Tom Stiglich.
Open Thread – Weekend 6 Jan 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 16 Sept 2024
- No, Your Holiness, killing babies and border control are not the same
- Open Thread – Weekend 14 Sept 2024
- Open Thread – Thurs 12 Sept 2024
- Open Thread – Mon 9 Sept 2024
Matt Margolis.
Brett Lethbridge.
Peter Broelman.
Mark Knight.
Hairy Festerpenis chimes in with a thought queef.
?Mary Kostakidis
@MaryKostakidis
South Africa Emerges as Moral Giant on Gaza
‘Pretoria is challenging the Israeli government’s claim to innocence, which for far too long has allowed it to act with impunity against the long-suffering Palestinians.
The collective West will forever stand disgraced and exposed due to its blind support of Israel’s genocidal slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since Oct. 7. ‘
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/01/05/south-africa-emerges-as-moral-giant-on-gaza/
The US right now can’t even keep the Red Sea open.
I love it when the Cat War Room is in full flight! Takes me back to SincCat.
Cigars, spirits unadulterated with ice, feet on the coffee table, flensers drawn.
Good times.
Shame some of their less attractive tactics made their way to Israel.
I see you, you insufferable hypocrites.
Good. I’ll get a downtick for my reference to unspeakable cruelty carried out by those cute little South Africans against white farmers.
Bring it.
calli you’ve mellowed since the NewCat, the bucket and mop made regular appearances and quie often the karcher or gerni. Can’t remember which.
?Mary Kostakidis
@MaryKostakidis
South Africa Emerges as Moral Giant on Gaza
Note, this Jew hating cockroach has said nothing about dead Jews of 7 October 2023.
This Jew hater is an utterly repugnant individual. But it is good to know she supports Nazis.
John H
I was careful to make the comparison between Russia and Western Europe and don’t disagree with your last comment.
Currently they’re a strange mixture of absolute military superiority crossed with total diplomatic imbecility. It’s a weird situation. Gary Varvel’s cartoon this morning captured it pretty well. Thanks Tom!
It has the capacity to crush the hootie tooties. We’ll see if they do some time this year.
I also think the Israelis and or the Americans may have been responsible for the funeral bombing in Iran. Two can play the proxy game.
Ranga, sometimes the only solution is a sandblaster. Narrowly applied for maximum effect.
For the two ahistorical ignoramuses blighting this blogue, several million Jews were slaughtered in Eastern Europe between ’39-’45 on the basis of their race, not their religion.
FFS, how many times does this bleedingly obvious fact have to be pointed out?
Keith Richardson is family to these lions. Going for a walk with them must be trippy.
Can Our LIONS Catch Their Own Food? | The Lion Whisperer
John H
You mean with the sudden diaspora since the war, as well as not being able to associate with the West the way it used to? Reasonable comment.
Kostakidis would make great entertainment for the Hamas lotharios.
Once they knew, they’d take great pleasure in “converting” her, and then disposing of her. She needs to watch this.
But she won’t get the humour, or the serious message. That’s why her philanthropy is strictly telescopic.*
*. Dickens, Little Dorrit
Cassie, it’s impossible to get a job at either SBS or the ABC unless you’re a Jew-hating racist.
It’s one of the lefty tribe’s questions you’re expected to guess correctly.
All that classical stuff about being judged on the content of your character is out the window. The left’s new racism demands absolute obedience to get a job in lefty government media’s propaganda factories, especially in backward, illiberal Australia.
I’d suggest that’s a work in progress.
How would they frame the compulsory interview question though? 🙂
“Putin’s statements likely suggest that he is preparing a long-term justification to keep forces mobilised and engaged in combat for the perpetual defence of Russia’s sovereignty against the West,” it concludes.
…
“Such high casualties for small territorial gains are likely prompting Putin to present a strong and ideological justification to continue the prolonged war of choice on which he has launched Russia,”
This just popped up. I was wrong when I write a while ago about Russia possibly locking itself into a state of permanent war footing in the occupied areas. Putin wants a war footing on multiple fronts. He is trying to convince the populace that the West is preparing to invade Russia.
I don’t believe this for a second.
Perhaps this will help..
Characteristic NATO Russia
Personnel – –
Total military personnel 5,817,100 1,330,900
Active soldiers 3,358,000 830,900
Reserve forces 1,720,700 250,000
Paramilitary units 738,400 250,000
Air Force – –
Total aircraft 20,633 4,182
Fighters / interceptors 3,398 773
Ground attack aircraft 1,108 744
Transport aircraft 1,506 444
Special aircraft 970 147
Tanker aircraft 615 19
Total helicopters 8,614 1,531
Population. 956m. 143m
GDP. 32.4t. 1.8t
Modern Israelis, however, are being slaughtered on the basis of their religion, not their race.
Yeah, but, you know, Jooze control the weather when they’re not controlling world finances*…
*If such a ridiculous abstract concept could exist.
Meanwhile, their ratings continue to decline.
The US right now can’t even keep the Red Sea open.
Of course it can…
It chooses not to.
Elections have consequences.
JC It is a general trend, there are much better prospects in other countries. Military wise though the jailing of those weapons engineers on trumped up charges will steer the best and brightest to other fields.
Bro destroyed some black comedians and then brutalised Joe Rogan and his less successful comic buddies.
https://youtu.be/IwNR_BLLDCU?feature=shared
Someone who spitefully attacks a commentator without offering a decent rebuttal as to why the comment is wrong is nothing short of a blight on this blog. No wonder people leave or no longer bother to contribute.
They even have space lasers. MTG blew the lid on that one.
A bit of additional colour from today.
Majority of Germans Back Return of Compulsory Military Service: Younger People Not So Sure (5 Jan)
Which century is it we’re in, again?
If people insist on ‘parallels’, the more appropriate parallel is the Russo-Finnish war (Winter War) of 1939/1940.
Excellent comparison really.
Probably with the same end, Ukraine will be forced to a negotiated settlement and lose some territory.
What I hope doesnt happen is Russia looks at its many points of failure and rectifies them.
Without the Finnish fracas Russia would have been truly curb stomped by the Nazis.
No T-34
No Laag 3 and at least tolerable airframes.
More deadwood generals
a war industry operating at 1/10th its capacity
SEVENTY FOUR lashes for the crime of removing her hijab in public. Words like barbaric and savages spring to mind.
I’m following the Auschwitz memorial Twitter feed, with mini bios of murdered Jews and sometimes Poles and others.
It’s noticeable how often the Jewish victims have obvious middle eastern antecedents but now free palestine* is screaming at all Israeli Jews to go back to Poland etc.
Talk about heads I win tales you you lose.
*that includes you Clemmie with the honorary whitenessing
How does it go again?
“Kill the Boer! Kill the farmer!”
Moral giant my hairy aunt!
Ah, the Oz, breaking out that qualitee j’ism:
Beyond parody. Why anyone would part with their hard earned for rubbish such as the above defies description.
*Blessed as you might be, without a brain.
This is the Cat. That’s who we are, that’s how we roll.
Well, some of us, some of the time.
The UKR has run out of Human Power (Manpower). No amount of Drones can replace them. Game over in 2024 IMHO.
I don’t think this is ever about Ukraine winning. The start point of the war should have seen Russia prevail utterly in 30 days. They had absolute superiority on paper and the fact they couldn’t do it shows how incompetent they are at planning, logistics, support and war fighting…
This is about how weak Russia is and proving the point that with half decent equipment, undermanned and under trained people Russia can be held at bay.
They wouldn’t have an airforce or navy in a month against NATO.
They also had a numerical advantage over Germany in WW2 but they would have been defeated without the US and UK Lend Lease Programme.
Except for bluster they have not advanced since then and they actually used WW2 tactics which failed miserably in this war.
Against who, an army of pensioners and the disabled. Ukr is drafting 50 year olds now. and kidnapping “recruits” off the street. Drafting in downs kids. As well as having neighboring allies turn in Ukr refugees for their meat grinder. The west is in the process of vacating the space and turning off the money spigots , from which Ukr fund it’s military salaries. Ukraine’s population has fled to the tune of approaching 50% since the fall of communism. Their infrastructure is in tatters and getting reduced each day. Ukraine will become more of a ramshackle corrupt un-governed free for all than it was if it doesn’t reach a settlement. Which is probably what the wets’s corruptocrats are banking on.
How Pervasive Is Academic Corruption?
Biden’s Energy Loan Czar Was a Major Investor in a Near-Bankrupt Energy Company. That Company Is Set To Receive $1.5 Billion From His Office
The cost to everyone to demonstrate that, is a cost I would hate for Australia to pay.
As someone who did his overseas service on Rottnest, I don’t see how we could do better, except for our moat.
John Brumble
Jan 6, 2024 5:43 PM
John:
To me, the main issue is that the Umpire has been sidelined by technology.
Part of the social context of cricket is the Umpire is sometimes wrong, but never maliciously wrong.
Technology is being substituted for human frailty, without thinking about the game itself.
Now HILLARY Clinton is named in Epstein papers, as Virginia Roberts-Giuffre’s lawyers suggest her and Bill’s foundation may have bankrolled Ghislaine Maxwell
Yep, a Jew hating cockroach indeed. I detest greeks almost as much as I detest moozleys.
Muslims Will Run America In 30 Years & US Will Have Sharia Law, Says Entrepreneur Patrick Bet-David
Another big problem for Russia is that it is losing intellectual capital.
I recently met a mid 20 to 30 year old Russian male in a Sydney workplace where he was performing IT management tasks. He left his family including wife and son in Moscow in January last year because he was concerned about being called up. His father, a Russian mid level military officer told him to leave the country because of the upcoming conscription.
oh, oops, that would be modern greeks as opposed to their ancient antecedents, the latter of whom would be equally disgusted to be aware of them.
Valiants – FFS, you slimy tasteless nayzee collaborating imbeciles.
I’m glad Marrickville has been wiped of your foul temporary ascendancy. Albansleazey is almost a step up from your subterranean depths.
Slighty unfair Digger. Russian AA capability is top notch, which we saw when Prigozhin got excited. His column downed 8 combat aircraft with only the stuff they had on hand.
Unfortunately wars are won by 18 year olds with a rifle sitting on the other guys’ territory, so good AA doesn’t help much when you are on offense. Tech has swung hard to defense this century, and the Ukies are the ones with the Maxim Gun this time.
John H:
That’s a very optimistic outlook there.
It reminds me “Just kick the front door in and the whole rotten structure will collapse!”
Just because we can’t see the Russian Army don’t think it doesn’t exist.
Happens to me often enough. I can even tell by the downticks that many people here don’t like me but won’t respond; either because they couldn’t’ be bothered or can’t do it. I’ve been called a sicko, pompous, arrogant, etc etc. .
There will still be plenty of teenagers coming through with dreams of revenge and heroism. Ukraine is a mess but when the war is over funding will arrive. The last thing we should want is for Putin to take over Ukraine. Of course war is a business, that’s not new under the sun.
It doesn’t. You’re counting US forces that will not substantively be able to be redeployed to Europe without weakening US interests in other theatres. Take a look at the literature produced over the last two years that show how critically weak the production of ammuition is Europe let alone in the US. The Brits and French would run out of ammo in less than a week in the high intensity conflict now routine in Ukraine.
Probably too optimistic. Have a look at the latest acquisitions by Poland and Germany. Both countries are going big on the latest military tech which Russia can’t match. I was surprised to learn Poland is buying a lot of South Korean hardware but it is very good hardware. SK has developed a low observable fighter that looks like a mini-F22 and Poland has placed an order. Their MBTs are also very good. Military analysts have long known there are serious problems in the Russian military and the Ukraine war has made that very obvious.
Zulu, re the WWII stevedores on the Aussie wharves, your fellow croweater Hal Colebatch wrote a book about it, Australia’s Secret War
Link is to a story about it – dunno if it’s still available, but it sold well, so probably in libraries.
If you got bad news, you wanna kick them blues, cope-ain.
“Weak” Russia has beaten the United States, Western Europe and Australasia + sanctions. And they did it easily.
The neocons were salivating about regime change, remember? LOL.
Meanwhile, the Americans and the Western alliance lost to the Taliban – after 20 years. Pound for pound, this was the most humiliating military defeat in human history.
Large Hezbollah missile attack on IDF forces across Northern Israel in last few hours.
I have zero idea about what you guys are arguing about re Russia and Ukraine…but go to it.
My focus has been narrowly confined to Israel for personal reasons.
And no, I don’t like attacks without argument. Play the ball not the Cat.
Mark Steyn has been saying the future belongs to those who turn up.
I don’t want Putin to do anything but reach a negotiated settlement with Ukraine. for the territory Russia now controls. I very much doubt Putin wants all of Ukraine unless it’s handed to him , which I doubt very much too. NATO isn’t going to war with Russia and Russia won’t go to war NATO. Despite what the corrupt hawks in DC are pining for. Europe would become a disaster zone. No votes there.
If they are anything like Ukrainians before them they will leave. Ukr will need a lot more than pissed off teenagers to dislodge Russia from Ukraine. Besides, they’ll be more interested in finding their sweethearts than becoming amputees in a Ukraine trench.
Aren’t Zulu and Hal C sand gropers? I thought Von Eimen was a crow eater.
*Von Einem
I’ve got a copy on my library shelves.
Anybody else, remember on the old Cat about how Numbers got his knickers in a twist about how hardly done by, the Australian unionists were, during World War Two?
Correct.
No, no, no. Their appeal is becoming more selective. They only seek the best quality audience.
In other news, The Beloved has the choice between Thelma and Louise and Lara Croft.
Gee, that’s difficult.
Which takes me back to Gab. She’s needed here. She always carries heat in her designer handbag.
So do I however I am unaware that either nation is prepared to do that.
It is not about dislodging Russia, it is about being a perpetual nuisance and there will still be plenty of time for romance. Teenagers grow up. Once the war is over I doubt countries will continue to accept refugees.
And Putin was going to Russify Ukraine.
How’s that project going?
There’s no shortage of hubris to go around here.
Another big problem for Russia is that it is losing intellectual capital.
I read somewhere today, Russia produces more engineers than the USA.
Cant vouch for its accuracy.
However Im also sure many, many of those engineers dont remain in Russia but head for greener fields.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2015/06/09/the-countries-with-the-most-engineering-graduates-infographic/?sh=89082c0667d6
Muslims constitute ~1% of the US population. Not a hope.
It was engineers I had in mind because I’ve read similiar reports.
From Top Enders link. Those soldiers were sailing for North Africa, as part of the 2nd A.I.F. Those letters may well have been “last letters home”, and the fvcking douche nozzles of wharfies never bothered to honor their end of the deal by posting them.
Evangelical Christians plus Orthodox Jews vs Mooslimes?
Leftards are dealing themselves out of the game by not breeding.
What is with Sky and these endless Royals programs.
Not just Pommie royals but now Leggo royals as well.
New Idea has never died. It has colonised the clueless MSM.
Russia has plenty of those type of internal nuisances and manages to deal with them effectively. One more will be manageable in return for consolidating the “dirt” it has occupied.
When western support dries up, you will see a very quick change of heart in Ukraine’s position on negotiations. I’m sure of that.
Winston – We can see the Russian Army now and it is less that what was advertised.
There was a lot of white anting going on, and scrambling to fill out BTGs in the first months of the war. Ghost soldiers were a real problem, so was equipment.
Then it turned out the Ukies had bought the Russian infantry com unit on the black market several years prior and cracked it, so they were able to listen into to the command conduits and jam them. The Russians were forced to switch to mobile phones, which the Ukrainians also listened in to.
Then it became apparent that the Russian Army pretty much hasn’t any NCOs. Platoon and company formations were basically an officer and a bunch of privates. So the tactics were rigid and brittle, with nearly no initiative being shown. The Ukies had had a long training support program since 2014 with the British and other Western armed forces, and have a better tactics and NCO cohort as a result. Even now Russian infantry tactics are really bad, and training is very lacking.
Then of course the Russian armour was found to be very vulnerable due to the autoloader carousel problem. Their APCs were also a lot more fragile than expected. To some extent these problems cancelled out since Ukraine was using ex-Soviet AFVs too. But the influx of Western portable AT systems was devastating.
The BTG model also didn’t work since the infantry wanted to stay in their BTRs and not come out to do the necessary support sweeping for the tanks. BTGs seem now to be mostly dissolved into conventional infantry battalions with armour support.
With all of this the way the US Army went through Iraq’s T-72 armed Republican Guard divisions is much more understandable. Soviet arms were heavily overestimated in their effectiveness. Which perhaps was not bad thing, on hindsight I suppose. I’m currently seeing snippets which suggest elderly F-16s are running rings around the Russian Air Force, although it is early days in that area.
May not matter because …
Millennials Are Not Becoming More Conservative As They Age – And Twitter’s Delighted (For Once)
Alternatively, the cost of doing so exceeds the benefit.
Hezbollah declares the last rounds of rockets to be a response to the killing of Arouri in Beirut
What is with Sky and these endless Royals programs.
Give up TV. You won’t regret it!!
dover0beach
Jan 6, 2024 6:30 PM
In the event of a war with Russia, and considering how many males of the Islamic variety are in Europe who would be happy – even delirious – to re enact the Hamas rape of Southern Israel if only they could get their hands on light infantry weapons by the container load, how many divisions would need to be held back to garrison the respective homelands?
May be that if a dissertation was written in 2009 the wiki entry is based on the dissertation
business insider reaching with wiki plagiarism accusation.
There is a video on that and it is incredible. The Iraqis were well dug in, had sensible tactics, and were slaughtered. Their shells bounced off the US tanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4b7yl99wlo
Bruce I am surprised when bods argue the F16 is still a very effective aircraft. It’s only real limitation is range but that won’t matter in Ukraine. It can be extremely effective in ground attack and SEAD, accelerates very quickly, and has 9G capability.
It’s still available at Boffins.
Its been dropped into the memory hole by the wider society, as also happened to the brilliantly referenced and researched Windschuttle books.
I feel very ambivalent about this book. In most war books we have a fairly clear idea how much of the story we can trust, because of other sources and subsequent responses being published.
This book however, is made of anecdotes and rumors recalled many decades later. There is very little cross-correlation with other witnesses, news reports or archive history.
Meanwhile, the Americans and the Western alliance lost to the Taliban – after 20 years. Pound for pound, this was the most humiliating military defeat in human history.
No they didn’t and you are not doing yourself any favours for suggesting they did.
One man, a despicable child sniffing, seditious moron in the White House and those two military fools, Austin and Millie lost that war… not the US military and it was never a war in the first place. If you want to raise the question of real war fighting try the US in Kuwait… that is a real military force fighting a real military force and from a purely military perspective it was over in 100 hours. The stupidity of Bush 1 didn’t allow it to be finished…
It’s pretty clear from some of the comments here that purported US military superiority is the comfort blanket for many on the centre-right.
Hardly.
We know they would sell us out the moment we fail to show up and back them. Oh wait…
And we have seen them through our lifetime ‘fail to win’ because of their top men sniffing their own media.
Agreed.
I have a copy of the book also, and while a worthwhile project, I do feel that more could have been done to support the anecdotes with primary sources, of which there is no shortage. Linked with other subjects, such as the ‘Brisbane Line’ controversy, the book could have challenged what seems to be the dominant narrative of that period: That Curtin and Labor saved Australia. For what its worth, I think that Curtin did an O.K. job. Not brilliant, but O.K. Ditto General MacArthur.
“In other news, The Beloved has the choice between Thelma and Louise and Lara Croft.”
Calli,
walk into the loungeroom carrying two bricks, and let the Beloved know that Misery is on tonight. 😀
It is on, check your guide.
Israel attacking hezbo in response
John – I’m just going on some brief reports I saw in the last week or so. It appears the cruise missile that took out the landing ship was launched from a F-16. If so it was one of the first the Ukies have fielded. They’re due to have a roster of 60, mainly given by the Dutch.
I haven’t looked at each case but in the last weekish the Russians lost a flurry of combat jets. It may be that I’m adding 2 + 2 and getting 22.
Russian combat aircraft are excellent too of course. Extensively used for cruise missile deployment and glide bombs, although they’re running out of good targets for the former. The Patriots are making the latter iffy also because of their long range. Lately the Russians had been trying to get some infantry air-support going, but that doesn’t seem to be doing well.
Serious question: How is ‘winning’ defined now, in (a). War, and (b). Politics?
How do conservatives define winning in both of those arenas?
I know, Pogria. A horrible women double feature.
Himself prefers Lara. Can’t imagine why.
Incidentally the Ukies appear to’ve burned through all the Leopard IIs that they got. I haven’t seen anything about hte Abrams yet, that will be interesting.
Is the Ukraine war even a conflict between Russia and Ukraine? NATO and in particular the US has placed many of its technology, weapons, capability and production capacity cards on the table, China who are providing at least some support to Russia have place none on the table. There is little chance of Russia losing this conflict, even if it is protracted. The history of Us commitment to conflicts suggests that sooner or later they with withdraw in humiliating circumstances.
Is the US learning from this conflict, undoubtedly, but the Chinese have learned more and the US has learned nothing about them.
The same genii that thought giving Prince Philip a knighthood would be immensely popular and “own” any republican.
Haha, read up on the Battle of Norfolk and Operation Praying Mantis.
The US problem is will, not capability. Admittedly the Houthis can hide in their mountains, but I think between US intel and Arleigh-Burke missile systems they could be in a world of hurt. Joe of course is avoiding doing that for political reasons, which Iran has correctly estimated. War is a mind game as well as a physical conflict.
Having watched “West Next, Side Story, four times so far, Dear God, it is so screamingly funny, I thought I was going to have to avail myself of a couple of the puppy pads I have covering my floor right now. Because of two new puppies, in case any readers may not know. 😀
mmm, was sidetracked for a moment, I was going to wear blue and white on Feb 4 for solidarity. After having seen that hilarious comedy clip, I am going to search out a black balaclava, a green bandana and Black skivvy, I already have black jeans. I will crown this ensemble with a pretty Tutu. A rainbow tutu if I can. 😀 After seeing that video, I want to ridicule the Palli Fellaters. Mustn’t forget the fake beard and or moustache.
pete m.
I don’t buy the Mossad line at all.
I have no doubt Epstein put it about as an extra layer of “do not f-ck with me”.
Just like every second Italian guy in New York who wanted something done had a brudder in da mob.
Here’s the thing.
If he genuinely had Mossad connections you would never know.
And Mossad would not employ a loose cannon like that who is prone to dodgy criminal stuff and is a braggard.
Bruce O’Nuke:
I haven’t been following the Rus/Uke war because I don’t find it interesting enough or the information honest enough.
I thought at the very start it was going to be a meat grinder and not really worth the time others are prepared to put into it.
It’s just another useless waste of human life and wealth.
I only comment when I see historic parallels that were already proven wrong.
It is believed an SU-35 was lost to friendly fire. The Patriots are lethal, hence Russia aircraft need to stay far away. Su-30,33, 35, all top tier 4th gens but will not survive against Patriots and Russia is lousy at SEAD; which is huge mistake.
F16s with stand off weapons will be a huge problem for Russia. Get up, shoot, race home before they have a chance to respond.
What has China learnt?
George Clooney produced the latest Hollywood movie story, The Boys In The Boat, which is about the sport of rowing.
Surely Hollywood couldn’t ruin such a simple idea.
I was a schoolboy rower in Ballarat and I’d be interested in what Cats think of the movie.
It’s pretty clear from some of the comments here that purported US military superiority is the comfort blanket for many on the centre-right.
That may or may not be the case. From a factual point of view, if the US was Russia and wanted to take over Ukraine, the fight would not have lasted a month and that is with the US deploying all forces from the CONUS. There is not a military force on earth that has force projection capability that comes within cooee of what the US can do. Not even close. The US does not spend three quarters of a trillion dollars per year to have nothing. Their entire military structure, equipment mix, sophistication, communication capability, force interoperability, resupply capability, forward positioning structure, global reach, theatre medical support is unparalleled. The world does not see what they don’t want them to see until they are ready. The US military industrial complex is ruthless in their thirst for more money and they produce the goods to ensure the money doesn’t stop coming. Spaceforce and National Guard numbers are not even in the mix.
Woops. George Clooney directed the movie The Boys In The Boat. He didn’t produce it.
Did you ever see so many luvvies in the one room?
Some UK friends mentioned the book during the year, said it was wonderful.
Agreed, it is a very serious question.
Episodes 5 & 6 of Reacher Series 2 have dropped. I must say Alan Ritchson is well cast as Reacher
Is the US learning from this conflict, undoubtedly, but the Chinese have learned more and the US has learned nothing about them.
No-one knows anything about the Chinese war fighting capability, least of all themselves. They have never been in a real shooting war as a force, ever. (Not withstanding a couple of border skirmishes against Russia and Vietnam a few decades ago) They have never projected power with resupply beyond their region on a war footing. They play a good harassment game against unarmed transport of surveillance aircraft but they have no idea what to do when a AIM-120D AMRAAM over the horizon air to air missile coming down the tube at 1.5 ks per second having been fired from an invisible F35 or F22. They can watch as many videos or draw as many pictures as they want and play as many war games as they want but when it comes to actually getting down and dirty against a peer adversary, they have no clue at this time. The second time might be too late…
Well stated.
Clear case of; “too few to worry about” and then suddenly; “too many to do anything about”
There’s one thing to consider about the US military budget compared to say China, which is its biggest rival by far. While the US spends 3/4 of a trillion dollars on the military, a huge chunk of that money is to pay the volunteer force whereas China doesn’t need to as most of its forces are through conscription. If we take that into account, they would probably be spending about the same. Now, the quality of the forces are of course a different topic.
NATO and in particular the US has placed many of its technology, weapons, capability and production capacity cards on the table.
With few exceptions the US has only supplied export grade equipment to Ukraine and you can bet your life that applies to third party supplied equipment such as the F16’s that were originally built in the US. There are significant technology variations between off the shelf US military supplied equipment and US export equipment. Australia, with ‘special friend’ status has received some off the US military production line equipment such as the F-18 Super Hornets and F-18 Growlers but they are rare exceptions. Even the M177 155mm Howitzers supplied to Ukraine are not GPS equipped so accuracy is not at the optimum.
Being a Jew-hating cockroach is an essential selection criterion at the ABC and SBS, but not the only. The successful applicant must also be a Marxist pervert who wants to turn the world into a hybrid of a Stalinist gulag and a kinky knocking shop. So also in the array of so-called human rights commissions etc etc.
And at 3%* of Australian population, we’re at stage 2 where the propensity to chuck out a politician from their cosy leather seat with the threat of violence well beyond their number leads to surrender and an appeasement policy from the incumbents.
*depends on when the numbers are collected.
Kostakidis was something of a thinking man’s crumpet when she was the SBS newsreader. The illusion of intelligence evaporated as soon as she said something in her own words instead of reading a script.
Wrong JC.
China has a volunteer army because they have a huge pool of unemployed country boys eager for a bed and a feed.
They train enough of their technical classes to not worry about recruitment levels in the PLAN & PLAAF.
Yes, and the sad thing is that some on the right have thereby bought in to the new moral underpinning of US foreign policy – which is anti-Christian, anti-native, anti-energy, pro-abortion, pro-mutilation, pro-homosexualism. Jut last week, the US threatened to mess with Ugandan aid because the country won’t adopt a Californian policy on teh gays. The US has sponsored Tusk in Poland to destroy the Church, it is gunning to destroy Orban in Hungary and is promoting trangenderism worldwide. Even poor old Ukraine has had to make guarantees to legalise gay ‘marriage.’ The Global South, the Mohammedans, Pacific Islanders and the BRICS block – including China and Russia – will not tolerate any of it.
And who could blame them? They’re on the same side of history on these subjects as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and John Paul II.
Post Kabul airport, it was absolutely vital that the US withdraw from adventurism and consolidate its economy and its domestic political and infrastructural crises. The country needed to take stock, pull its head in and recover. But no. Literally days later, Biden, Morrison and Johnson came up with AUKUS as a gigantic FU to contemplation and marched straight in to Ukraine, another war they have now lost.
Ukraine has had a poisonous effect on rightist thinking because it aroused Pavlovian loyalism where there should have been abhorrence at the communism the US now exports, as inventoried above. Abbott, Howard, et hoc genus omne, have proved themselves to be nihilist clients of the MIC rather than uncompromising advocates of Civilisation.
I have a great affection for my brothers, the Orthodox – despite the schisms they caused by their vestigial Constantinopolitan delusions of grandeur – and I hate to see what the Ukrainians and Russians are doing to each other as post-Christian Latins look on. Cometh the hour, alas, came-eth only the neocons. They didn’t want to save the Byzantines; they wanted to sack their treasures all over again.
No need to lose heart, just scroll by obnoxious comments and enjoy reading those that actually engage in debate.
Meant: Post Kabul airport, it was absolutely vital that the US withdraw from adventurism, consolidate its economy and deal with its domestic political and infrastructural crises.
While the US spends 3/4 of a trillion dollars on the military, a huge chunk of that money is to pay the volunteer force whereas China doesn’t need to as most of its forces are through conscription.
Point taken but the figures are so much bigger for the US that even taking out the reported 25% spent on manpower costs the US out spends the entire Chinese spend by 4 to 1.
In 2022 the US spent $880 billion (Trump upped the ante considerably when he was in office) so 25% of that is $220 billion for manpower leaving $660 billion. The Chines total for last year was $151 billion and that includes manpower costs.
Is Chinese Army mandatory?
And checked AI
Turtlehead, don’t ever correct me again.
Ukraine has had a poisonous effect on rightist thinking because it aroused Pavlovian loyalism where there should have been abhorrence at the communism the US now exports, as inventoried above. Abbott, Howard, et hoc genus omne, have proved themselves to be nihilist clients of the MIC rather than uncompromising advocates of Civilisation.
spot on
It is not a clear case. If we’re going to start sweating about 1% being a threat to our country then we should all be shrinking in fear about the multitudinous possible threats that will consume us. Islam doesn’t gain traction in advanced economies. I find it remarkable that so many conservatives complain about climate alarmism and then without taking a breath pronounce the end of life as we know it from this or that. The confidence of those who predict what will happen in 30 years is remarkable. Why are so many prophecies driven by neuroticism? Zeihan is among the worst but there was Carson(Silent Spring), Ehrlich(we’re all going to starve to death), Hansen(we’re going to be cooked alive), Tofler(The West is Doomed), Teller(the USSR will preemptively launch). Has any of that happened?
What has China learnt, plenty. They have seen NATO machinery in the field and will have seen some of the tactic for those pieces of equipment. They will have seen the drawbacks of expensive, hard to produce equipment vs cheap and quick to produce in mass.
Most importantly they’ve seen that the NATO war machine has limits on production that it will expect not to have.
In addition, any weapons advantage the west might have disappears when the can’t man the weapons.
The parallels are real, China would expect to have both a manpower and production advantage, particularly with the US now engaged in the Middle East as well.
Speaking of the Orthodox…
Look at this.
Beautiful.
Sanchez – you make good points – although I have not seen Epstein brag about any such connection – would seem a little stupid to do so. I think more like hacking into his stuff rather than controlling him.
KGB always had some brit politician in a bad video up their sleeve.
This says it’s US$230 billion.
US spending on salaries is:
So, yeah the US spends much more on arms etc : 60% of US$750 billion = US$450 billion.
But don’t forget that includes keeping bases going around the world and the US military consumes something like 3% of the world’s energy production.
Of course, you would also have to allow for salaries etc for the Chinese military, while the Chinese don’t have that much in the way of overseas bases.
They haven’t seen a single NATO ship or aircraft in Ukraine. Nor have they seen an integrated air defense network. They know nothing about NATO datalinks, AESA radar capability, modern air to air capability, submarines, integrated warfare tactics, they know nothing about NGADs, have next to zero exposure to super hornets, F35s, F22s, F15EXs let alone the new peregrine, AIM260 air to air missiles.
China does not produce simple hardware in large numbers. The J20 build rate is high but doesn’t compare to the F35. It hopes to have 200 by 2027. There are already 300 F35s flying in the USAF alone and 186 F22s. Most of their aircraft are Russian copies so to some extent we already know those capabilities, their SAMs are a s400 copy and we’ve had plenty of surveillance on those systems. China makes the mistake of flying its aircraft constantly within Taiwan radar capture thus giving away radar signatures of their aircraft. It does not produce cheap and in large numbers. It aims to emulate our level of hardware and does a reasonable job at that. They aren’t naive, they know that “quantity is its own quality” is a throw away line. It didn’t work in the ME and it won’t work in South China Sea.
I disagree, besides tell that to the Europeans, spec, the Danes and Swedes, not to mention Germany or France.
London is only 47% ‘white’ or British, some regional cities are even worse, but have it your way.
It will not happen overnight but it will happen, as the lady used to say on the Teve.
John H
That’s all true, but the thing that got me worried was a recent set of numbers regarding relative costs that Dover posted.
The hootie tooties are using $2,000 drones to block the Red Sea while the US is spending hundreds of thousands on anti missile defense to shoot the things down.
Houston, we have a problem.
The cost structure of US arms is way off base (pun intended).
What was the Muslim population of Australia in 2000? It was between 400,000 to 500,000. Today it stands at between 800,000 to 900,000*. The Muslim population has doubled in twenty years and it will double again over the next twenty years. How? Because of high levels of immigration and because Muslim families have more children. Left of centre governments love importing lots of Muslim immigrants because they vote Labour.
This is the same story in the UK, well, it is worse in the UK.
We are seeing this Muslim population explosion, in Sydney, Melbourne, London, Paris, Manchester, Birmingham and so on in the now weekly celebrations of genocidal Jew hatred that have been occurring since 7 October. I don’t believe we would have seen similar protests twenty years, we certainly would never have seen, twenty years ago, the spectacle of hundreds of progressive and Muslim Nazis dancing in front of the Sydney Opera House screeching “gas the Jews”. But you see, they’re now empowered, they know their numbers are increasing, and they want to and they will flex their muscles.
As for the USA, until now well yes, the Muslim population stands at just over 1%, concentrated in states like Michigan and NY. However, given the border situation in the USA, thousands of Muslims are pouring over the border and I think we will see, within a decade, a steep rise in the Muslim population of the USA.
* The current Jewish population of Australia is between 100,000 and 110,000. It quite obvious what the future bodes for Jews in this country, and it isn’t pretty.
Given the precarious state of the West, some argue that the future of the West will belong to Islam (and I don’t disagree) but that’s because we, through our craven and supine cowardice, have let them Islam in. We should never have allowed Islam into Western countries. You see, it all comes back to Popper, by tolerating the intolerant, the intolerant are now eating us up.
Anti-humans Are on the March — and They Want You GONE
Why the Technocratic World Order Rejoices in Evil and is the Spirit of AntiChrist
Analysts say that in contrast, Russia appears much more able to gear up its wartime economy to replenish its own stockpiles.
Russia has no chance in hell of matching the west in wartime production. If the west (as a whole) goes to war, the machinery of the west (which is at least 50 fold greater than Russia can dream of) goes into production. The west is not at war, Russia is. The west is not on a wartime production footing, Russia is.
The GDP of just NATO is $32.4 trillion. Almost 20 times that of Russia and the high tech equipment manufacturing plants in the west which would be turned into war production are not just numerically superior but also technology superior. Just three years ago the US went to war production under Trump for ventilators and within a couple of months companies like Ford and General Electrics which never manufactured ventilators before produced well over 100,000 of them. War footing changes everything.
Especially, in the most versatile, creative and flexible nation on earth. The US.
we, through our craven and supine cowardice, have let them Islam in
not us, our political-pubic serpent class
Snap Gabor.
Muslims see the benefits paid to them by those Left of Centre Governments as the taxes paid to Muslims by the unbelievers.
They probably rate better than Chris Kenny, even the repeats.
Personnel payment and benefits take up approximately 39.14% of the total budget.
We are referencing different input but these are the words of the Congressional Budget Office.
“Roughly one-quarter of the Department of Defense’s budget is for military personnel”
This also from the Congressional Budget Office.
“The proposed budget for DoD in fiscal year 2024 totals $842 billion”
The below must be bullshit, as the God Oracle expert on military matters has already made a pronouncement from atop Mt. Wycheproof:
In Australia in 1981 the Australian population was 14.927 million; in 1991 17.284 million and at the time of the 2011 Census 22.34 million.
The rate of increase in the Australian population between 1981 and 1991 was 16%. The rate of increase between 1991 and 2011 was 29%.
The Australian population of Muslims in 1981 was 76,792. In 1991 the Muslim population was 147,487 and in 2011, 476,291.
The rate of increase in the Muslim population in Australia between 1981 and 1991 was 92%. The rate of increase between 1991 and 2011 was 223%.
But islam isn’t the problem.
Recently a US admiral commented that for every $25 the military spends China spends $1. There is a huge problem there. In a full scale war though any Chinese aircraft, including the “stealthy” J20, that comes in range of an SM 2\3 is dead. The other issue those missiles have to be used up because of shelf life issues. For example the USA has 14000 AMRAAMs, some have to be used up. The same with the US ships, those missiles have been siloed for years. Use ’em and send off for scrap.
Why does Gert Wilders have the guts to do, what our politicians won’t?
Apartment, overlooking one of the canals in Amsterdam….
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden are already planning much larger deportations than previously. Britain is a basket case and is now sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda(recently passed legislation).
You are predicting the future on what basis? How many predictions about the future have come true? The strike rate is incredibly low. Hence my earlier examples. Not one of those was right yet made mostly by people in the top 1% intelligence and erudition categories. They were all wrong because making predictions about what will happen in a decade is silly. Why should I trust your predictions or any predictions made by anyone when time and again long term predictions fail?
30,000 Israelis singing “Hativka.” Israel Versus Wales!
You left this part out, Driller, you dishonest dickhead.
And next time, give your source as we know you’re loose with facts and plagiarism in general.
Therefore, you could say:
De jure (by law): Military service is mandatory for all male citizens.
De facto (in practice): Military service is voluntary.
This system gives the government the option to activate mandatory conscription if needed, but for now, it relies on volunteers.
In other words, it does have a mandatory conscription system because you have to sign up at a certain age.
Now piss off you dishonest bush pig.
Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft, showing that even before the double mastectomy-reconstruction, he had a rock solid rack.
Also, if she’s such a go gettem riot grrrl tomb raider outdoor extreme athlete, why all the ridiculous kitten grunts every time she so much as slides open a cutlery drawer?
I doubt they are using missile defenses against low tech drones. Frequency jamming and Close-in weapon system
Yes, and sidewinder missiles off F18Es, helicopters with guns and electronic jamming.
According to Dover, I’m pretty sure he said they have been in many cases.
Get a load of the cost.
You said that before and I replied; ‘we have heard that before’ Actions will speak louder.
We here in OZ can’t even deport a known criminal, how do you think the Germans will fare?
Specially when the Human Rights comm, gets involved.
As to the predictions, you are comparing apples and oranges, when you are talking about migration.
Predictions of climate etc, are just idle musings or extrapolating faulty data available at that time without taking into account future developments.
Migration both illegal and legal are real and happening as we speak.
But we shall see.
Which of God Oracle’s pronouncements is the reliable information, this:
or this:
It’s the Ferdinand and Isabella solution.
No. It’s because they think conservatives are racist and they think this will upset them, and they also want to disrupt traditions.
The Chinese military has a conscription model and what was central to the discussion between Digger and myself is the personnel compensation.
The US is around 40% of the budget while China’s could be as low as 15% -20%. Meanwhile the bush pig is now attempting to create a side issue.
Also, we’re still waiting for confirmation that the NAB was skimming 10% on cash deposits. Never happened.
Actually they do. They just don’t call them ‘military bases’. See “Belt and Road Initiative”. Don’t fall for the ‘it’s all for commercial access’ claims.
Specific examples? The Panama Canal Zone for instance. Which they don’t “own” but they do control and have a significant presence there to do so.
The Chinese built a major naval installation in Pakistan. A large base in Djibouti. Numerous bases throughout Africa disguised as commercial enterprises. Numerous establishments in central and south America such as these. They are attempting to gain basing rights throughout the South Pacific.
Or, just have a look at the South China Sea.
Regarding China’s supposed cost of military development as compared to western countries, how does one actually calculate such in a Communist State? What is the monetary cost of slave labor for instance? Raw materials dug from state mines? Energy provided by state power plants?
Spoken by Catallaxy’s Nobel Prize recipient in the field of ‘creating a side issue and elevating it to the biggest deal since Adam & Eve ate the apple’ 🙂
Glass houses, stones, etc. 😉
Zat, doesn’t that mean they can spend more on arms?
The Chinese military model is a conscription model unlike ours and the US.
Driller, stop trying to create side issues and go clean the mold out of the rooms and ac, which is what former customers are complaining about throughout the (motel) reviews. Unlike you, the complainers aren’t filthy bush pigs.
My point is that it isn’t an apples to apples comparison to western economies because they aren’t “spending” much actual money on it. They save that for industrial/military espionage and acquiring components they can’t make themselves. What they are doing is allocating government assets which they control the ‘cost’ of. The US for instance can’t do that.
How much do the Norks pay for a missile? Who knows. We can estimate what it is worth, but not what it cost them to make.
So IMO the question is do their assets and ability to continue to allocate them exceed that of western nations.
I think you have to go back the basics. Someone has to pay the piper. In other words if they’re using slave labor or exploiting labor and producing stuff applying the Soviet model, eventually that comes unstuck as the system falls over itself. Question is when?
Communist states don’t have a good record of high quality production. Modern military equipment demands optimal quality production. There was a Chinese army maneuvers exercise recently and a wheel fell off a tank. Ya get what ya pay for. USA military hardware is outrageously expensive and incredibly lethal. The Vietnam sparrow missiles barely hit 10%, AMRAAM estimated at 80%. Probably too high but will be a vast improvement.
Communist missiles: When the Flanker fired missiles at the Brit surveillance aircraft the first one didn’t track and the second one fell off the rail. Perhaps the reason Ukraine still has an air force is because Russian air to air missiles suck. I even read one report that one reason the Russian tanks were being wiped out so easily is because the armour plating was being swapped out with imitation stuff. The funniest one though was that the Moskva ship couldn’t extinguish the fires because the commander had locked up all the fire extinguishers to prevent theft.
wot youse reckon of this article?
https://jacobin.com/2020/11/australian-labor-party-anthony-albanese-new-south-wales-right-wing-politics
Week In Pictures.
Thanks Tom. Some classics in WIP.
Trump won at the US Supreme Court.
He might pull it off again.
Said the actress to the bishop
another ‘journalist’
when far right white supremacists repost you
Boeing really hasn’t been having a great time lately.
FAA Grounds 171 Boeing 737 Max 9s Worldwide (6 Jan)
New aircraft shouldn’t have panels blow out at 16,000 feet. It sounds like the push to save weight has reached its limit, that or there’s something very wrong with quality control during assembly.
wot youse reckon of this article?
not much
Bruce of Newcastle
Jan 7, 2024 6:39 AM
Boeing really hasn’t been having a great time lately.
Interesting.
Someone posted about this before but in that post it was a blocked up extra emergency exit that was introduced lately, but Alaskan choose not to have it.
Despite Westminster passing the bill in late 2023, the Rwanda Bill is still yet to go before a committee when parliament resumes.
Not one illegal immigrant has yet been sent to Rwanda and here’s my prediction, not one illegal immigrant will be sent to Rwanda.
Laura Loomer
@LauraLoomer
JUST IN:
@NikkiHaley just called the cops on me and had me escorted out of her town hall in Iowa. I was literally just standing and her staff let me inside the event after they sent me confirmation of my tickets.
@NikkiHaley wants to be President and talks a big talk about how she’s going to use her heels to put dictators in their place, but she is so triggered by my presence, she had 2 police remove me from her event.
How does Nikki Haley plan on dealing with Putin and Xi if she can’t even handle Laura Loomer?
Nikki Haley clearly doesn’t support free speech. For someone who likes to pretend to be anti-dictator, she sure is acting like a dictator by using the police to have women removed from her events. Way to enforce the concept of weaponized government on the 3 year anniversary of January 6, Nikki!
TimOnPoint
@TimOnPoint
Today we have an Administration that calls you a radical for praying the Rosary, will raid your home for being pro-life, will jail you for a meme, and labels the opposition political party as an enemy.
Blow out of fuselage was probably poor prep work for the insert being glued in.
January 6th and How the Press Became the “Enemy of the American People”
The Washington Post Is in Full-Scale Collapse
ISIS spokesman calls for global attacks on Jews: ‘Kill them wherever you find them’
Here’s my prediction, for the day, week, month, year and decade, that Muslim populations across the West will continue to skyrocket, due to large families and out of control immigration, both legal and illegal, and with the increasing Muslim populations, Jew hatred, terrorism, social discord and disharmony will soar. Oh, as Muslim populations increase, Jewish populations will shrink.
Someone recently called me an oracle. I responded, “nope, I am not an oracle, all I’ve done for over a decade is to connect the dots, and try to warn people”. For years, whenever I’ve said that growing Muslim populations will create huge problems for western countries and in particular for the longstanding Jewish communities in those countries, I was usually mocked, ridiculed and laughed at. Given what we’ve seen on our streets since 7 October 2023, when empowered Muslim populations have taken to the streets, accompanied by far-left and not so far left radicals, to scream genocide of Jews, nobody is mocking, ridiculing and laughing at me now.
Anyone who ignores the Muslim elephant in the room has their heads stuck not in sand but in concrete.
Tucker Carlson
@TuckerCarlson
Ep. 60 Is the lesson of the Covid disaster that we should give its architects more power? Bret Weinstein on the WHO’s plans for you.
However, mass protests against Jews and Israel for simply existing are hunky dory and depend on context according to Harvard’s former president.
The Supreme Court knocked it in the head and the Europeans have also stuck their oar in
By the way, further to disputations about 1% or 5% or 10% Muslim populations, overnight in London, near Westminster, Islamists and pro-Palestinians clashed with police.
I think it is pretty clear what the future holds, and this is not based on random and ‘silly’ predictions. The evidence is already on our streets before our eyes. People can choose to open their eyes or to keep them closed.
My eyes are open, wide open.
If anyone is in doubt about a “slippery slope” as far as social changes are concerned, all they have to do is look back only few years.
Same sex marriage rings a bell?
Oh no, it will be fine no need to panic.
Some good news today:
Shia LaBeouf Converts to Catholicism After Being Confirmed at New Year’s Eve Mass (6 Jan)
He’s been on a bit of a journey, with personal problems and a bad case of TDS during Trump’s term in office. It’s nice that God has given him a second chance at bat.
Happy birthday Mr Bingham!
Jewish and proud: Oldest journalist in the world celebrates 100th birthday (6 Jan)
Seconded, although I can’t possibly approach all that you’ve seen and done sir. Have a great day! Arutz Sheva regularly carries his podcasts and articles.
There is no spoon.
Oh look, the Jew hating pervert apologist appears.
JC:
Registration is mandatory, dickhead. Not actual conscription. Just like in the U.S.
China is able to fill its manpower needs by volunteers.
You are confusing two different processes – registration and conscription, idiot.
Shitforbrains, don’t ever correct me again.
I have difficulty believing the Chinese authorities on this matter. They seem to have difficulty understanding that coercion doesn’t mean people suddenly become willing parties to a matter.
The Woman Judge who was attacked by the three time loser a couple of days back, was back at work the next day.
Tough Woman. Not surprised that she refused the Prosecutors” hand slap for the scum bag. I like her.
Haha, after the COP 28 climapalooza was chaired by the boss of Abu Dhabi’s state owned oil company, now we have this:
COP29 Petrostate Climate Conference will be Held in Azerbaijan (5 Jan)
Well at least all those private jets owned by the great and good will have cheap jet fuel to fill up with when they get there.
Someone upthread mentioned the Isabella and Ferdinand approach, the only problem there is that the western world is a little short of leaders like them. Charles and Camilla and William and Kate are more concerned about people breathing out carbon dioxide.
Flooding in the UK
UK Sky carefully tailors the report to find locals who think it’s climate change and we should expect more of this.
You can see the wind turbines and the big transmission towers in the distance across the flood waters.
Flooding in a highly developed landscape is a guarantee. You cannot continue to build in natural floodplains and not expect water backup and higher and higher peaks.
People stand by their flooded homes in recently built estates and blame CO2.
JC:
…and JC goes to side issues, accuses others of doing just that, and starts abusing them.
Get some help, you arrogant twit.
Or euthanasia in Canada and ACT?
A absolute idiot once accused me of being a (wait for it) “racist” for pointing out that Europe murdered 6 million Jews and replaced them with Moslems.
An idiot who has only ever lived in the whitest of white bread suburbs since emigrating from multi-cult UK
We knew this for quite a while, but it’s nice to have it confirmed by someone on the ground.
Kenyan Biologist Mordecai Ogada: ‘The carbon credit story is — and I don’t say this lightly — is probably the biggest scam to ever be visited on mankind in history’ (6 Jan)
Lefties have been screeching about Western colonialism in Africa while at the same time as practicing climate colonialism in Africa. At least the former did some good at the time. Nothing good results from the carbon offsets scam for anyone except the elites.
“…and JC goes to side issues, accuses others of doing just that, and starts abusing them.
Get some help, you arrogant twit.”
Winston,
he fights Tories, that’s what he does. Lol. He really is sounding like a boring old Trot lately. 😀