about to NOT respect. that is, the poles are more flexible than their public rhetoric and it's agood thing in the eu context when the eu sanctions against poland are a reality as a punishment for other issues. like the judicial power distortions....

If it were just about language it would be an easy fix. Polish Death Camps become German Death Camps situated in Poland. The more eyebrow raising point is that Poland was not implicated in helping the Germans during the war in regard to the Final Solution. Some Poles were definitely collaborating with the Germans in the same way some Ukrainians were helping the Germans as were Latvians and other nationalities and some were prosecuted after the war for their roles in the camps or in massacres and as informers. There is some major rewriting of history being attempted at the moment it seems in Poland and Ukraine and probably Hungary as well with the rise of the right wing. As for genocide in general you have the recent examples of the Balkans, Rwanda,the Yazedi, the Rohingya and others. At one point Israel tried to stop other countries using the word Genocide as they tried to make out that it should only apply to the Holocaust which was quite strange.

 

[macbindle]

The French were pretty helpful too. Velodrome d'hiver and all that. But oooh La Résistance....

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

among the flood of the past weekend news, this one imo got under reported and frankly surprised me:

Polish government freezes controversial Holocaust law
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/02/24/Polish-government-freezes-controversial-Holocaust-law/4311519502498/

my own thoughts are multiple and in all, not necessarily tied directions..among the questions in my head:

1. the law was poor to begin with but how the zionist lobby was able to freeze it while the 'powerful' eu criticism was just ignored ?
2. wouldn't it be nice if the similar genocides (like the turkish against the armenians) get as much of much attention?
3. is poland's nationalist-leaning govt, refreshingly so imo, showing a welcome sensitivity to some of their 'independent' actions ?

In fairness, the holocaust did directly take place in Poland and is much more relevant to them than the armenian one is. That is an issue for turks mostly, whose govt still basically deny it happened.

What do you mean by 3?

lets be more accurate wrt to the bolded. the holocaust took place all over europe, including poland. fact. yet, to my knowledge , only poland (pls inform me better if i am wrong) passed a holocaust law absolving itself of the nazi crimes...no other nation in europe but poland decided to attach a criminal responsibility to what is widely understood was a horrendous nazi crime. while the crime was clearly a nazi responsibility, it is also widely known that many europeans locally engaged in both saving and betraying their jewish compatriots. i am not in a position to assign the numeric values to how many were low types vs. the noble-minded...but attempting to criminalize mentioning the local polish betrayals is what seems to excite the critics. i can associate with it b/c to me the nazi crime has never been associated with poland. sweden, russia etc. to put it shortly, the polish law was kicking a dead horse too blatantly as if the perceived guilt was real...too protective as too aggressive sticks out to preclude questioning..

the armenians were mentioned in no regard to poland but in regard to their own tragedy which is very similar yet far from the center of attention the jewish questions dominate the western media. all i question is the jews are unique in their human tragedy... and the antisemitic tag so readily attached if one isn't sensitive ENOUGH to the their tragedy. the israeli/jewish indignation, to put it mildly, is often misplaced or an overreaction. that the turks need to own up like the germans did i agree entirely.
re. the #3,i thought it was obvious i was welcoming the polish govt reflection by freezing the controversial law despite their hard stance on several other issues that have not caused a similar backpedaling. a refugee eu quarters would be an example that poland is adamant about to NOT respect. that is, the poles are more flexible than their public rhetoric and it's agood thing in the eu context when the eu sanctions against poland are a reality as a punishment for other issues. like the judicial power distortions....

Yeah I agree, I was just confused by the wording of the last but as I thought you found the polish govt refreshing, not their new approach.

I also agree that the holocaust perhaps gets a disproportionate amount of attention compared to other, sometimes larger, genocides. There's also the issue that I think if you ask the average person how many died in the holocaust/hands of nazi camps, they'd say 6 million, not 11 million. And that's partly down to the fact that roma (80% of them died) are still quite widely hated, but a lack of education also.

 

[Robert5091]

Japanese spooked by Xi's move -
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201802270031.html

There is no way to stop a dictatorship once it has started running wild.

China learned this the hard way when Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China, led the nation through two campaigns, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, which caused enormous casualties.

Since the 1980s, China has been attempting to build on the lessons it learned from these disasters.

To avoid making the same mistake again, China has adopted a collective leadership system designed to ensure that no one person will have overwhelming political power.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, however, is now trying to destroy this system. In a move to further accelerate his single-minded efforts to concentrate power in his hands, Xi has made the Communist Party seek to abolish constitutional limits on presidential terms. The proposal will be formally endorsed by the National People’s Congress during its annual session, to be convened in March.

The proposed revision to the Constitution will remove the provision stipulating the president and vice president of the country are prohibited from serving more than two consecutive terms totaling 10 years.

The move, which will pave the way for Xi to stay in power for many more years, is raising concerns that he will create a personal dictatorship.

China, a global power, will face a dangerous future if it is ruled by a strongman who rivals Mao in authority amid a lack of freedom in politics and the press.

This is a disturbing prospect not just for China but also for neighboring countries and the entire world.

 

[Robert5091]

MbS - the man who turned the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh into a jail - has a purge
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/afp/2018/02/saudi-military-government.html

Saudi King Salman has sacked the military chief of staff and a host of other commanders in a major shake-up, state media said Monday citing a series of royal decrees.

"Termination of the services of General Abdul Rahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan, Chief of Staff," the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, adding that Fayyad al-Ruwaili had been appointed as his replacement.

The monarch also replaced the heads of the ground forces and air defences.

No official reason was given for the changes, but they come as the kingdom's bloody conflict with Yemen's Huthi rebels nears the end of its third year.
...
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the heir to the throne and the son of the monarch, is the country's defence minister and has been consolidating his grip on power in recent months.

 

[Echoes]

Re:

The French were pretty helpful too. Velodrome d'hiver and all that. But oooh La Résistance....

Vélodrome d'hiver was in Paris, in the Occupied zone. The Germans ordered 25,000 Jews arrested on July 16 1942 at the Vel d'Hiv but Xavier Vallat, Commissar for Jewish Affair at Pétain's Government managed to warn Dr Nora of the Jewish resistance in Paris about the imminence of a roundup. That's how over 10,000 Israelites were saved. At the end, about 13,000 were arrested out of the 25,000 demanded by the German occupants (which is a tragedy but orchestrated by the occupant!). So yeah, there was a resistance. (source Jacques Le Groignec in "Pétain et les Américains" quoting Dr Nora's testimony at Xavier Vallat's trial)

 

[python]

...got a shocking email this morning from a friend who lives in lebabon and is usually (or sometimes) well informed...the new russian stealth fighters that have just arrived in syria su-57 were used to attack the american supported forces and their advisors causing casualties including the us military.

the 'news' by itself is so hot, that i decided to check the sources (i normally check last b/c of their bias) that would run with it if it was anything remotely close: the debka file and the sana agency. there is nothing of sorts there !. so i will continue to consider it a fake designed to send a message by its authors, who are likely close to the russians.

in the mean time, attempting to sort out how the un-sponsored east gouta cease fire is doing, i flicked the remote on my normal and diverse morning sample:
trt (turkey): civilians are dying, the regime is bombing and gaining (anti-russian in essence despite being a co-sponsor of the peace process with russia).
aljazeera: almost the the same as trt in tone except more anti-assad tilt.
bbc (british) in tone and form (not verbatim) 'russia and assad are killing and eating babies alive'
DW(german) (surprisingly aloof not to confuse with neutral) showed the state dept spokeslady blasting russia and about the equal time lavrov blasting the us.
france24 (france) in tone and form something btwn DW and TRT in its anti regime blasting
CGTV (china). finally got some reporting directly from the locality. the reporter talked about the 3 jihadist groups (which include the alquaida offshoot) rejecting the 5h zones proposed to safeguard aid to civilians. as a results no civilians were able to leave the war zones. consequently, the fighting resumed. the reporter somehow was able to balance the regime actions with the jihadists actions as opposed to what bbc reported exclusively as assult on the defenseless babies.

i could not care to turn on the rt b/c i know their version w/o watching it.

 

[Robert5091]

First contender for "Headline of the Year" -

Russian sex class stopped before climax

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1418635/russian-sex-class-stopped-before-climax

(see http://johnhelmer.net/russian-presi...ort-of-oligarch-and-apparatchik-gone-fishing/ & join the dots!)

 

[python]

Re:

...got a shocking email this morning from a friend who lives in lebabon and is usually (or sometimes) well informed...the new russian stealth fighters that have just arrived in syria su-57 were used to attack the american supported forces and their advisors causing casualties including the us military.

the 'news' by itself is so hot, that i decided to check the sources (i normally check last b/c of their bias) that would run with it if it was anything remotely close: the debka file and the sana agency. there is nothing of sorts there !. so i will continue to consider it a fake designed to send a message by its authors, who are likely close to the russians.

in the mean time, attempting to sort out how the un-sponsored east gouta cease fire is doing, i flicked the remote on my normal and diverse morning sample:
trt (turkey): civilians are dying, the regime is bombing and gaining (anti-russian in essence despite being a co-sponsor of the peace process with russia).
aljazeera: almost the the same as trt in tone except more anti-assad tilt.
bbc (british) in tone and form (not verbatim) 'russia and assad are killing and eating babies alive'
DW(german) (surprisingly aloof not to confuse with neutral) showed the state dept spokeslady blasting russia and about the equal time lavrov blasting the us.
france24 (france) in tone and form something btwn DW and TRT in its anti regime blasting
CGTV (china). finally got some reporting directly from the locality. the reporter talked about the 3 jihadist groups (which include the alquaida offshoot) rejecting the 5h zones proposed to safeguard aid to civilians. as a results no civilians were able to leave the war zones. consequently, the fighting resumed. the reporter somehow was able to balance the regime actions with the jihadists actions as opposed to what bbc reported exclusively as assult on the defenseless babies.

i could not care to turn on the rt b/c i know their version w/o watching it.

decided to monitor another important m.east channel I24 (israel)...they aren't prioritizing east gouta. just reporting the ceasefire breaking w/o blaming any side.

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/soci...e-condoms-too-small-zimbabwes-health-minister

A Chinese condom manufacturer says it is considering making its products in different sizes after Zimbabwe’s health minister complained that contraceptives made in China and exported to the African nation were too small for its men.

Yeah, that's a problem I have all the time ... honest ... really ...

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180228000236

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his late father Kim Jong Il used fraudulently obtained Brazilian passports to apply for visas to visit Western countries in the 1990s, five senior Western European security sources told Reuters.
Four other senior Western European security sources confirmed that the two Brazilian passports with photos of the Kims in the names of Josef Pwag and Ijong Tchoi were used to apply for visas in at least two Western countries.

What?!

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

First contender for "Headline of the Year" -

Russian sex class stopped before climax

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1418635/russian-sex-class-stopped-before-climax

(see http://johnhelmer.net/russian-presi...ort-of-oligarch-and-apparatchik-gone-fishing/ & join the dots!)

Had problems with the dots? see
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...es-prison-release-thailand-paul-a8232461.html

 

[Robert5091]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...rwell-xi-jinping-power-letter-n-a8235071.html
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/02/sensitive-words-emperor-xi-jinping-ascend-throne/

The China Digital Times, a California-based site covering China, reports a list of terms excised from Chinese websites by government censors includes the letter 'N', Orwell's novels Animal Farm and 1984, and the phrase 'Xi Zedong'.

The latter is a combination of President Xi and former chairman Mao Zedong's names.

Ban "1984"? Hum ...

 

[aphronesis]

https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n01/adam-tooze/a-general-logic-of-crisis

 

[Robert5091]

This will be a TV show one day ...
https://meduza.io/en/news/2018/02/2...t-u-s-asylum-saying-their-lives-are-in-danger

The “sex trainer” of the woman who leaked photos and videos of oligarch Oleg Deripaska and Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko meeting aboard a yacht in August 2016 is asking the U.S. government for political asylum. “Alex Leslie” (Alexander Kirillov) is currently under arrest in Bangkok for illegal sex work, and reportedly faces extradition to Russia, where he’s named in a lawsuit by Deripaska for violations of the tycoon’s privacy.

Leslie says he and his “student,” “Nastya Rybka” (Anastasia Vashukevich), have “valuable information for the United States,” but they face death, he claims, if they’re returned to Russia. Leslie’s appeal to U.S. officials was first reported by the government-funded media outlet RT

https://twitter.com/keithgessen/status/968902147541815297

This Nastya Rybka story is too much. Here’s their letter to the US Embassy in Bangkok offering Trump-Russia dirt.

 

[python]

although strictly speaking it's not a POLITICAL news, what just followed is a huge development...in a continuation of its narrow-minded actions that create enemies even of its allies, the united states just announced the imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum.

the tariffs by themselves as bad for a free trade - something the us always prided itself on - aren't the biggest news. the most worrisome thing imo is that america imposed its national security for the hike justification. when someone tells europe and china - during a peace time, mind you - we are acting to defend our national security, it is a de facto declaration of a trade war.

whether it will go to a full blown tit-for-tat with china and europe will depend on how far the commerce will sink after the initial exchange of blows.

there is no doubt whatsoever, that europe will retaliate and very soon. that's what the major european politicians already said. curiously, china - the country responsible for the glut of metal commodities - said nothing about the retaliation except just protesting loudly. according to most analysts i heard this morning, it is china that stands to benefit from the us/europe trade war.

i continue to just observe and study wondering what EXACTLY europe will retaliate with ? it seems hitting hard the americam IT giants like googy, softy, facebooky etc would be the most painful response. but it would also require a strategy on how to replace/substitute those services and products...

EU considers imposing ‘safeguard’ import tariffs in response to US
https://www.ft.com/content/082d749c-1db2-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6

 

[djpbaltimore]

Important to note that these proposed tariffs are entirely the product of Donald Trump's fever dreams. So, take them with a grain of salt until they are actually implemented IMO.

 

[ScienceIsCool]

As someone who read a transcript of the entire 2 hour speech, I'm surprised nobody has commented on the half hour that Putin devoted to Russia's newly deployed weapons systems and the effect they have. The big one is the Kinzhal (dagger) deployed in the southern military district. It's an air launched hypersonic weapon that travels at Mach 10 with a range of 2000 km. Basically, any carrier group, or really any ship, in or near the Black Sea has no defense should Russia choose to sink them.

Another big one is the long anticipated Sarmat that can deliver a 200 ton vehicle anywhere, from any direction. This completely negates any BMD since they are concentrated along certain ballistic corridors such as in Alaska. These can simply come over the south pole and up the Gulf of Mexico.

Also in testing, but not yet deployed are the Mach 20 hypersonic vehicles that aren't even gliders, but manoeverable ramjets. They can evade all defenses, loiter, and then hit a designated target as a "meteorite". Doesn't even need to be nuclear to do the job.

Another big bombshell is the miniaturized nuclear propulsion system for cruise missiles. They superheat air using a nuclear generator to use as propulsion. Basically, these have inifinite flight time which means they can spend as long as they want navigating past defenses until they strike. Again, these can be launched in any direction from anywhere on the planet to reach their target. These have been tested at one of Russia's test ranges, and interestingly enough this coincides with some unique isotopes that were found over northern Europe that would have been released upon destruction of such an unshielded engine.

So are these a threat to the US? Nope. Because they do not affect the capability of a retaliatory strike, which would destroy Russia completely. What it does do is restore MAD. From 2004 until yesterday, the US has had anti-ballistic missile capabilities. Despite all US intentions, those ABMs have a use besides protecting the US from the bad guy. Iran, Korea, Al Qaeda, the flu, whatever. Whether or not they would ever want to, ABMs mean that theoretically the US could launch a first strike and then intercept any retaliatory strike from Russia. Russia begged the US to reconsider, but here we are 14 years later and Russia has decided not to rely on America's good intentions.

MAD is restored and we're all that little bit safer. To boot, Kinzhal means that anyone screwing around along Russia's borders needs to eff off. Well done, Russia.

John Swanson

 

[Unchained]

Trump and his small hands have blood and crap on them. Russian fighter jets buzzed our aircraft multiple times in the last 6 months.. our ships have been harassed .. Trump sits silent.. now chemical weapons being used on civilians.. with complete Russian endorsement.. now cease fire can't be implemented..why? Because Syria and Russia have concluded that anyone, anytime that disagrees with either regime can be bombed..
Trump is a ..bag of mush

 

[python]

Re:

Trump and his small hands have blood and crap on them. Russian fighter jets buzzed our aircraft multiple times in the last 6 months.. our ships have been harassed .. Trump sits silent.. now chemical weapons being used on civilians.. with complete Russian endorsement.. now cease fire can't be implemented..why? Because Syria and Russia have concluded that anyone, anytime that disagrees with either regime can be bombed..
Trump is a ..bag of mush

i have an impression of you as a reflective american on this board. even so, it is quite revealing how easily you, and probably many of your compatriots omit the background or the specific context when the american military as you put were harassed.

i more or less follow such incidents. there are 4 regions (except syria, where its very complicated) such things happened recently: 1)the iranian territorial waters or near 2) the chinese/south china sea waters or near 3) the black sea territorial waters of russia or near 4) the north korea waters. in each of these areas it it was the american ships and planes that snooped around.

let me ask you now...are any of these regions near the united states and what were the american military doing there ? the answer is they are not and the us was either on a spy mission or on a 'show of force' mission (mostly iran and korea).

now read what i write as it is written. no more or less. in and of itself the united states has not broken any law by cruising around the territorial waters or the airspace as long as it did not violate them. by the same token, the countries which are subject of the us spying or bullying HAVE THE RIGHT for counter measures.rather simple. if you do not understand this, i'd say you are a victim or a grotesque double standard. this did not start during trump and is a continuous game. they play the game and keep mostly quiet.

are you aware of a single case (i mean a publicly available one) where the iranian, korean, chinese or russian ships made a big fuss about being harassed by the us fighter pilots ? i personally cant recall. the reasons are obvious...one, there are very few such cases, if any, with the russian tu-95 occasionally flying around the north american shores. and, two, they look at it as a game to be played btwn the military not in the media.

so, it is my opinion that the supposed harassment by another sides planes is easy to avoid by getting the fork out of the bullying business.

or if one wants to play the game and whine about it, one needs to be ready for countermeasures which always up to a side being spied on. my take. no one needs to agree.

added: the trouble with trump is that this azzhat can put out of control what the professional american military still keep in control