talkpolitics | Entries tagged with military

"War is organized chaos," these words belongt o one of the deputy commanders to Gen. Eisenhower after the Normandy landing in 1944. Now I'd say the battlefield in Ukraine is a good example of this rule. One of the most striking features of the current war is how ill-prepared the Russian military has been. No Plan B in case things don't go according to plan. The other thing that sticks out is how slow the Russian military has been to make adjustments and adapt.

This, according to an analysis published by the Royal Joint Services Institute, a leading British defense think tank. Those analysts cooperate with the General Staff of Ukraine in preparing operational analyses for the Ukrainians and therefore are privy to details, some of which are still classified:

https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/documents-publications/library/library-blog/posts/think-tank-reports-on-the-invasion-of-ukraine/

( Read more... )

kiaa

First, Russia says it chased a British destroyer out of Crimea waters with warning shots and dropping bombs in its path.

You know, Crimea. Russia says this is their territorial waters (aquatorial?), Britain says it's Ukrainian waters so they were in their right... And then comes this.

U.K. Denies Russia Claim Warning Shots Fired at Warship

So which is it then? Yeah, I'm not asking whose waters these are, because, as far as I'm concerned, it's humankind's waters, etc, blabla koombaya. Call me a hippie. No, I'm asking how it's possible that two sides saw two completely different things here. Rather, one saw nothing while the other imagined a big incident. Is there a way to even know these things any more!? And, to troll you a little, what's a British ship doing in the Black Sea anyways?

luzribeiro

"Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’"

This, from the same Donald Trump who has repeatedly lobbied New York to ban "unsightly" disabled veterans from the sidewalks outside his gold tower.

"Trump has been, for the duration of his presidency, fixated on staging military parades, but only of a certain sort. In a 2018 White House planning meeting for such an event, Trump asked his staff not to include wounded veterans, on grounds that spectators would feel uncomfortable in the presence of amputees. “Nobody wants to see that,” he said."

This, from the same Donald Trump who said John McCain is "a loser" for allowing himself to get caught, and also "not a war hero".

It will be interesting to find out how many veterans will continue to support The Grump. Some of the Generals he has called losers were well liked by the troops. He has respect for 'honorable' traitors but not for valiant heroes. His faithful followers are spitting on the graves of our heritage and proclaiming that this country is not exceptional, but just a petty bully like our leader.

Has there been a better time to pose this recurring hypothetical question? What would have happened if President Obama had made those contemptuous statements about the military, military service and the giving of one's life while serving in uniform?

nairiporter

There is a time when a leader needs to make a decision that will not play well for themselves but is the right thing to do. My assumption is that the captain knew the likely consequences. It's very likely that he had informed the chain of command about the situation on board. He balanced his career against the lives of his crew. Brave decision.

Only time and investigations will tell if it was the right choice. An ‘Acting’ Secretary is unable to exercise any judgement since an ‘acting’ anything is not qualified by Congress and is squarely under the power of this demented regime.

Loyalty of the service personnel is sworn to the Constitution, however every field officer knows that loyalty in reality is to the individual service personnel to his or her immediate officer or NCO.

This may signal the start of service personnel questioning their own loyalty to the Commander in Chief. The Russian Revolution happened when soldiers refused the order to fire on citizens.

Food for thought.

Ps. The way the captain was sent off by his crew, is quite telling. Apparently, it has got some feathers ruffled. Good for them.

tcpip

Apparently, this is the topic of the month. It just so happens I wrote a short piece about part of the subject in December 2018, which I would like to invite some discussion over. Namely, the idea of rogue automated weaponry.

In the End, the Machines Will Win.

And specific technologies aside, this the issue that I have been grappling with for a very long time:

The underlying problem is that human moral reasoning is amplified by our technological capability - which can be positive or negative. If you like the moral reasoning determines the mathematical sign, our own actions are a number, indicating the force of the action, and technology is a multiplier (enhancing) or divisor (restricting) or actions. Over time it becomes possible for a person to engage in actions well and truly above their personal ability.

Whilst suffering "a few" plot holes, I think the drones in the movie Oblivion were pretty interesting as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEby9OkePpg

mahnmut

You've got a point, whoever you are that is saying the news cycle is obsessed with ratings and doesn't give two fucks about actual important news on events with a great impact on a large number of people.

Take the huge scandal that's rocking the US these days, or at least those circles that actually care about anything beyond Kim Kardashian's fat smelly ass. You see, for about 18 years several US administrations have lied to the public about Afghanistan. 2000 pages of classified documents and 400 interviews with former military personnel have surfaced on WaPo, and the shit has started splashing around the fan pretty bad now.

Let's not fool ourselves.This leak is a serious blow on the very foundations of democracy, because the lies were being done by no less than three consecutive presidential administrations: GWB, Obama, and now Trump.

https://nypost.com/2019/12/14/lying-by-bush-and-obama-over-afghanistan-is-this-eras-pentagon-papers/

( No surprise there? )

fridi

No photos, please! It's rare that a British PM would play hide and seek with a US president. They're supposed to be attesting to their "special relationship", right? But BoJo stood at a choice. He knew his buddy Donnie who was in the UK for the NATO summit is not very liked by the British public. But Donnie was untypically forgiving while his erratic host was running to and fro' to avoid the cameras.

This very much resembles NATO's situation as of now. On its 70th jubilee, the alliance could've worked a bit on its vision of the future. The initial intention (to keep the Americans in, the Soviets out, the Germans down) could've been updated. Instead, the whole event became a diplomatic damage control effort. Atlantism is said to be in crisis, stuck between the whimsical America and the parsimonious Europeans. The Trump/Macron quarrel also didn't help give an impression of an alliance that's working forward.

( Read more... )

luzribeiro

Recently the US were supposed to leave Syria, and did not, or rather moved the troops to different locations in the Middle East. This was presumably due to the threat of Turkey invading the areas the US were stationed. Under that premise, maybe things are getting too hot for the troops located there and it would be better to move them farther out of missile range in other parts of Asia?

Although it has not made much news, North Korea is still testing missiles there. I wonder what the South Korean response would be, as of yet they have not commented. Yet, Trump's next move was stunning...

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LOL. You have a nice place here. Would you like to see it stay that way, or would you like for it to be exposed to people that would like to harm it? Oh, you'd like to keep it huh? Well it will only cost you 400% more. That's Trump's "Art of the Deal".

What a wonderful idea for isolationists and a horrible one for everyone else.

nairiporter

The 50 largest hi-tech companies in the world have been ranked by a Dutch NGO along three criteria: could they develop killer robot technologies, are they currently working on such projects, and do they intend to ever develop such technologies. And Amazon and Microsoft are among the companies placed at the top of the new AI arms race, as per their report.

Using AI in weapons technologies would allow such systems to autonomously choose and attack their targets. And this is very controversial from an ethical standpoint.

( Read more... )

abomvubuso

Turkey makes deal to buy Russian-made S-400 air defense system

We've talked about this before. Turkey wants to buy Russian missile systems, and predictably, America ain't happy about it. The deal could bring Turkey a new batch of US sanctions, and, if not a NATO exit, at least an effective limiting of its membership in the alliance. Now Erdogan stands before a choice he doesn't want to make. And the biggest winner of this row is, of course, Russia.

"No one should expect of us to swallow back what we've already spat out", Erdogan, in his typical style, recently said about the purchase. It's a done deal, essentially. And there's no way Turkey could reverse their decision, regardless of all the US and NATO invective.

( Read more... )

dexeron

By now, of course, everyone has heard the most recent horror to utter from Trump's mouth: he wants the soldiers of the United States military (recently deployed to confront the "caravan" of Central American refugees) to treat anyone throwing rocks as if they are holding a rifle. Setting aside for a moment the fact that Trump's characterization of the refugees as violent is completely unfounded, Trump was, in effect, giving orders to the United States military to respond to rock throwing with lethal force. This violates not only U.S. military law, but all known rules of engagement as well as the values military personnel subscribe to. Many veterans have spoken out, decrying Trump's statement, and noting that they were often subject to rock throwing in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet refrained from using their firearms because they knew it would be a war crime. One would hope that the training and values of the U.S. military would likewise protect the Central American refugees should some of them actually throw rocks or appear in any other way potentially threatening, but I fear that the situation is far more complicated, and dangerous, than that.

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mahnmut

First of all, let this sink in...

The US under Trump drops an average of 121 bombs every day in a number of undeclared wars worldwide:

This means 1 US bomb explodes somewhere every 12 minutes.

You know what they say, one person's death is a tragedy; a million deaths is just statistics. Except, if you try counting to one million, say, one number per second, that'd take almost two weeks. So it's doable. Hoorah!

The problems start after that. If we want to reach a billion (that's with B), we'd need 32 years. A trillion makes... uhm, that's even beyond my imagination.

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htpcl.livejournal.com

When in the early morning hours of April 7 the US destroyers USS Porter and USS Ross fired 59 Tomahawk missiles against Syrian air base Shayrat, the big question wasn't if the US had violated international law (which they had). What was of real concern to most analysts was if a military operation by a nuclear superpower could bring the death of military personnel of another nuclear power, thus creating a classical casus belli, or case for war. It seemed, though, that the Russian command in Syria had been warned in advance before the attack, so the chances of direct confrontation and spiraling escalation in the Cuban crisis sort of way was prevented pretty neatly.

Now the more interesting question about this attack is different, and it could have serious consequences for Russia both in geopolitical and military sense. I'm talking of the widely heralded myth about the impenetrable air defense system, the last-generation C-400. Elements of that system are installed around the air bases in Tatrus and Lattakia, hosting the Russian warplanes in Syria. In theory, C-400 is an air defense system with mid- to long-range that could intercept targets within 600 km and destroy them at a 400 km distance. It should be able to destroy planes, drones, ballistic and other missiles. But during the Tomahawk assault in Shayrat, for some reason all C-400 stations remained silent. All 59 missiles, based on 40-year old technology, flew unimpeded across the entire defense line. So far no one has come up with an official explanation of what really happened.

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luvdovz.livejournal.com

Trump: Crimea was 'taken' by Russia

'We don't return our territories' Russia responds to US call to return Crimea to Ukraine

See, Trump is the perfect bluffer. Don't you ever sit on a poker table with him, ever.

While the US and global progressive community, Apple, Microsoft, Google et al are hurling criticism at him because of his ridiculously arbitrary travel ban, another piece of news went almost unnoticed: he's planning a colossal expansion of the US navy.

The number of warships will increase from 272 to 355. One more carrier will be built, 16 other large war ships, 18 submarines and many more lesser vessels. The purpose is to deploy all of this into the Pacific. Not Russia, not Iran. The Pacific. Russia has one crappy carrier, and Iran has 7 meager U-boats, 3 frigates and 2 corvettes. Getting worked up about those is just bullshit.

No, the real target is China. The Pivot to Asia. Everything beyond that is pure bluffing. Flynn, the Crimea debacle, the NATO funding - all those are just noises in the system. Trump likes to create a chaos and do his thing amidst it. And his thing now is China. But he may've done his calculations wrong. China is not Iraq or Libya. It's where the plan for US dominance will find its grave.

And no, any illusions that he's truly "anti-establishment", are deluded. He's part of the One-Party state that has ruled the US for eternity: the Party of War.

luvdovz.livejournal.com

If anyone had considered the possibility that the EU could soon create autonomous united military forces of its own, perhaps they had overestimated the ability of the Brussels bureaucrats to act swiftly and resolutely. They might've also underestimated Britain's willingness to fiercely defend their national interest. Despite all the political talk about an all-European army and the informal meeting of the EU leaders last month, real action on the issue has boiled down to modest measures, compared to Juncker's loudly proclaimed intentions.

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ddstory.livejournal.com

Britain will veto EU army, says Defence Secretary

OK, here's the deal. For two decades everyone in the EU has been talking about the need to improve cooperation in defense. Some limited success has been achieved in that regard. For instance, some military units have been created, although they've never been engaged in actual military action. Cooperation in the area of air transport is also improving, although it still includes only 7 countries at this point. It's evident that there's much to work on. It's a fact that the EU member states combined have more firepower and financial resource for defense than the US. Their problem is the staggering inefficiency of their joint military. Simply because every country pursues its own agenda.

Today's challenges cause people to feel a crisis of security, and want stronger defense. This is confirmed by the recent success of various populist parties across Europe. And the challenge is not just securing the borders - people actually expect more. Maybe excepting those pacifists who still naively believe that a disarmed, "soft-power" Europe has any future - or the radical nationalists who are against any further European cooperation anyway. Although it's Hungarian populist Victor Orban who is dreaming of a European army. Maybe he imagines it as some sort of strictly Christian (Crusader?) institution? I don't know.

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dreamville-bg.livejournal.com

Here's a handful of crackpot conspiracy theories for breakfast. Let's see if something sticks, and helps your digestion. See, for the last few weeks US secretary of state Kerry has toured nearly half the world, doing his best not to lag behind his Russian counterpart Lavrov, pushing hard for a ceasefire in Earth's current hottest spot, Syria. Several times he has said in the media he was doing this on Obama's bidding, which is natural. The former is the latter's employee, after all. Indeed, the Nobel peace prize laureate did need some tangible peace-related success at the end of his term, especially after the debacles in Beijing and Manila. He also needed a "see? we're the good cop, but Russia is blocking us cos they're sobad" sort of narrative, for propaganda purposes.

Problem is, the peace he seemed to be pushing so hard for, got instantly shot in the leg, and not by his presumed foe Putin, but by factors dwelling back home. Just two days after the much heralded ceasefire was proclaimed, the US-led coalition hit Syrian positions from the sky, killing scores of Syrian troops (Russia massacred UN aid workers shortly thereafter, which is even more deplorable - although Putin's own transgressions are a whole separate story on its own). The issue here are those positions that the US bombed. The positions were not ISIS. They were Assad. Contrary to what they'd tell you on the media, there can't have been much confusion about their identity. Assad's positions were well known, as were ISIS positions at the time. They could be clearly recognized from the sky.

Logically, the question arose, what is ISIS in relation to the US. Foe? Friend? What is it? And why would the US ultimately want to give ISIS a breath of fresh air by hitting the troops that were directly fighting them on the field? (As opposed to distantionally, from the sky, as the US usually fights). Don't the series of deadly terror attacks at both sides of the Atlantic mean anything? If they do, why would a US operation want to aid ISIS while claiming to fight ISIS? And even more importantly, who's really running the US military?

( More of the same sort of rant... )

abomvubuso.livejournal.com

If tomorrow Russia suddenly (and hypothetically) invades a NATO member country in East Europe, the NATO forces would hardly have the capacity to react to the invasion. And not because they're weak, or ill-equipped and poorly trained, but because they just won't be able to deploy their forces in time. Or at least the sufficient amount of forces.

That's what an ever growing number of top politicians and military commanders in the alliance are acknowledging, and many security think-tanks too. Paradoxically, NATO's biggest enemy in a situation of escalating conflict would not be Russia or any other foreign foe, but bureaucracy and logistics. Acknowledging that they'd need a new approach if they were to parry any potential Russian operations of the Crimean type, on their meeting in Wales from two years ago, NATO decided to create a special emergency task-force, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF). This unit has personnel of about 4-5 thousand and is supposed to quickly deploy that force within the first 48 hours. Except, that's only in theory.

( The realities are a bit different )

ddstory.livejournal.com

Neural wave machines FTW!

The Pentagon Wants To Put This In Your Brain

The U.S. military wants to build a brain modem that allows you to control objects by willpower.

No need for soldiers to use virtual reality to control drones, seems like there's a forthcoming 2016 Darpa-backed Pentagon Implantable Neural Interface Brain Modem in the making. Obviously, there's still a long way to go with it, like finding the right bio-compatible device that'd be small enough to slip into the brain, but these aspirations bring us closer to truly merging with technology, as the transhumanist proponents among the futurists like Michio Kaku have advocated.

( Read more... )

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Talk politics.

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Entries tagged with military

Putin's major miscalculation

This is getting interesting

He does abuse the "L" word quite a bit

The case of Capt. Brett Crozier

Weapons and The Technological Singularity

The 18 year old lie

Don't pretend you don't need NATO

That's how you treat your friends... NOT.

HAL-9000 is coming

Arms of discord

(no subject)

Of bombs & drones

For whom do the tomahawks fly

So the tango begins again

The military Schengen

You were gonna leave, weren't you?

Who actually rules US foreign policy?

NATO's logistical war

Y'all shall be chipp'd!

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May 2025

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